Bass amp or DI box: Dub/Soul

[Skjold]

Quick question for you guys:

I just bought my first bass for home recording, and I'm trying to decide if I should get a small amp or just a DI box to go straight into my mixer/ recorder.

I'm using a P-bass with flatwounds, and the projects I'm working on mainly involve old Jamaican dub and Stax soul type sounds. I don't plan on playing live for the foreseeable future, but I am interested in learning and practicing. I play a bit of guitar and I'm really enjoying coming up with bass grooves. I don't have a lot of cash to spend and since I live in Japan I can't really handle a large amp.

Right now I'm considering the following options:

1) A Sansamp Para Driver DI: go direct into the board for recording and play through my studio monitors/headphones for practice. I also have Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3, so a quality DI might be nice.

2) A Phil Jones Bass Cub. The most expensive option, but it seems to offer a lot.

3) An Ampeg Micro VR head. I figure I could use the direct out for recording, headphone out for practicing, and add a cabinet some day if I want to play with other musicians.

Does anyone have any advice? I'm leaning towards the DI at the moment as I will mainly be using this for recording. Thanks!

[Cannabass]

personally i think you should get an amp head that you can go direct out of, cause someday you will want to play with people and make your notes loud

[Skjold]

Originally Posted by Cannabass

personally i think you should get an amp head that you can go direct out of, cause someday you will want to play with people and make your notes loud

Thanks. Are there any particular heads that you would suggest for what I'm looking to do?

[JimmyM]

i'd probably go di as well. hard to beat the sansamp stuff for home recording on the cheap. very versatile, and you can also use it live when it gets to that point. guitar rig is also an excellent product, though it could stand to have more bass stuff to play with. still, you can get some good sounds. love the micro vr stack, but while it does sound very much like ampeg tube amps and can get a nice breakup through a cab, the di is more for clean sounds. i think it's more of a small/medium gig or rehearsal amp than an amp you'd di in the studio, though it really sounds awesome with a mic in front of the cab. no experience with the bass cub, sorry.

[Skjold]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

i'd probably go di as well.

Thanks for the input. Is the Para Driver DI a good choice? My buddy has the VT and loves it, but I can't help but think the Para Driver would be a better choice because of the XLR out. Also, since I play guitar it would also double as a good DI for that as well.

Since I'm not looking to play out, I could use the DI and my mixer to practice with headphones or through my studio monitors. I already have a Korg Pandora PX4D right now, but I have a feeling the sansamp would be a big jump up in terms of quality.

[prd004]

There's no right answer for this but I've been playing bass for 25 years, 13 professionally and I have a degree in sound engineering and have much experience in this field too!

In my opinion, DI is the best way to record a bass, the most reliable, the least problematic, and as far as I'm concerned it's the only way to get a decent bass signal if say you're tracking multiple instruments at the same time (ie live recording/rehearsal recording or just plain tracking several instruments at once!)

If you're going for a sound that's heavily modified with effects, or a lot of amp distortion, then a mic'ed amp is the way, otherwise get a good DI.

Sure, like the previous poster said you'll need an amp for your band situations, giging/rehearsals but don't confuse the two. Recording and performing are two seperate things!

[newbold]

Certainly try the new Eden World Tour DI. It has everything one would need for bass in it - active EQ, Variable Compression, and some tone shaping.

I really like mine and think it will be amazing for recording and for the featureset and tone it's a bargain.

[pnut166]

I have the Sessions I/O Guitar Rig package. Love love love it.

[Skjold]

Originally Posted by newbold

Certainly try the new Eden World Tour DI.

Looks interesting, but I don't see it listed here in Japan. I'm afraid I'm going to have to go for one of the Sansamp products if I end up going the DI route.

[Skjold]

Originally Posted by pnut166

I have the Sessions I/O Guitar Rig package. Love love love it.

Yeah. Guitar rig is pretty great. I have an Edirol M16DX digital mixer that I use as an audio interface, which allows me to use the NI software, but the instrument line ins are just OK. I'm hoping a quality DI with an XLR out will help improve things on that front.

This is my first time recording bass and it's been tough getting the levels right. With my current setup going straight into the board, notes on the E string tend to cause breakup unless my input level is nearly all the way down. Also, the hi-z on my board introduces a lot of hiss.

Also, being a stomp box fan. I like the idea of dialing in my tone on something like the Para Driver and having it there without needing to boot up the NI software when I want to noodle. I play mainly at night, so not having an amp shouldn't bother me too much.

[Foz]

My buddy has the VT and loves it, but I can't help but think the Para Driver would be a better choice because of the XLR out.

There's an App. for dat... VT plus DI is a pretty versatile box.

http://pztronics.com/mike/new/mods.htm

[Skjold]

Thanks for the input everyone! Based on the input here and what I've read, I think I'm going to go with the Para Driver DI. It just seems to do so much, and is something I will also be able to use with my guitar as well. Plus, when I decide to get an amp, as long as it's pretty neutral, I will be able to use it for tone shaping as well.

[JimmyM]

even if the amp's not "neutral," it's a good thing to have just to change things up now and again. i use ampegs but use a vt deluxe to add dirt to it and switch between basses. i'm more of a vt fan but the paradriver does a reasonably good ampeg imitation and it has a di.

[4Mal]

.. and the ParaDriver can do double duty on acoustic guitar fairly well... I'm not so much into the emulation thing but the ParaDriver is a really useful device ...

[Skjold]

Originally Posted by 4Mal

.. I'm not so much into the emulation thing but the ParaDriver is a really useful device ...

Are you referring to the amp modeling aspect?