I need a Good Bass Guitar Sound

[shiva]

Hi guys!,

I use a Guitarport LIne 6 Bass Expansion pack, but I just can never get a good bass sound in my Sonar 8 mix. Is there an alternative way to get a nice big non cluttered Bass guitar sound from softwares?

I also use an amplitube and guitar rig 3, but to no avail. Bass sounds so very muddy and small. My recording interface is a lexicon Lambda.

Or do I have to resort to miking bass amos?

Thank you.

Cheers,

Shiva- East Side Militia

[garageband]

resort to miking bass amos

This sounds like a wonderful spot in the Mediterranean. It's time to invest in a proper DI box. Even then, you might experiment with the Preamp Out of your amp and see what that sounds like, but you definitely need to hit your inexpensive interface with a balanced signal.

[paul999]

To add to garagebands good advice. Tomdegrazia uses guitar rig three with great results on bass. I find that direct in needs a lot of roll off and tends to be too boomy and can never get defined highs. If you have any guitar amp put the bass through that as well and mix it in with the original to get some defined highs.

BTW what is amos.

[gary7rev]

I am going to buy a U5 at some point its made by Avalon. Its supposed to be the shit for recording bass DI. Plus you can plug a Bass Amp speaker out into it it will regulate the wattage coming from the head and convert it to signal...

[dmaynard1]

I use a BBE Bmax and a Precision 4 string bass. I believe the best bass sound I ever got though was with a Rickenbacker bass. The Precision by itself is pretty muddy. I can brighten it up with the Bmax. I have been eyeing an Ibanez SR400 but haven't tried one yet. I am not a bass player but have noticed the attack has a lot to do with sound. If you play like a sissy then you will get a sissy sound. If you pound it pretty good you get a completely different sound.

[shiva]

resort to miking bass amos

Sorry.. that was a typo

I have also read a few other recording pages and they have recommended the use of a DI box. In this case, I have an Aria Pro 2 5 string active bass. Somebody recommended to have it directly into the audio interface. I havent tried it as yet, but would give it a shot.

One thing for sure, guitar softwares just make the bass sound so muddied.

[garageband]

One thing for sure, guitar softwares just make the bass sound so muddied.

I can't agree with that at all. Software can't improve a basically flawed bass sound. You should improve the basic sound/signal to a usable quality before making a call like that. BTW, all Hi-Z inputs are rubbish. That's why I didn't suggest you do that and suggested what I did.

[ryanoliver]

The Ampeg SVX plugin is magical. Well worth the price. You could fart into this plugin and it would sound like Victor Wooten.

[shiva]

Originally Posted by garageband

I can't agree with that at all. Software can't improve a basically flawed bass sound. You should improve the basic sound/signal to a usable quality before making a call like that. BTW, all Hi-Z inputs are rubbish. That's why I didn't suggest you do that and suggested what I did.

I did try many many combinations, but it is just that i cannot get the solid sound that can sit comfortably in between the drums and guitar. Anyway, I would want to try the ampeg modellers. Just for an idea, lets say i record directly via audio interface, and later just add compression, would that be good?

[paul999]

Originally Posted by shiva

I did try many many combinations, but it is just that i cannot get the solid sound that can sit comfortably in between the drums and guitar. Anyway, I would want to try the ampeg modellers. Just for an idea, lets say i record directly via audio interface, and later just add compression, would that be good?

I have done this with good result several hundred times. Also you will be rolling off eq and best have a hell of a bass and good player.