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Post by paulcheeba on Sept 30, 2023 17:01:51 GMT -6
Ampeg B-15, Zod DI and sometimes the Avalon U5 if I want a fat clean one.
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Post by drbill on Sept 30, 2023 17:03:06 GMT -6
For traditional DI on bass, besides the ZOD, I REALLY like the DI on the 512B's. Used those for years. Loved it as it had the bottom, but also cut. The DI's on the Chroma+ are also very, very nice. Brad did a great job of setting the impedance correctly. You didn't mention a compressor, but if you needed to compress, would you use your 2a-kt in a pinch? Haven't tried that in that configuration. I've used an Aphex 661 a TON, and LA2a as well. |
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Post by winetree on Sept 30, 2023 17:08:06 GMT -6
It really depend on the bass and the song. Too many options for a favorite. This rack was put together mainly for bass, either DI or Miked. Neve type EQ if needed. Other options DI into 1073 or 1084, CapI 312 DI, SVT amp Balanced out and miked. Whatever fits the song.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2023 19:25:55 GMT -6
1. Miced up cabinet -> hopefully good pre that makes the tone better -> hopefully good hardware compressor that makes the tone better and I'll probably use a tape sim on it anyway in the mix.
2. DI -> Amp sim -> ir -> fake pre -> plugin varimu compressor or Molot if I need to modify the picking or MDWDRC2 if I need deep control -> tape sim.
Most "vintage" style compressors are incapable of doing what I want out side of a VU or two of gain reduction or the sweet spot of an optical comp where it speeds up a bit before settling back into the cushion. Most of these compressors are quite easy to make misbehave and are best used for tone bettering.
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Post by yotonic on Sept 30, 2023 19:37:23 GMT -6
Wow! Everyone came out in full force on this thread. Dropping some science…and some Benjamins. Gotta show love for the bottom end.
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Sept 30, 2023 20:30:20 GMT -6
The player's touch makes all the difference. For that reason, it is critical that the player is hearing exactly what is being recorded.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2023 20:55:31 GMT -6
The player's touch makes all the difference. For that reason, it is critical that the player is hearing exactly what is being recorded. It is critical that the player has a good tone, or better yet a workable tone for the arrangement, in the first place and can play. Otherwise it's hell. |
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Post by theshea on Oct 1, 2023 1:13:01 GMT -6
The player's touch makes all the difference. For that reason, it is critical that the player is hearing exactly what is being recorded. It is critical that the player has a good tone, or better yet a workable tone for the arrangement, in the first place and can play. Otherwise it's hell. … and a good instrument with no notes popping out … which is damn hard to come by. lots of bassists with extravagant but shitty sounding instruments and NO amp in my rec studio! haha. thats what bass recording hell looks like. |
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Post by antipodesjosh on Oct 1, 2023 2:20:32 GMT -6
I use a Helix for bass.
The chain is usually the darkglass bk7 emulation into an SVT-4, then the “studio comp” (LA2A). Plugins are a brainworx neve channel strip, the Logic stock compressor (sacrilege!), and waves j37.
I blend in a second clean DI output which goes through another 73-style plugin, the waves mv2, and tape again.
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Post by anders on Oct 1, 2023 7:26:09 GMT -6
The DI input of the Tone Skulptor MP5.66 500-series tube pre into a Serpent Splice or JLM LA 500. Whether clean or driven (the 566 has a switch setting the amount of negative feedback to the tube), it sounds very finished. Which one do you use the most? And how do you decide which one to use? Maybe the LA500 slightly more often when tracking? LA500 for more "invisible hand" taming, the Serpent Splice for more busy parts? The D setting for more well behaved control (and a little less noise on sustained notes), "A for Agression". But for me they all work – it is always possible to add more/different compression and/or tone downstream. |
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Post by kbsmoove on Oct 1, 2023 12:49:59 GMT -6
I'm mostly recording low tuned bass played with a pick, and almost always amp+DI.
DI is usually a radial jensen DI > altec 1566a > JLM LA500. this is almost always lo passed to hell and blended in for solid low end in mix
Amp is often dirty - Rat, muff, or most often a damnation audio MBD-1. I have lots of amps - Sunn 100s with matching 1x15 (JBL D140), SVT/v4 with 8x10, B15, acoustic 370, ampeg V2 4x12 with ports modded for bass speakers. My go to these days has been the 370 into the v2 cab. it has the low end power of the SVT and the mid clarity of the B15 all rolled into one rig!
mics - RE20, ehrlund EHR-E, beyer m88, 421, uher m534, sony C38b.
pre/eq/comp for cab mic - API-ish anything, sometimes with some 550 eq, almost always daking fet2 comp.
for finger style bassist that want/need some grit, i will usually run a cleaner DI into a fet2 to control the dynamics, and then run that through a reamp into one of the rigs above. otherwise the distortion - especially if its low gain - is way too uneven.
