read the posts, still confused - please help

[rkgtech]

I spent quite a few hours reading all the valuable info here. But now I am even more confused with all the options available. So, sorry about these questions.

I want to record my 2 active, 1 passive, 1 acoustic basses to my computer. I am hoping for decent quality, not studio (of course). I want to record my pathetic playing and then lay some drums etc on that (just experiments with some bach/paganini/mozart stuff that I am working on - just to see how it would turn out)

I am looking to pay <$150 new/used gear (of course, cheap a$$ that I am - truth be told i am not good enough to justify buying expensive stuff).

I own a behringer UB502 mixer, a peavey practice amp (MAX 158 bass), good headphones, a PC with default soundcard (SoundMAX integrated digital audio) and Audacity, Reaper etc. My PC (3 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM) has a line in, mic in and no firewire port.

The mixer can take a few 1/4" in, a XLR in. I cannot mic the Peavey since my neihbours wont like it. I don't have a real amp.

Once I recorded bass->mixer 1/4"->line in on PC and it doesnt sound great (maybe it is just my playing). It just doesn't have a good character/tone to it.

So, at this point, what can I do (a cheap behringer DI maybe) to achieve my goal?

Thanks sooo much for your inputs.

[fenderhutz]

Line 6 Guitarport or Toneport.

http://www.americanmusical.com/item-...ONEPORTGX.html 69.99

Or Guitarport XT for 99.99

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-LIN-GPORTXT.html

The Guitarport has bass presets as well.

I used it to record everything you hear at www.tellhazelrun.com

I even ran the mic'd drums through a mixer into the Guitarport. All other instruments I ran direct into the GuitarPort including guitar and bass.

[anonymous38457747]

One recommendation would be that you not spend the money on the "cheap berhenger DI" when you can buy an Art tube pre for around the same price and get the benefits of the tube.

Otherwise, going direct from your mixer, just make sure that your volumes are nominal and not peaking or lacking at your computer.

You don't want to max out your sound card but you also don't want to under power it.

[rkgtech]

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Line 6 Guitarport or Toneport.

http://www.americanmusical.com/item-...ONEPORTGX.html 69.99

Or Guitarport XT for 99.99

http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-LIN-GPORTXT.html

The Guitarport has bass presets as well.

I used it to record everything you hear at www.tellhazelrun.com

I even ran the mic'd drums through a mixer into the Guitarport. All other instruments I ran direct into the GuitarPort including guitar and bass.

kewl, thanks very much. So, bass->mixer->tone/guitarport right?

Schill - I am not sure I understand. I make sure that the mixer level is not at anything but the green lights (not yellow/red) and on audacity, the input level always looks red, no matter how low I go. Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks