# Bass preamps for recording directly into interface



## I play music (Sep 26, 2018)

Hi, 
I'm basically searching for a "ready to record" bass tone in a box. Especially important is to somehow have that thing where you somehow split the signal to use overdrive for the higher frequencies but a clean low end like it is usually done on metal recordings. 
Styles: Mainly metal, but it should also sound at least ok for other styles like funk. 

I know that the Darkglass B7k ultra version 2 should probably do what I'm searching for and has a cab sim. But it's kind of expensive and I'm not 100% convinced on its sound, so I'm wondering what else is out there? Or would it be a better idea to buy any bass preamp (maybe Ampeg SCR DI) and a separate pedal like the Mooer Radar for cab sim?

Basically I don't know so much about bass stuff so I'm hoping to gather some information here and find a good solution that I maybe didn't knew about before. Thanks (-:


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## TedEH (Sep 26, 2018)

Pretty much any bass preamp will do what you're looking for, for the most part. I've done it with a Sansamp RBI, an Ampeg SVT-IIP, etc. The splitting between dry and wet tracks is something you'd do in your DAW though, not via the preamp. If your preamp has separate outputs for the affected and dry/passthrough/di signals, you can capture them both (both the preamps I mentioned can do this one way or another), otherwise you'd want to put a DI before your preamp and capture the DI alongside the preamp. In either case, you still need to do your own low/high passing after you've recorded them.


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## A-Branger (Sep 26, 2018)

try the amplitube Ampeg plugging. You can download a free trial and see if you like it first before you buy (or find a crack) 

I have it and its pretty awesome, Only thing is they lack on te overdrive department, they have a couple of pedals but they sound bit "meh", but at least you got a really good pre-amp-cab platform


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## Beheroth (Sep 27, 2018)

the neural dsp darkglass plugin has a 14 day trial, lets you try the b7k and vmt before spending money


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## Winspear (Sep 27, 2018)

Just do it in the DAW. Route your input raw DI to a few channels that you can EQ differently, insert cab sim blends on to taste, and distort to taste.
The Darkglass VST is like $100 and well worth getting. I wouldn't really bother getting hardware for the kind of thing you want to do now that this exists.


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## I play music (Sep 27, 2018)

Thanks guys! Reading the answers, maybe I should rephrase a bit the question.
The thing is that I do not have a bass amp, so I thought that if I bought a bass preamp aside from recording I could connect it to the stereo in the living room for practicing also or use it with headphones and not have to buy a bass amp and also not open the DAW every time I want to play.


Winspear said:


> The Darkglass VST is like $100 and well worth getting. I wouldn't really bother getting hardware for the kind of thing you want to do now that this exists.


Well, it's 100$ for a software plugin where I have to bother with licensing crap and probably don't use it any more in a couple years. For 190€ I can buy a new Ampeg SCR DI for example.


TedEH said:


> Pretty much any bass preamp will do what you're looking for, for the most part. I've done it with a Sansamp RBI, an Ampeg SVT-IIP, etc. The splitting between dry and wet tracks is something you'd do in your DAW though, not via the preamp. If your preamp has separate outputs for the affected and dry/passthrough/di signals, you can capture them both (both the preamps I mentioned can do this one way or another), otherwise you'd want to put a DI before your preamp and capture the DI alongside the preamp. In either case, you still need to do your own low/high passing after you've recorded them.


Wow, the Sansamp RBI sounds monstrous here:

Even though I don't know how big of a part the Sansamp plays and how much is just the tuning and bass. How did you like yours? Is it worth the money? (costs twice the price here of the Ampeg SCR DI for example)
I wonder why there's no preamp that splits the signal into two paths, one distorted and one clean. Maybe with a knob to adjust the splitting frequency...should be possible, right?

Anyways: With guitars we always need a cab or cab sim so that distorted sound is tamed in the highs so it's not earpiercing. Bass is something a lot of people record without any cab or cab sim it seems...do bass cabs not color the bass sound as much as guitar cabs or why is that? Is it not needed?


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## Beheroth (Sep 27, 2018)

there's the tech21 dp3x that does the clean lows and distorted high, however there's also a big ass hole in the mids.

even if you want a hardware thing and not go the software route, at least try some plugin to see what kind of tone you really want to go for and not just "clean low and distorted high because everyone is doing it"


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## TedEH (Sep 27, 2018)

I play music said:


> Wow, the Sansamp RBI sounds monstrous here:


That's not the sound of an RBI, in my experience. The RBI doesn't really do that dirty/grindy sound that the other preamps mentioned can do. It's actually a pretty clean preamp. A B7K it is not.


I play music said:


> How did you like yours? Is it worth the money?


I like the RBI in the sense that it gets the job done. But it's a bit clanky and sterile compared to.... most other preamps I've tried. I replaced it with SVT-IIP - the impression I get is that the IIP is the preamp the RBI wants to be.


