just to clear any confuions or further question heres my setup for everthing in order till it hits my sound card

/Peavey B-90

/Morley bass and DOD Grunge ditortion*

/Laney BC-120

/from head phone jack into a behringer ultra voice pro(im using not for mic's but as a sort of di box)

/then out to a ess audio drive(soon to be sb live)

i use Cakewalk guitar tracks to do the multi tracking then sonar to do fine tweaking

*(sometimes i use a wah and distortion if i record me on the guitar to or when im screwin around with new sounds on the bass)

anyays now that that thats out of the way i am only able to record one track then when i tryto play a new track while playing back the old one i get static and my noise meter jumps and hisses.
so it is very hard to make a group recording one track at a time when i cant even record more than one track.

Second of all, sorry for being so long winded, the one track i get to record is barely a whisper and sounds like i did it in a stereo's tape deck. and i can get it any louder or my wave meter shows above the red level. what do i have to change to stop the hissing so i can make full recordings of my band and how do it make my stuff cd or close to, quality.

thanks for any help you can offer.

Ok, stompboxes add hiss and kill tone.

Not sure, but using the phone out should be ok. But it can cause impedance mismatches and low signal. Same with the Behringer thingy, but I'm not familiar with it.

ESS sucks bad, and I mean really, really bad!

SBLive isn't any better. When I exchanged mine for a Midiman Audiophile, it sounded like I'd removed a curtain from the speakers.

Low latency and very good drivers, too!

[edit]Use the Laney's line out and connect it directly to the sound card's line in. Leave out the stompboxes for now.

Check if the signal quality improves.

[EDIT 2] IIRC you can use the Behringer as a mic/line preamp. You can try plugging the bass into the Behringer and connecting the Behringer to your soundcard.

I had pretty much the same problem with my set-up, but I'm using a Midiman Delta 66 card - which really is the dogs testicles.

I have difficulty getting the input level of the bass right - like you said it's always too quiet.

I have bring everything else down to compensate... I do end up with a good sound, but bringing down everything in the mix and boosting the output volume takes it's toll on sound quality, amplifies hissing etc..

I think what we have in common is that we're both using some crappy multi-effect to the bass bring up to line-in level - I'm currently using a BFX-708 - it's wonk!

I reckon a decent DI box/pre-amp is the key. I'm gonna invest in one soon. I'll let you know I get on.

Fingers crossed.