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Subject: bass tone


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Original Message 1/15             24-Mar-01  @  12:33 AM   -   bass tone

bassbrap

Posts: 45

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Hi, I have a mid-1980's Ibanez bass, and i have some questions about getting good tone. I want that thick, deep bass sound that i hear in a lot of deep house records.

My bass has two stock pickups, a humbucker in the bridge and a split coil in the neck position. When I record my bass lines, I plug into my Sovtek 60 watt tube head, and then go from the amps line output to an ART tube compressor, and then onto my mixer, sampler, or soundcard.

My problem is that when I record, it sounds kinda weak int he tone dept. I acan't seem to get that thick sound I am looking for. I am thinking the problem lies in one of two things: a: my bass' stock pickups, or b: the fact that I don't have access to a huge, proper bass amp and cabinet t mic out.

I would like to get new pickups for the thing, but i am worried as the pickups that are in it are not a standard size and are rather large. i am not even sure if i can get a pickup that will fit it......

i guess i'm just looiing to see what experience y'alls have had with getting nice bass tones wihtout having expensive active pickups or a proper bass amp.

thanks



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Message 2/15             24-Mar-01  @  07:18 AM   -   RE: bass tone

Fresh Pants

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Funny, at first glance I thought this was the "Guitars Man!" Forum.


But on to tone. I've had pretty good luck, both live and in the board, with a SansAmp Bass Driver DI. It's basically an active direct box that has some great tone shaping controls. My bass is a little noisy though ('71/'72 Fender Jazz Bass w/stock pickups). But it gets you a good tone. Definitely try one out. Plus you can just plug your bass into the SansAmp and then into the board, whilst the direct (unaffected) out can go to your amp for addt'l monitoring.


FP



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Message 3/15             24-Mar-01  @  02:54 PM   -   RE: bass tone

damballah

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nothing beats getting the instrument to sound good through an amp, putting the right kind of microphone in front of it, and supplementing that with a channel of DI. I've used DI alone before, too. without going out and getting an honest-to-god bass rig, you might try getting a good direct box and seeing if you can get close to what that way, saving the compression for mixing. that sans amp is a nice one. you can get less fancy ones for around 70 USD.



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Message 4/15             24-Mar-01  @  03:57 PM   -   RE: bass tone

bassbrap

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my partner's got a bunch of direct boxes, i'll have to get one off him.

thanks!



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Message 5/15             26-Mar-01  @  08:54 PM   -   RE: bass tone

DJ Vinny Bricks

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I forgot my tube mic pre can double as a DI. Plugged my bass straight into it, then sent it to a channel of my desk and pulled a little 1k, and it sounded real nice.

I guess there is a reason people don't play bass through guitar amps too much. I figured the preamp in that thing would work for bass but I guess not.

thanks again
bricks



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Message 6/15             27-Mar-01  @  10:18 PM   -   RE: bass tone

Jack B Denning

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Well, I'm thinking if you're sending it thru a tube pre amp( guitar or not) that should sound pretty fat. Do you have a cabinet , too? I use an old MusicMan HD130(which is a guitar amp) and it's fat as hell, so don't be discouraged about using a guitar amp. I'm assuming you're trying different eq settings from the amp (like cranking the bass up). If you try a direct box, make sure it has active eq. I generally find passive di's to sound like shit(that's just me though). See if you can borrow a mic and try micing the cabinet. I also use the Sansamp DI and love it. If you intend to record bass guitar a lot, try one out. It also makes the crappiest combo sound decent and will make your tone real fat when going thru a PA system. Hope that is some help. - Jack



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Message 7/15             27-Mar-01  @  10:37 PM   -   RE: bass tone

pict

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I've got one of those Musicman HD130 combos and they are superb sounding rugged amps that can be had for very little money these days I use it for guitar and bass.



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Message 8/15             28-Mar-01  @  11:48 AM   -   RE: bass tone

k

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yes, a guitar combo is preferable at lower volumes and can be better anyways... i remember once doing a bass session in Eel Pie studio's which if you dont know it is (or was) Pete Townsend's studio and it's big... it can fit a full symphony orchestra in the 'playing area' !! - (ulp) - so there i was in a playing room the size of a fucking football pitch with a tiny 20 watt combo surrounded by screens.. the bass sound was great !!

___________________________________

I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!



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Message 9/15             28-Mar-01  @  11:52 AM   -   RE: bass tone

k

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ummm... just to add.. it'll never replace an SVT setup tho (droooollllll) - those ampegs are fucking LOUD and they just are the nuts!!... although at a pinch i'd use a Trace 8x10 cab too but not the heads, i dont like Trace heads... we used to get council noise complaints from like a mile away with the ampeg (cos the council sends a map with the noise order indicating where the complaint came from ) ha ha ha

___________________________________

I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!



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Message 10/15             28-Mar-01  @  06:10 PM   -   RE: bass tone

Pongoid

Posts: 2003

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Mmmmm....big nasty SVT. Yup, gnarly sounding amp. You want that nasty dirty disco sound that all of these folks like to use in house tracks these days? Spend some bucks and get what the folks that made the original tracks that these 'artists' sampled the shit out of used. Bets are, it would be something along the lines of a 70's CBS Jazz and an old Ampeg, or maybe an old SWR sm-400(very nice amp, even today). I've seen those(SWR) used for ridiculously cheap prices. If you're trying to go for a big bad modern sound, check out SWR's Mo'Bass head. That thing is SOOOOOOOO bad ass. Tagged at $1500 at Manny's in NY, but you could probably scout and find one for less. Also, I'm betting that 60 watt Sovtek is a guitar amp. Bad. Don't put your bass through it. Very bad for the amp. Go direct and process afterwards.

If you want to do this all on the cheap, there are loads of plugins just for guitar and bass. All kinds of EQ's and stuff. Just record direct into your comp with a countryman, and touch up in Soundforge, then export to Cubase or Logic or whatever you sequence with. That's how the folks that aren't just ripping it outright are probably doing it.

I still prefer having the instrument that will do it, instead of the software, but not everybody is willing to spend literally thousands on a single instrument.


Ape



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