Recording bass through line in or micing my bass amp?

[slapmachine]

Should I mic my bass amp and feed that into my audio interface or go with line in? Obviously the micing of the bass amp would be more expensive but I would be able to dial a sound because of the EQ that's on the head and in my rig and compressors and effects that are laced throughout my rig in order to get a better sound. But, does it work well? PLease you tell me! And, if I were to start the micing process do you guys recommend any mic's that have gotten good reviews and that preform exceptionally without hum and just clear sound. THANKS!

[JimmyM]

i LOVE to mic my cabs and i've done it many times and still do it all the time on gigs. but i've gotten a little lazy recording at home and i now use a vt pedal. still, micing is a great way to go, but cheaper mics don't do such a good job by themselves. if you want to do it using a cheaper mic, it's best to blend it with a di, use the di for the low freqs below 100 hz, and use the mic for everything else.

mics i've used and liked:

heil pr 40 ( i own one and love it)
ev re 20 (i own one but it needs fixed...this is probably the most common bass amp recording mic under $1000)
sennheiser 421 or 421a
beyer m88
shure sm-58 (requires a di for the low freqs to work well but does a great job with everything else)

[Muckaluck]

I just did some recording and we tried direct first and then mic'd through the amp and the cab second. We chose to mic because the sound seemed a little fatter and it captured the tube preamp better out of my Genz. I can't remember the mic used but if you do mic, make sure you mess around with placement in the room to get your optimal sound.

[bassbrad]

I almost always record direct and re-amp if needed easier solution without all the frustrations. If I did care to record my bass amp i would need a much better room, better mics and such---reamping is just so much simpler.

[recreate.me]

I have recorded a bunch of stuff, in my home for myself i just use a Tascam to record right from the Bass, it seems to get the point across.

In a band setting i prefer to mic the amp. That choice is really bassed on what sound you prefer, i went through the trouble of choosing a tube head i really love, and a cab that sounds just the way i want it too (SVT) if you DI your skipping that whole thing, and all the colour each element brings to the sound.

I would mic a single speaker in the SVT and play at the lowest volume possible to achieve the tone i wanted to avoid bleeding.

Try micing a single speaker, try mic placements and then try a DI. Test all of these and choose the best sounding. Obviously better mics, or better gear will make better sounds, so the method of recording changes for everyone.

[NKBassman]

I DI usually, and reamp later if I feel I need to. Good thing about DI tracks is you can use any number of modeling plug ins on them and make them sound however you want. The Ampeg SVX plug in is really good.

If you have two channels on your input, run a DI and a mic, then blend to taste.

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

If you have two channels on your input, run a DI and a mic, then blend to taste.

+1

[shadow_FIX]

With electric I usually just go direct out of my amp...I can usually get the sound I want that way, but if given the opportunity I would love to try mic'ing my GS410, or even blending the two.

With my upright, I love combining mic'ed and direct. The mic gives the attack and defenition, and the direct from my Realist pickup gives it the foundation.

[Floridabwoy]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

I DI usually, and reamp later if I feel I need to. Good thing about DI tracks is you can use any number of modeling plug ins on them and make them sound however you want. The Ampeg SVX plug in is really good.

If you have two channels on your input, run a DI and a mic, then blend to taste.

Agreed. If you use a lot of FX in my experience they will get lost in the mud, where if you go DI you get the clean signal. The VT into the soundboard for recording sounds stupid good.

If you are NOT using FX micing the cab is great.

[zachoff]

Depends how much you like the tone of your rig, I guess. When I had my Yorkville combo I recorded direct through a Sansamp RBI & now that I have my SVT/810 I recorded direct (through a Sansamp BDDI) and mic'd & blended them about 70% mic and 30% direct. I used an Audix D4.

[Corevalay]

Originally Posted by NKBassman

If you have two channels on your input, run a DI and a mic, then blend to taste.

Yup. Gives a great sound.

