Anyone on here plays bass?

[tlaskows]

Hi,

I just got a bass guitar basically for free. Well, I traded it for my old M-Audio MIDI controller that I had no room or use for.

I don't think the company that made it exists anymore. Something 'Profile'. I've never played bass, only electric and acoustic.

Sounds good once I put it through some compression pedal and bx_bassdude. The action is a bit high compared to an electric. I believe that's normal? I never had a fancy guitar, as long as it's playable, it's good enough. And it's better than trying to imitate a real instrument on a keyboard. Once you put it through some software amps and FX, who's gonna know how much your guitar is worth? Anyways, I play by ear. Always did. I won't have any fancy basslines.

Oh, my fingers hurt like a son of a b**** after just a few minutes of messing around with it. Those strings are really thick.

So, how do I get it to sound the best? I only use software plugs now. I am not sure what the signal chain should be for the best sound.

Oh this is a bit OT, but my microphone, electric guitar and the bass picks up a lot of computer noise. I have to move away from the PC and find the right angle. Do I need a really long cable to get as far away from the computer as possible?

Thanks,

-Tom

[wayne]

A profile bass! Is it a fender style? Profiles were made in the early '80's, commissioned by a Sydney business to be made in Japan - to Fender specs. Legalities halted that if I remember right, but not before a bunch of well-crafted clones were made.

No fancy bass lines? Perfect. Doing more with less is our bread and butter.

Blisters popping, bleeding? That won't last long, but you must suffer to do this. Eventually you'll have chops - keep the callouses supple by applying your own human lanolin, found at the hairline or where the nose meets the face. You will need to use a non-bass finger to take your pulse after acquiring bass chops.

If this is the logo, you have a very good fake fender there.

[tlaskows]

It's this one.



Can't find anything on Google about it. It plays fine. I know cause I started with a crappy guitar and wondered why I could never play!

The price was right! And I'm always up for learning new instruments. I do know it's from the mid 80s, but that's all I know about it. Oh, and something that it was made in OZ

BTW, your image is broken

-Tom

[tlaskows]

Oh your link fixed itself !

Yes, it's a different guitar, but the logo font is spot on. So did I get a good deal for 0$?



-Tom

[zerocrossing]

To get a bass to sound really good you need to put it though some sort of preamp/amp or the equivalent. It should have an "instrument" input instead of a standard line level input. My favorite is the IK Multimedia Amplitube Ampeg models but I plug my bass into a Kemper Amp Profiler first.

[tlaskows]

Hmm, it sound good through my cheap M-Audio something DMP3?

I'm sure this is a DI box, because the gain is almost zero, boost is off and it's still very loud.

Then it goes through A16 Ultra, then in Scope to ASIO into Sonar Professional. Some opto compressor pedal then the bassdude. I think it sounds fine. But what exactly is a bass supposed to sound like? You can make it sound like anything, well, maybe except a piano

-Tom

[braincell]

You might want to get some bass amp simulators. These are available as hardware or software.

[tlaskows]

Yes,

I was testing it with this one. I don't have the room or money for a fancy amp.

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/prod ... sdude.html

-Tom

[sunmachine]

Or these ones?
http://sonic-core.net/joomla.soniccore/ ... 57&lang=us

[garyb]

yeah, the Dynatube is pretty great....

in any case, you'll want a direct box and a good, clean mic pre. you don't need to do much else to get a great bass sound. once you mix and compress, it will be great.

[Nestor]

I'm a bass player myself. Good choice so... let's get to play brother! It is great fun really. I second Gary, but you have also Celmo's BAM, which is pretty good for bass too.

[tlaskows]

Yes, I would buy that S|C bass amp, but I need something to run as VST. Scope is for synths only and analog inputs...

I can record some notes, and you guys can tell me if it sound like a 'bass'

-Tom

[garyb]

why do you need a VST?

all you absolutely need for a great bass tone is the bass, your hands, a good DI, a good mic pre and some compression in the mix. that's all. the Dynatube and BAM will give you the sound of a bass amp cabinet, which is cool, but 99% of bass guitar in music is direct.

sure, they'll sell you all kinds of crap, but good tone comes from good technique. it CANNOT be faked with a bunch of processing.

[tlaskows]

That's a good question. I won't be playing it live. I want everything recorded dry, so I can tweak it later. Routing back and forth to/from Scope adds latency.

Like I said, I won't be playing Jack Bruce style riffs. Just simple stuff mostly.

-Tom

[tlaskows]

Oh, and I don't need VST mode for most Scope stuff. But some stuff I want in my Sonar.

I don't even care if it has VST mode again. It's probably not as efficient as direct Scope.

-Tom

[garyb]

Jack Bruce isn't simple!

of course you record dry! if you add anything it might be chorus, distortion or flanging, but you don't need special gizmos for that and you don't have to record those things. as i said, bass is recorded by going through a good DI into a good mic pre. that's it! if you want to use an amp sim, that would be the only extra needed.

there isn't anything else involved in a good bass sound. i record real basses all the time. got the music on the radio, so i'm good enough at it...

[tlaskows]

I didn't say I disagree with you. I don't need no fancy preamp. the M-Audio is cheap and very transparent. The bass sounds just fine without any plugins at all. But if I add a bit of compression and a cheap amp emulation it makes it sound more beefy. This is a 0$ bass, so I'm not expecting it to sound like a that Fender thing, hmm, I cannot remember. Precision bass or something. Actually, most noise is coming out of the amp modeller. Must adjust the noise gate. A little hiss won't hurt anyone anyways. My technique? Well, I just got this thing. It's still hurting my fingers after a few minutes on it. The electrics have strings so soft that it never hurts my fingers. I used to play so much acoustic that I eventually bought medium strings. Those were something, holy. Took a while for the fingers to get used to those strings. I didn't find the sound much better and I needed to adjust the neck.

What do you mean about a mic preamp? I have it plugged in into a DI on my M-Audio and going straight to the Ultra. Why do I need a mic pre?

Thanks,

-Tom

[garyb]

did i say fancy?

i said good. if you're happy with it, great! record away!

compression is something to be added in the mix. don't make the mistake of using it while recording. as i said, you don't need anything fancy. timing and placement are WAY more important than tone with the bass guitar, anyway.

who says it needs to sound like a p-bass? heck, your free bass can sound better than a p-bass in the right hands and in the right context.

if your m-audio box has high impedance instrument inputs, then you don't need a DI. if you are going into a LINE input, then a DI and mic pre(the m-audio?) will work better to get the bass signal up to line level.

sure! buy stuff! by all means! you don't need to.

[garyb]

by the way, the way a bass sounds by itself and the way that a bass sounds in a mix are completely different. making judgements on tone without hearing the context leads to a mess, untill you've recorded so much that you know what the instrument will do in the mix, based on experience.

[tlaskows]

Yes, my preamp has instrument inputs. It can power microphones and guitars. Well, I don't think guitars need power.

I am not recording it compressed. When I load my VSTs in Sonar, it still records dry.

-Tom