recording a bass guitar

bosone · Post by **bosone** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 10:53 am

a very simple question, looking for comments and experiences.
i have to record a bass guitar for some friends of mine (rock-pop).
i think i will put the bass in a small tube preamp and then directly in pulsar, where i will add no more than an eq and a compressor.
do you think it is sufficient? i mean, i will not use amp sim, cab sim, or other... just "pure bass"... your experiences in this sense are good?

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 11:59 am

That's exactly how i record bass here anyway...

I think this is a pretty acceptable way imho

elisha · Post by **elisha** » Tue Jul 22, 2003 10:07 am

Hi Bosone,
I just got great results recording 2 basses through the SansAmp Bass D/I... (a Fender Pbass with lace sensor pickups and a Tobias custom). I know it's not the real thing but the sound on the recording is excellent... with some compression I'm finally getting that "sparkling" bass sound where all the low end is there but I can still hear the notes & runs clearly in the mix. The unit was about $150 Us.
Mike

Steve-o · Post by **Steve-o** » Tue Jul 22, 2003 5:04 pm

JazzBass->direct in->SharcOne->VINCO: great sound! Try it! Steve.

thermos · Post by **thermos** » Tue Jul 22, 2003 7:17 pm

no di box or nothing?
do i actually need di box for bass?

Immanuel · Post by **Immanuel** » Tue Jul 22, 2003 8:08 pm

You probably will get better high frequency performance with a direct box. An electric bass has a very high impedance output.

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Wed Jul 23, 2003 3:10 am

I use DI as well as a mic'ed cab. You can get great results going direct alone for bass, but I still find myself using a mic'ed setup as well when I'm after seriously full/warm bass sound!

TRMP8R · Post by **TRMP8R** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 4:51 pm

And if you want to blend the DI with the cabinet mic, don't forget to delay the DI signal by anything up to a dozen samples depending on how far away the mic is from the grill.

It's easy to achieve the correct delay compensation within one of the STM mixers in SFP, as each channel has a sample delay parameter: flick one of the signals out of phase, and slowly increase the delay on the DI channel until the bass sounds thin and weak. Carry on past that point and it will start to get fat again so you'll know where the sweet-point is. Once found, flick it back in phase again and presto, huge bass.

Enjoy your bottem end.

voidar · Post by **voidar** » Sun Jul 27, 2003 7:47 pm

With active basses, some prefere to just go fully direct.

With both passive and active basses people usually prefere either a hardware tube preamp or compressor before the AD conversion.

I am sure a fully direct and then a Vinco (i.e.) prosessed bass can create some of the same results, but then there is the joy of having an ok recorded sound from the start of.