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## A-Branger (Sep 27, 2018)

I play music said:


> I wonder why there's no preamp that splits the signal into two paths, one distorted and one clean



if you buy the ampeg DI/scrambler (for example), you can blend the signal on how much you want dirt for playing live..... For recording, record your bass clean, once happy, send an out signal of your bass recording into the pedal with 100% scrambler on (and whatever other EQ setting) and record that signal (re-amping basically) into a new track and happy days.

also I dont think theres a pedal that can do what you ask, if not they might have a "trough" out like on a DI box, so an untouched signal, not sure...?... but hey, google is your friend bro, google it, search brand, search webstores, places like sweetwater tehy got good pics of the products, see the IN/OUT of the pedal/preamp, search the specs, manuals, images, ect

Also a lot of those pluggings (at least the ampeg amplitube) work as a standalone, so you dont need to open a DAW to use them, play with your headphones and happy days. Or conect your stereo to your computer output (audio interface out).... You most likely play with a backing track/music and that would come from your computer so, you are gonna be around your computer eitherway

also not sure what stero settup you got at home, but your bass might wont sound the best trough it. Imagine running your guitar trough it vs a guitar amp


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## Radau (Sep 28, 2018)

Darkglass does what you're looking for


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (Sep 28, 2018)

Daring Audio had some good Bass DI pedals too, but they're hard to find now.


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## I play music (Sep 28, 2018)

Beheroth said:


> there's the tech21 dp3x that does the clean lows and distorted high, however there's also a big ass hole in the mids.


Thanks, didn't know about this one. You mean it's lacking mids?
Searched for a demo and the sound seems closer to what I want than say a Darkglass pedal. I only heard a lot of noise when the drive was engaged but not sure if maybe the guy had a noisy bass. However, I didn't understand what exactly the "Chunk" knob does. 


Beheroth said:


> even if you want a hardware thing and not go the software route, at least try some plugin to see what kind of tone you really want to go for and not just "clean low and distorted high because everyone is doing it"


I think you're right in that it wouldn't hurt to experiment a bit with software to find out how to reach what I want...but then the question is still what hardware can do the same thing. 
What I want is basically something like this: 



A-Branger said:


> if you buy the ampeg DI/scrambler (for example), you can blend the signal on how much you want dirt for playing live..... For recording, record your bass clean, once happy, send an out signal of your bass recording into the pedal with 100% scrambler on (and whatever other EQ setting) and record that signal (re-amping basically) into a new track and happy days.


Can I plug the balanced out of the audio interface directly into a pedal, does this work with the levels? 


A-Branger said:


> also not sure what stero settup you got at home, but your bass might wont sound the best trough it. Imagine running your guitar trough it vs a guitar amp


For guitar it works fine, but since I don't have a separate subwoofer I actually don't know how much I'd be missing out when playing bass ...


Radau said:


> Darkglass does what you're looking for


Would the attack and grunt switch allow me to do what I want? The product page does not make it clear to me.


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## A-Branger (Sep 28, 2018)

I play music said:


> Would the attack and grunt switch allow me to do what I want? The product page does not make it clear to me.


those switches are a form of EQ togive an extra "bite" or "low end" to your signal. Go and check some demo videos about that pedal, google it and you would find heaps of demos in youtube


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## Beheroth (Sep 28, 2018)

rex brown's tone = pick + spector + sansamp

here's a free sansamp plugin : https://www.tseaudio.com/software/tseBOD

careful about the blend on sansamp products, it's not a clean blend, it blends in the "amp sim" which is mostly a massive cut in the mids (20-30db around 1khz), use it with caution if you don't want to disappear from the mix



I play music said:


> You mean it's lacking mids?



yes, not enough mids for me just like every sansamp, but i like mids
IMO the darkglass stuff is better EQ wise to really place the bass in the mix, you can either cut through or sit below the guitar



I play music said:


> Would the attack and grunt switch allow me to do what I want? The product page does not make it clear to me.



the switches are pre-dist EQ control for the lows and high, either boost,cut or flat, the 4 band EQ (or 6 for the AOU) is post distortion


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## Grindspine (Sep 28, 2018)

For classic sounds, a Sansamp bass DI is amazing. For modern bass grind, the DarkGlass B7k is my recommendation. If using software, the Neural DSP DarkGlass plugin or the Helix Native Obsidian sound are both killer.

By the way, Sweetwater has financing on the DarkGlass pedals through October second. If you don't have a sales engineer there already, ask for Chuck W.


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## LordCashew (Sep 29, 2018)

Beheroth said:


> ...however there's also a big asshole in the mids.



A farty tone?


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## I play music (Sep 29, 2018)

Beheroth said:


> rex brown's tone = pick + spector + sansamp
> 
> here's a free sansamp plugin : https://www.tseaudio.com/software/tseBOD
> 
> careful about the blend on sansamp products, it's not a clean blend, it blends in the "amp sim" which is mostly a massive cut in the mids (20-30db around 1khz), use it with caution if you don't want to disappear from the mix


You mean that tone is just his bass into a Sansamp?! Wow, I need to try this. 


