Go to bass amp for Polished Metal Sound.

by **jkhuri44** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:28 am

gday guys,

gonna track a metal ep soon.

just wondering, what u'r thoughts are on the best amp for the job....think bands like Karnivool, Linkin Park...

poppy, heavy, thick bass....

i REALLY like ampeg classics...but they might not be the card for this music.

if we're doing overdriven bass tones in parts...

what are your thoughts on an ideal bass amp for the job??

cheers,

Jamil.

by **Sheer Noise** » Tue May 13, 2008 8:45 am

Amp-wise I can't help too much 'cause I haven't done much metal... love the Labsystems SS600 though! I seem to remember the guy from Tool (chancellor is it) using a Mesa Boogie that really cooked, I'm pretty sure it was an M-2000. There's a great sound for you....

Overdrive-wise... man... crank a decent bass through the green Big Muff and you will be in drive heaven. I used my stingray through one for years live and it's the most amazing ballsy drive for really making the riffs huge!

Obviously the quality and tone of the bass is going to have a massive impact in the sound as well.... if it's a decent bass, you can probably do a heck of a lot with plug's that you couldn't do with a crap bass and the right amp.

Dave

by **TimS** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:45 am

JK,
As Dave said, a Big Muff is always a bigger fattener.. will thicken stuff up heaps.
Gallien Kruger make super bass amps - would be nice too..
If not borrow as many as you can and quickly audition them. You'll know as soon as you hear it which one will be best for the job..
I'm sure there are bass players who'd hire their bass head/amp for a day for a few bucks.. or beer..
Tim..

by **jkhuri44** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:06 pm

yo, tracking with a Fender P USA. no probz with the bass.

just wondering what the go to amp is for metal is....Ampeg Classic seems to be very "rock" or more vintage sound...

i still may end up using it coz it sounds so sick, but if there's a more popular option for this style of music, i would want to hear that instead :)

i dont have any bass player mates with egood gear, so im relying on rental here, from a place that has one....or someone here.

by **Chris H** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:34 pm

I would go with the Ampeg. Gives a great foundation sound . What i have been using to get a bit of growl to the bass is by recording through a germanium mic pre and pushing it till if just starts to distort a bit. I also record di and during mixdown run it through the germanium pre if necessary and just dial in the distortion. Another option is to re amp during mixdown using a small valve amp an pushing it till it distorts. I often find the distortion from stomp boxes to be a bit edgy for this.

by **jkhuri44** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:53 pm

gday chris,

yeah, i havent heard anyting better than the Ampeg Classic for bass, seriously...so versatile....such a huge sound, ill probably go with it, unless anyone grossly opposes what i reckon ! :P

probably use it with a Boss ODB2...or something better than that, will have to research bass pedals for this....boss seems to be a dirty word!
hahaha

by **Kurt** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:20 pm

Think a mic'ed up Mesa or Ampeg SVT will give the sound you want. Marshall with a Boss OD will sound very tasty too. Mesa's DI sounds pretty good too but the Ampeg DI is crap, dunno about the Marshall's DI. I could get any of these for you if you lived locally!

You could also use a Sansamp DI for a nice dirty sound or DI as clean as possible and use an emulator. Sometimes running a 400watt valve amp in it's sweet spot can be a little too loud for suburbia!

by **jkhuri44** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:26 pm

hey kurt,

noise is ok, we're recording in a studio :)

my chain will prob be: AMP?? (dunno yet) + Demeter Tube DI + Amp with no cab into a Palmer Amp Sim.

i was thinking Ampeg Classic into a Mesa 400 cab or an Ampeg Cab.

you reckon an SVT would be better than a Classic? coz of the eq??

i know someone in Sydney i can get the amps off, just not sure which i want, hehe

by **Kurt** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:33 pm

The EQ and they have a drive knob which gives a very nice OD sound. A guy had a Classic at a gig on Friday, I thought it was too smooth and clean, nice sound, not very metal.

If you're not micing up the cab do you really need an amp at all?

by **OzDrum** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:26 pm

make sure you take both a DI'd track and a mic'ed track, during mixdown you can use either signal as the foundation and use the other one as the grunt. It also might be worthwhile firstly just DI'ing the bass, get the take down and edited and then re-amp the completed track through an Amp/Speaker box to get the desired sound. The SansAmp Bass Driver is pretty good for bass overdrive and most guys use them in their live rig also, I've found the sansamp plugin to chunk up bass quite nicely with a bit of overdrive.

by **heathen** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:45 pm

On mixdown I'll alot of the time parallel bass if it needs to be huge, one clean track one distorted and compress them till they blend nicely, maybe even a third bass track of just the clicky bits for metal blended in also.

Actually the jlm peq500 would be pretty nice to add into the chain on mixdown too, especially on the clean track, should round it out and thicken it up very nicely.

As for amp selection, as Kurt said you could use one but do you need to?

You could try a great pre di, split it into 3 signals and do mental things with 2 of the splits. May work nicely.

by **TimS** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:47 pm

jkhuri44 wrote:hey kurt,

noise is ok, we're recording in a studio :)

my chain will prob be: AMP?? (dunno yet) + Demeter Tube DI + Amp with no cab into a Palmer Amp Sim.

i was thinking Ampeg Classic into a Mesa 400 cab or an Ampeg Cab.

you reckon an SVT would be better than a Classic? coz of the eq??

i know someone in Sydney i can get the amps off, just not sure which i want, hehe

I just read what Heath and Geoff have written above - take a split, run a Avalon U5 DI and re-amp the signal for something different and blend to taste..
Could sound huge..
SVT would sound great too..
T..

by **jkhuri44** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:37 pm

you dudes..

well, i was thinking of using the DI, plus the Amp going into a speaker sim..+ an amp + cab....sorry, maybe i didnt make that clear. when i re-amp, ill take the miced signals + the Direct from Amp signals.

the clicky tap sound wont work for this band, the bassist has a jazzyish style, plays with his fingers, also its metal, but its not the kill ur neighbours type :P

by **TimS** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:47 pm

I suppose that if the bass players sound fits in with the bands overall sound, why change it?
Is the band happy how the bass sounds in the band? If so, why change amps..
Just being devils advocate here..
T..

by **jkhuri44** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:57 pm

umm...yeah...be!@#$%^& bass amp....be!@#$%^& cab, yamaha bass....

the bands' asking for a $$$ sound, theyre not gonna get it with that gear...sorry boys, lol

by **TimS** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:04 pm

jkhuri44 wrote:umm...yeah...be!@#$%^& bass amp....be!@#$%^& cab, yamaha bass....

the bands' asking for a $$$ sound, theyre not gonna get it with that gear...sorry boys, lol

Ah well, that says it all............
Cant polish a turd........

by **heathen** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:52 pm

jkhuri44 wrote:you dudes..

well, i was thinking of using the DI, plus the Amp going into a speaker sim..+ an amp + cab....sorry, maybe i didnt make that clear. when i re-amp, ill take the miced signals + the Direct from Amp signals.

Main thing though is make sure the phase on all those signals lines up properly and everything should be fine.

Are you compressing on the way in?

by **jkhuri44** » Tue May 13, 2008 9:03 pm

yo heath,

will prob run a parallel track which is slammed pretty hard, and blend that in with a normal....

Go to bass amp for Polished Metal Sound.

Go to bass amp for Polished Metal Sound.

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