Switching heads

zackthompson · #1 09-07-2011, 08:59 PM

I have 2 questions. Today was the 1st time I've ever done a recording session. When we played back the track I layed, I was blown away by how amazing my bass sounded, and the engineer didnt put any enhancing effects on it. My EBMM has never sounded that good coming thru my amp. I have an acoustic b600h head with an acoustic b810 cab. My 1st question is what head would get me as close to that recorded sound as possible? 2nd is can I put whatever head u guys suggest on my acoustic cab? I'm willing to get rid of the head, but not the cab.

**B-string** · #2 09-07-2011, 09:05 PM

The cab IS half the problem. High quality preamp, PA power amp and some HiFi cabs like the fEarfuls (sp?)

Gearhead17 · #3 09-07-2011, 09:49 PM

So your bass was recorded straight into the PC? A direct signal then? Focusing on speakers and an amp that project the original tone would be your best bet. I think you should look into two 410's instead of an 810. Two 410's are going to sound less boomy, generally have tweeters, and are easier to adjust tone wise than an 810. An 810 has a massive sound and that sometimes can be really annoying on stage. In my experiences, 810's are not designed for transparent representation of bass tones. They are designed to be loud, massive and sound great on stage.

I feel the Carvin BX1200 and 1500 heads do a great job of putting out a clear version of your bass without imparting a lot of color on it.

Hopefully others will chime in with gear choices.

billfitzmaurice · #4 09-08-2011, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zackthompson

I'm willing to get rid of the head, but not the cab.

Too bad, because the main reason why the sound of the recording is different than what you're used to is the cab. Look at what you listened to the playback on. Was it an 8x10? More likely it resembled a fEarful or Avatar 153.

will33 · #5 09-08-2011, 07:59 AM

Like it on studio monitors? Then you need a full range 3way cab. Any bass cab with a "one type of speaker plays it all" design, even if it does have a tweeter won't get you there. Most bass heads have some color baked in to their tone as well. Find one that sounds relatively neutral or has enough eq adjustments to undo whatever tone is built into it.

zackthompson · #6 09-08-2011, 12:36 PM

ok, so if my cab is the problem, can I put my head on a different cab and get a different sound? I want to at least keep one of them. They were given to me as a gift and I don't want to completely get rid of them.... yet haha

Jim Carr · #7 09-08-2011, 12:46 PM

Keep them as spares?

will33 · #8 09-08-2011, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zackthompson

ok, so if my cab is the problem, can I put my head on a different cab and get a different sound? I want to at least keep one of them. They were given to me as a gift and I don't want to completely get rid of them.... yet haha

Yeah, same head on different cab will sound different. Try playing it through some decent quality 3-way PA cabs as well as bass cabs. You don't have to get rid of your current rig. Some gigs may need for sheer output instead of studio quality sound although a fearful or avatar tb153 will give you both the sound and the output. Carvins LS1503 or 1523 PA cabs are a couple other options.

lowfreq33 · #9 09-08-2011, 02:48 PM

Call the engineer and see what he ran you through. He may very well have sent your bass through $2000 worth of high end pro audio gear.

Rick Auricchio · #10 09-08-2011, 09:33 PM

And once you put ANY cabinet into a typical club or other room, all bets are off. The acoustics in that studio were carefully tuned to provide a high-quality monitoring situation. And you weren't listening to it at band levels where things get muddy.

Put any bass amp on the floor at a club and you're back to square one.

runmikeyrun · #11 09-08-2011, 09:37 PM

If you can provide a sound clip of the recording you did someone might be able to help you more.

zackthompson · #12 09-09-2011, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowfreq33

Call the engineer and see what he ran you through. He may very well have sent your bass through $2000 worth of high end pro audio gear.

We just ran through a $500 7 channel head (idk what to call it. it wasn't a mixer, but it had 7 channels haha) that was connected to an iMac and we used our headphones and the mac speakers for monitors. (We were just testing out the new sound booth that our college just got.)

What Rick said about the club and acoustics is true. I hadn't thought about it like that.

bassgod0dmw · #13 09-09-2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zackthompson

We just ran through a $500 7 channel head (idk what to call it. it wasn't a mixer, but it had 7 channels haha) that was connected to an iMac and we used our headphones and the mac speakers for monitors. (We were just testing out the new sound booth that our college just got.)

What Rick said about the club and acoustics is true. I hadn't thought about it like that.

The 7 channel head was more than likely an interface, not a head. just something to convert your analog bass signal into a digital signal. Once the signal was fed into the computer, I'd be willing to bet there was some sort of processing or software that was used...

AwkwardLoudness · #14 09-09-2011, 10:53 AM

How 'bout the EBMM through a Carvin B1500 or B2000 amp and a pair of fEarful 15/6/1 cabs. That should get you close to that sound if you adjust EQ settings to taste.

tdub0199 · #15 09-09-2011, 11:01 AM

I would find out would the engineer was using when he recorded your track.... It could have seriously been a $2000.00+ tube pre-amp with a compressor like Universal Audio 6176 blah blah blah.... or just as said earlier, a simple direct signal through a interface.... can't really advise you without knowing what was used on the recording.... it sometimes can be hard to replicate a studio sound live also.....

rockstarbassist · #16 09-09-2011, 11:10 AM

How in the world did your bass sound better through desktop/built-in computer speakers and headphones than your bass rig? Is the Acoustic stuff really that bad?

You don't need a fREElol to replicate that... Just buy an iMac apparently?

Also you were running through an interface and I'm darn positive some plug-ins within the DAW for it to sound "better" than through your rig. I've been recording our record through some API stuff and while it sounds good, when you add some compression (I like the Decapitator myself) it really makes it awesome.

babebambi · #17 09-09-2011, 03:02 PM

this thing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by zackthompson

We just ran through a $500 7 channel head (idk what to call it. it wasn't a mixer, but it had 7 channels haha) that was connected to an iMac and we used our headphones and the mac speakers for monitors. (We were just testing out the new sound booth that our college just got.)

What Rick said about the club and acoustics is true. I hadn't thought about it like that.

bassgod0dmw · #18 09-09-2011, 05:07 PM

^^^ Where is the facepalm emoticon?