good home amp that cane be miced for recording?

th30nlyAket · #1 08-31-2011, 08:45 PM

i have a budget of about 300ish usd any suggestions

dhsierra1 · #2 08-31-2011, 08:51 PM

what kind of material will you be recording? Solo or other instruments in the room? Who are some of your bass influences?

Need some more info before you'll get useful answers. You can get away w/a simple Fender Champ at 5 watts of tube glory into an 8" driver in an open backed cab to...........

th30nlyAket · #3 08-31-2011, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhsierra1

what kind of material will you be recording? Solo or other instruments in the room? Who are some of your bass influences?

Need some more info before you'll get useful answers. You can get away w/a simple Fender Champ at 5 watts of tube glory into an 8" driver in an open backed cab to...........

just solo like recording cover or orginal stuff to a drum beat. i really do play about every kind of music. from steve to audioslave, to tool. i like heavy distorated bass (think timmy c chris wostlhole, stu brooks)

JimmyM · #4 08-31-2011, 09:04 PM

Ya, you can use pretty much anything for recording that makes sound. It's all about what appeals to you, and it doesn't even have to be all that loud...it just has to sound good. Go play some amps and see what you think.

sricks3 · #5 08-31-2011, 09:06 PM

I've never actually put a mic on it, but my SWR Workingman's 10 seems like it would work nicely, great sound, portable, kick-back-able, and house volume.

I'd think that most any small ("home") amp that you like the sound of would work well recorded via mic, but here are a few that specifically come to mind:
- Ampeg B100R - if you like that Ampeg sound
- GK MB112
- Markbass Mini CMD - if you like yellow speakers
- any of the classic little "jazz combo" amps - Polytone Mini Brute, GK MB150S(or E)-112, etc.
- most medium to large-ish Peavey or Hartke combos if you want something fairly transparent but versatile (wanting to play my TNT-115 right now)

Do you like the sound of your current amp? If so (and if it's portable enough for your purposes), I'd try using it to start off. If you don't like the results, try something different.

sricks3 · #6 08-31-2011, 09:12 PM

Also, for home recording with a bass amp (small or large), the particular microphone that you use might make a bigger difference than the amp itself. Most ordinary mics aren't designed to pick up bass instruments.

M0ses · #7 08-31-2011, 09:13 PM

Countryman Type 85 | Sweetwater.com

This is what I've used. Sounds fantastic.

Admittedly, that delicious sound might have had something to do with it going through a Universal Audio preamp immediately after, but that's what recording is about, isn't it?

chaosMK · #8 08-31-2011, 09:19 PM

SWR Baby Blue/Electric Blue is killer for studio stuff. You can just use the direct out on it.

grendle · #9 08-31-2011, 09:20 PM

Any particular reason you want to Mic an amp?

th30nlyAket · #10 08-31-2011, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grendle

Any particular reason you want to Mic an amp?

im have kickdrum mic a pretty decent one and ive compared di to mic and i preferred miced

ty for suggestions

dhsierra1 · #11 08-31-2011, 09:49 PM

for a US$300 budget you have many great used (and some new) selections to choose from and a few have been posted here already. I'd say rummage around used music stores w/your bass in hand and see what you like. Also check CL, TB classifieds, etc.

I hear you re wanting to mic and liking the sound, John Meldau-Johnsen (sp....) likes to record using just an old Ampeg B-15 mic'd into the board. Something special about that approach. For my upright I always wind up using a mix of mic'd bass, mic'd amp, and DI. Guess which of the three inputs has the lion's share in mixdown?

YMMV, IME, IMHO, that's just me, etc.

grendle · #12 08-31-2011, 09:53 PM

dhsierra1 · #13 08-31-2011, 09:54 PM

sorry, that's JUSTIN, not John. Been a long day...

Also, the upright is kind of crappy so recording the amp imparts a certain "forgiveness".

srxplayer · #14 08-31-2011, 09:59 PM

The T C Electronic combos are nice. New at GC they are on clearence for $349.00. They are not exactly small and light but they have have nice modeling capability and sound quite good. If I was in need of a combo I would grab one.

labrat003 · #15 08-31-2011, 10:02 PM

mic vs. di is really up to the sound you want to produce. Mind you, I am very new to bass, but I am an audio engineer student, and have recorded bass both ways and gotten both aspects of the grunge distorted style, and the smooth creamy style. It's all really relative to how you play, the effects you add, and the tone you want.

Personally, I like using a mic on the bass amp because sometimes the amp can just do things that a recording software cannot.

JimmyM · #16 09-01-2011, 12:25 AM

Well since everyone else is chiming in, if you like the Ampeg sound, try the BA112. Super little amp for under $300.

crobasster · #17 09-01-2011, 12:50 AM

For me,Behringer BXL450A works prety good.

BogeyBass · #18 09-01-2011, 12:52 AM

If you dont like the sound of pluging straight in with a DI or a good sound card designed for bass/guitar use.

then you just need a better plugin or Daw

the best unfiltered and pure tone can be had with straight to the board recording.......but if your looking for that colored/tubey sound blah blah.......

Then you really need to check out IK multimedia's SVX Ampeg plugin. The cabinet emulators and "warm" tone is all there.

The great thing about IK multimedia is the original manufacture has approved the software and has licensed the name.
The plugin is no joke...and in a blind test absolutly nobody will know.

Plus depending on how you record the original signal...you can go back and change the tone , cabinet or amp.....
recording straight from a amp is limited.

but if you insist....try these

Modern ss Bassman100 combo

Vintage Bassman 100

if you need a recording amp/combo that might survive some band use try a Bassman 200 or 250

Music go round will ship anywhere....cruise the site and search for stuff you like, aside from whats local on craigslist. but i really cant express enough how good that SVX plug in sounds...really

paganjack · #19 09-01-2011, 01:13 AM

The SVX plugin is pretty awesome, but for the gnarliest distorted tones, I've personally come to enjoy blending several tracks with different distortions (and at least one clean tone) on them. I find the plugins do cleans well, but there's always something lacking in their distortions... I've been pleased with a clean DI blended with a mic on my tube amp/cab setup to get some raunchy sounds too.

Curtybob · #20 09-01-2011, 02:00 AM

I got some pretty sweet tones from my old Line 6 Studio 110. 80 watts, a good sounding 10" speaker, enough cool stuff to keep you playing for a while longer than normal, and it got surprisingly loud for such an itty-bitty amp. And, even though it had enough features to keep you engaged, it wasn't overly complicated and hard to use.