Bass Recording Signal Chain/Bassman Preamp [OT]

[cps]

Hi Folks,

Apologies for this slightly OT question but it involves some of the gear on this forum.

I've recently set up a small home studio for songwriting. ATM I've been recording bass direct into the Hi-Z port on my audio interface. It sounds pretty lifeless so I'd like to improve it.

I've found the Bassman preamp discussion <http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=101898.0> but was wondering how this actually sounds. Is it like a recorded bass amp? There doesn't seem to be any cabinet sim or mic sim - just wondering whether these are necessary or does the preamp sound ok on its own?

Cheers,

Chris

[FUZZZZzzzz]

If I'm not mistaken, Rob actually made a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuMB6xIrVsM

As you can read in the comments on yt he plugged it straight into the DI and into the mixer/interface.. hope this helps

[cps]

Thanks! Great to be able to hear it.

I'm still not clear about its purpose - is it primarily a "tone control" or is it trying to be more than that? There's no power amp/speaker/cabsim so what about them? Are they necessary or don't they matter?

[Keppy]

I can't speak to that project particularly, but generally speaking a bass sound that's missing a sense of space is far less offensive than a guitar sound with no space. People seem to like punchy, less reverb-y bass sounds anyway, so you can get away with a preamp-only bass sound more than a preamp-only guitar sound. Many bass cabinets are also far more full-range than most guitar cabs, so there's less of an impact when the cab is gone. Bass amps also often use fairly clean power amps compared to guitars, so that's less of a factor. That's not to say that cabinets and rooms and power amps don't matter with bass, they just matter less than on guitar. Knowing that, a well-designed preamp can do a lot, especially if it's designed to be used direct to recording/PA rather than run through an amp/cab. YMMV.

The best direct bass sounds I've personally heard used the Avalon U5 direct box.

[cps]

Thanks. I'm actually a guitarist so I know all about the importance of amps/cabs/mics/rooms when geting a good sound. I'm also a bit "old school" and prefer to get the sound right at the source. I know bass is often recorded two different ways - DI-ed and via an amp/mic. The Bassman preamp is interesting because it sits somewhere inbetween the two methods.

Cheers!

[anotherjim]

A long standing studio favourite is the Sansamp BD21 which is an amp/cab simulator bass D.I. It does work very well. There is a scheme for this on-line, but it isn't significantly different from the Behringer clone, the BDI21 (which I think is cheap enough to buy rather than DIY). I believe it's meant to simulate the classic Ampeg SVT bass rig, but I can't confirm that claim.

If you're recording or mixing in a computer - or a recorder that has track effects, bass responds well to "re-amping", that is running the recording through an amp simulator plug-in effect - even if it was already treated through an amp sim when recorded, although the ideal is probably to record a dry direct version at the same time for re-amping.

[FUZZZZzzzz]

This one is very cheap (120 euros) and a favorite amongst a lot of people.

http://www.edenamps.com/products/pedals/WTDI.html