in the mix these are usually blended (often hi pass amp/low pass DI) ITB, 550b eq, and maybe more fet2/la500, and then into a dbx 162sl that is keyed off the kick to duck it a little bit.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2023 13:24:09 GMT -6
It is critical that the player has a good tone, or better yet a workable tone for the arrangement, in the first place and can play. Otherwise it's hell. … and a good instrument with no notes popping out … which is damn hard to come by. lots of bassists with extravagant but shitty sounding instruments and NO amp in my rec studio! haha. thats what bass recording hell looks like. 100% agreed. My solution is to automate or process it so the cool fills or good bassline stands out in the mix and then emulsify the rest into the guitars so the bass is not noticeably shitty but adds some weight. |
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Post by yotonic on Oct 1, 2023 17:03:56 GMT -6
I use a Lehle P-Split
Channel 1 - Ampeg B-15, RE20, Neve 1073, UREI 1178, original La2a
Channel 2 - Wunder Pafour, BAC 500, Pultec EQP 500
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Post by nomatic on Oct 1, 2023 19:00:52 GMT -6
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Post by smashlord on Oct 2, 2023 0:14:58 GMT -6
Which one do you use the most? And how do you decide which one to use? Maybe the LA500 slightly more often when tracking? LA500 for more "invisible hand" taming, the Serpent Splice for more busy parts? The D setting for more well behaved control (and a little less noise on sustained notes), "A for Agression". But for me they all work – it is always possible to add more/different compression and/or tone downstream. I love Blue IN and Black OUT on the Splice for bass. Blue input gives it some aggression and the usual needed upper mid bump but the black output allows more of the low end to pass through. Such wonderful little boxes! |
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Post by Ward on Oct 2, 2023 16:36:37 GMT -6
Lately . . . in the control room, an Avalon U5 (EQ usually off but sometimes 4) into a stam SA2a Mark 1 Out in the big room, still a U47 FET on the cab coupled with a countryman 85, both going into the Drawmer 1960. Tough to beat its to be honest! Sometimes bass gets an LA3a or LA4, but never a 76. With bass, you ride the waves and let the thing breathe to stay musical. Sometimes I front-end that LA3a or LA4 with Locomotive WT72 or another preamp's DI. Either way, there has to be tubes in the signal path! |
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Post by knucklehead89 on Oct 2, 2023 19:20:04 GMT -6
Right now -
Spectra 1964 BBDI - Retro 500Preamp - Heritage Lang PEQ1 - Acme Opticom XL500
Ampeg SVT with 8x10 cab - Heil PR31 and Heiserman Type 19 - Capi VP25 preamps - Summed together - API 550A EQ - Audioscape 76D
And If it’s aggressive I’ll use a buffered splitter box and also go out to
Marshall JCM900 with Marshall 4x12 - Shure SM53 - BAE 1073 - Phoenix Gyrator EQ - JLM LA500
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Post by notneeson on Oct 2, 2023 20:59:24 GMT -6
Recently got a great sound with a Nash tele bass into a REDDI, 200 series API console pre and 550 as well. I was actually playing and had a great engineer on the board shaping the sound. Back at home I got a good sound this weekend with my P Bass into a no name sans amp clone (in bypass) into my Quad Eights, into the Silver Bullet with the Stam VCA on insert. Different, also good.
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Post by svart on Oct 3, 2023 15:49:05 GMT -6
Bass - Avalon U5(tone #2) - 1176
Or
Bass - tube pre DI - capi eq (boost mids, cut low, +HPF, +LPF) - 1176
Then ITB:
Arouser - BOD - crave - low control - 1176
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ji43
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by ji43 on Oct 3, 2023 20:08:26 GMT -6
Anyone try the origin FX Bass Amp pedals for an amp sim in parallel w/ DI?
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Post by lee on Oct 3, 2023 21:43:30 GMT -6
Any good DI. A VCA or Vari-mu comp going in. Guys are buying some cool new bass preamps these days, like the Jad Freer Capo. For some hair, I like driving the mic pre. It's a sound you can't really get any other way and works for bass. I'll take the amp sometimes, but I find the DI can do the heavy lifting a lot of the time.
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Post by thehightenor on Oct 4, 2023 0:41:15 GMT -6
The player's touch makes all the difference. For that reason, it is critical that the player is hearing exactly what is being recorded. +1 My bass player is an absolutely stunning player, his notes are just so incredibly even …. It’s mind blowing to listen to him play and track parts. He always wants to hear his signal without processing and so currently I’m tracking him without any EQ or compression and doing everything post - just DI into the Millennia STT-1 (for other players or myself I do use some LA2A tracking) Also, he uses one of those equal string tension Dingwall basses like Leland Sklar and I think it really helps make for a super smooth performance. The tone is definitely in the fingers! |
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Post by Ward on Oct 4, 2023 5:56:52 GMT -6
The player's touch makes all the difference. For that reason, it is critical that the player is hearing exactly what is being recorded. +1 My bass player is an absolutely stunning player, his notes are just so incredibly even …. It’s mind blowing to listen to him play and track parts. He always wants to hear his signal without processing and so currently I’m tracking him without any EQ or compression and doing everything post - just DI into the Millennia STT-1 (for other players or myself I do use some LA2A tracking) Also, he uses one of those equal string tension Dingwall basses like Leland Sklar and I think it really helps make for a super smooth performance. The tone is definitely in the fingers! +1 on the Dingwall! What a great experience recording one of those. |
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Post by Bob Olhsson on Oct 4, 2023 8:27:46 GMT -6
I learned this with Bob Babbit. He wanted to know how we got the sound we got from him at Motown. He brought his bass over and I plugged him into my home brew direct box and there it was. I never even used a compressor on him back then but the players always were listening to Altec studio monitors.
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ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Oct 4, 2023 14:00:44 GMT -6
The player's touch makes all the difference. For that reason, it is critical that the player is hearing exactly what is being recorded. Bass is always where you hear the limitations of any headphone, most can handle the quick attack of a kick drum without looking to bad but a decent bass player is going to hear all those little needle shaped peaks and dips, phase issues and will probably notice how those little drivers break up and how that effects their HF and harmonics. While the extremes were never the Altec co axe forte, it’s really the some what slow mids where they earned their rep and kept the same basic driver refined through the UREi/ JBL and PAS variants. I still am amazed how good the last generation of PAS can sound with a decent compression driver and a light amount of DSP. |
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