Analog gear is nice.

[Jim Roseberry]

6 hours ago, jackson white said:

Gone down a similar path wrt boxes, etc, but find the bass+setup itself makes a difference.

Set-up is indeed important... but not the crux of what I'm describing.

Fender passive style basses sound weak/anemic when run thru cheap DI boxes.

Run the same exact bass thru a Neve Shelford or Portico-II... and the sound is just there (larger, more aggressive - no struggle).

If the source DI bass track sounds weak/anemic, it's harder to seat that in a mix.

 

Bass>Neve>1176 results in a bass track that requires little to no post processing.

BTW, the Klark Teknik 1176 clone sounds/works great (inexpensive).

 

Lots of folks use the A-Designs Reddi Box for similar reasons.

Sounds similar to using an Ampeg B15.

 

 

[Shane_B.]

All I have is a cheap MII Fender j/p bass. A lot of times I'll end up converting what I play to midi and use samples because no matter what strings I put on it or how careful I play I always get a clacking sound from the strings hitting the frets and it really stands out in the mix. When I do use what I have recorded I use a free VST called Bassprofessor MarkII. Their website is gone but you can still download it here for now. They made several good plugin's. It's a shame they're gone.

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

On 2/17/2021 at 10:36 AM, Jim Roseberry said:

Fender passive style basses sound weak/anemic when run thru cheap DI boxes.

And how can the bass tell the difference?

[Shane_B.]

2 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

And how can the bass tell the difference?

I know you asked Jim, but I have one of those Fender passive style basses he's talking about. I'm pretty sure he means the pickups. They are not active like EMG's that take a battery. The lesser expensive ones just doesn't have the oomph to drive a DI Box. Probably a combination of the lighter body and pickups. I've never played it through an amp but I imagine I would have a similar experience. When I'm not being lazy I always run mine through the Hi-Z Instrument input on my tube mic pre, out to my tube compressor, and in to my DAW. Fret noise is my biggest enemy. No matter how hard I try when I fret I always get a clacking sound. I love playing bass, hate recording it.

I have a Made In Indonesia Fender PJ Bass. I'm right handed but I play left handed so my choices are very limited. It was the best feeling neck I ever found on a bass so I pretty much had to get it. My brother has an old Ibanez bass with active pickups and that thing is heavy and thunderous. I used to record with it even though he plays RH. Played it backwards. Uhg. Not easy on a bass. I actually learned how to play guitar with the high E on top. He bought me a LH guitar for Christmas one year so I'd stop messing with his and I had to relearn how to play, but it was quick.

[Gswitz]

You all need one of Craig anderton's cables with the red leds soldered on. He calls it a transient tamer. I made one. Works like a charm. Also, guitar pickups are hotter than mics which is why the cables can be unbalanced. It's surprising but true. Nice preamp and compressor chains always help, but the transient tamer guitar cable helps more and costs like usd $2 if you can solder.

Yes, i do own a Rupert neve preamp, but when i play direct i don't find it necessary to use it when using the transient tamer.

When playing into an amp, you don't want to use a transient tamer cable.

Edited February 19, 2021 by Gswitz

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

8 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

I know you asked Jim, but I have one of those Fender passive style basses he's talking about. I'm pretty sure he means the pickups. They are not active like EMG's that take a battery. The lesser expensive ones just doesn't have the oomph to drive a DI Box.

A DI Box does one job: convert high impedance signals into low impedance ones. It is not a preamp, therefore, it does nothing to change the voltage amount put by the instrument.

8 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

Probably a combination of the lighter body and pickups. 

Only the pickups. Electric basses are not acoustic instruments, so the weight of the body does nothing to the sound, as it's a purely structural element of the instrument.

8 hours ago, Shane_B. said:

Fret noise is my biggest enemy. No matter how hard I try when I fret I always get a clacking sound. I love playing bass, hate recording it.

The fret noise is caused by the thick strings and the fact that our hands cannot fully clamp it down to the fret. Nothing to do with the preamp or DI. It's part of the bass sound and one of the two things that allows you to tell it apart from something like a Bass VI or a Silhouette Bass.

 

1 hour ago, Gswitz said:

You all need one of Craig anderton's cables with the red leds soldered on. He calls it a transient tamer. I made one. Works like a charm. Also, guitar pickups are hotter than mics which is why the cables can be unbalanced. It's surprising but true. Nice preamp and compressor chains always help, but the transient tamer guitar cable helps more and costs like usd $2 if you can solder.

My inexpensive audio interface has a MOSFET in the instrument inputs and, since that's effective a tube without the pilot light, it takes care of those transients. Interesting idea, though.

[Jim Roseberry]

12 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

And how can the bass tell the difference?

Can a voice tell the difference between a Samson C01 vs. AKG C12.

 

 

[Jim Roseberry]

2 hours ago, Gswitz said:

When playing into an amp, you don't want to use a transient tamer cable.

I believe Craig also designed something similar for Gibson Les Paul HP models... where you can enable/disable the "transient-tamer" via dip-switch.

[Shane_B.]

The transient tamer reminds me of Paul's Noise Harvester he developed many many years ago. I love tinkering with this kind of thing. I'll look up Craig's idea and give it a try. There has to be a way you can simply make a box to house Craig's tamer in and use it as a line device.
 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Shane_B.