Beheroth said:


> the switches are pre-dist EQ control for the lows and high, either boost,cut or flat, the 4 band EQ (or 6 for the AOU) is post distortion


Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know!


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## I play music (Sep 29, 2018)

Grindspine said:


> By the way, Sweetwater has financing on the DarkGlass pedals through October second. If you don't have a sales engineer there already, ask for Chuck W.


You guys in the US now call salesmen engineers?! 
Also, you have financing for things like a bass pedal?!


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## Flemmigan (Sep 30, 2018)

The Tech 21 VT Bass is an extremely underrated and versatile preamp pedal that can pretty much do it all. I've had mine for 5 years and haven't felt the need to "upgrade" to a Darkglass because it accomplishes just about everything I want. You can dial in a really solid SVT or Fliptop style clean amp sound and also do very high-gain crunch similar to a B7K. I ended up recently getting the VT Bass Deluxe as well (same tones, but holds three different presets and has some more I/O) for a good deal on Reverb.com and now I use it for all my bass tones. Before that I was using the SVT model on the Axe FX Ultra, but I think the VT Bass actually sounds better. Now I use the first VT Bass pedal as a dedicated overdrive since I already had it lying around.

I've run it through a FRFR system before and it sounded very good. Played it a few months ago into the FX return of an Ampeg combo at a gig and it sounded great there too. Nowadays I just practice through my JBL LSR8 monitors and it sounds good.

The Darkglass is excellent from everything that I've heard, and probably has some more options. The Neural DSP plugin seems like a really great deal as well, but if you want a very versatile and affordable box that you can plug into an interface or mixer to practice, my money is on the VT Bass.


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## Beheroth (Oct 1, 2018)

darkglass just announced the microtubes X and X7 :
https://www.darkglass.com/creations/microtubes-x/
https://www.darkglass.com/creations/microtubes-x7/


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## I play music (Oct 4, 2018)

Beheroth said:


> darkglass just announced the microtubes X and X7 :
> https://www.darkglass.com/creations/microtubes-x/
> https://www.darkglass.com/creations/microtubes-x7/


And I guess we can also expect an ultra version later, right? With a cab sim and some other extra feature/knob that I don't know what it could be. 
So I need to find out if I need a cab sim or if the sound without is just as good. Does anyone know good free bass cab IRs for some experimenting?
Anyways thanks for the input everyone, now I have to try stuff and experiment a bit. Good thing is I'm not in a hurry.


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## SamSam (Oct 5, 2018)

Are the ultra models even worth it as a studio tool? I think I would rather keep the parallel out than trade it for a cab sim.


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## Winspear (Oct 5, 2018)

^ Agreed. Though I suppose it's easy enough to replace the parallel out with a DI box, and the added EQ switches could be useful..

Not sure of any free Bass IR's but I'd absolutely recommend picking up the Redwirez SVT8x10 set - it's very affordable.


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## I play music (Oct 5, 2018)

SamSam said:


> Are the ultra models even worth it as a studio tool? I think I would rather keep the parallel out than trade it for a cab sim.


Good point, hadn't even noticed. So the ultra models instead of a parallel out have a headphone out?
Though I wouldn't mind if I could use it with headphones...


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## SamSam (Oct 6, 2018)

Winspear said:


> ^ Agreed. Though I suppose it's easy enough to replace the parallel out with a DI box, and the added EQ switches could be useful..
> 
> Not sure of any free Bass IR's but I'd absolutely recommend picking up the Redwirez SVT8x10 set - it's very affordable.



But the B7K is already a DI, adding another one to replace a feature the cheaper model has seems odd to me.

Every DAW comes with decent free eqs which you can easily set up to match the frequencies on the ultras. Plus a cab out for recording is removing the ability to load up cabs in the daw which is a other free plug in. It just doesn't seem to add anything really useful while taking away a great feature I use all the time.

I think the ultra must have been designed for live use where you can use the cab loader into the PA, which is great, but I'm sure a mooer radar is cheaper than the price difference? Then again a separate multi band eq wouldn't be and you end up with signal noise if you go cheap...

I have a B7K, I'm considering the Alpha Omega for live use so maybe the Ultra would serve me better for that.

But now we have the X to consider as well!

P.S. loving your shivs for rock and metal bass! The white ones are the shit!


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## Floppystrings (Oct 6, 2018)

My plan is to use a BX7 with my Ampeg software.

I have tried some cab IR's with my Ampeg software and the result was really bad. The Ampeg cab sims that come with the suite are WAY better than anything I have tried. I couldn't image being limited to just one cab sim.

The main reason I wanted to use an actual BX7 pedal instead of the Darkglass software, it because when you are running two bass amps to split the signal, the one with an extra plug-in always has a slightly different latency.


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