[jacofox]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

i LOVE to mic my cabs and i've done it many times and still do it all the time on gigs. but i've gotten a little lazy recording at home and i now use a vt pedal. still, micing is a great way to go, but cheaper mics don't do such a good job by themselves. if you want to do it using a cheaper mic, it's best to blend it with a di, use the di for the low freqs below 100 hz, and use the mic for everything else.

mics i've used and liked:

heil pr 40 ( i own one and love it)
ev re 20 (i own one but it needs fixed...this is probably the most common bass amp recording mic under $1000)
sennheiser 421 or 421a
beyer m88
shure sm-58 (requires a di for the low freqs to work well but does a great job with everything else)

really? I didn't think the sm-58 would be able to handle the SPL of a bass cab??

An SM-57 may be effective (common, cheap but GREAT industry standard instrument mic)...

Otherwise its definitely worth looking into a DAW plugin like Amplitube, which is a great effect and amp emulator...you can choose out of loads of presets, pedals, it comes with a tuner, and you can even pick an emulated 'mic' position...

[tdub0199]

I run Direct and mic the cab and blend the two together... sometimes use two different mics so I blend all three...

[rockstarbassist]

Blend gives you the best of both worlds.
I too use the Heil PR-40 and for our latest stuff also ran a clean (before hitting the amp) DI from my Radial JDI plus the Heil on my 400+/NV610 combo and it was almost 90% there even without any EQing. The Heil is great and I think our crossover point was around 100 or 150hz.

[magneezius]

Originally Posted by slapmachine

Should I mic my bass amp and feed that into my audio interface or go with line in? Obviously the micing of the bass amp would be more expensive but I would be able to dial a sound because of the EQ that's on the head and in my rig and compressors and effects that are laced throughout my rig in order to get a better sound. But, does it work well? PLease you tell me! And, if I were to start the micing process do you guys recommend any mic's that have gotten good reviews and that preform exceptionally without hum and just clear sound. THANKS!

Not sure if anyone has asked you yet but what interface are you using??

Of course the best results will come from blending a mic'd amp and DI however there's no point in buying a $300 mic if you're working with a low-budget entry level interface. Because if that's the case then just go line in.

It helps to know more about your recording hardware first.

[TL5]

Originally Posted by jacofox

really? I didn't think the sm-58 would be able to handle the SPL of a bass cab??

An SM-57 may be effective (common, cheap but GREAT industry standard instrument mic)...

This is kinda' an aside to the OP; The grill/ball design is the only difference between a SM57 and a SM58. Anything one can do, the other can do also. The ball, with it's foam interior effects the high end response some. With a 57 you can get the element closer to the source for greater proximity effect. Other than that they are identical.
the Shure website even says in their knowledge base, that if you were to remove the ball/grill from a 58 it'd be a (fragile) 57.

[slapmachine]

Originally Posted by magneezius

Not sure if anyone has asked you yet but what interface are you using??

Of course the best results will come from blending a mic'd amp and DI however there's no point in buying a $300 mic if you're working with a low-budget entry level interface. Because if that's the case then just go line in.

It helps to know more about your recording hardware first.

M-Audio fast track ultra, and i'm trying to get a behringer usb mixer to replace it, but it's what i got until i can sell it

[iri5hpunk21]

Our guitarist (who interned at a studio for a little over a year) says the general practice is to DI. I used an Audix D6 once and shoved it into the housing of my cab and my tone was FAT. If you go DI through your amp, you should still be able to use all your EQ options on the head..

All down to preference really.

[Charling]

Originally Posted by slapmachine

M-Audio fast track ultra, and i'm trying to get a behringer usb mixer to replace it, but it's what i got until i can sell it

Stick with the M-Audio, the behringer is just a side step, I'd wait until you can get something a bit nicer!

Mic'd cab and DI combined, as already mentioned, is the tried and tested 'way to do it' in studios, its what I use/see 100% of the time at work working with some top engineers.

I wouldn't fear micing if you use lots of fx, a mic will just record whats there, if you're getting a muddy mess back then thats because that is whats coming out of the amp in most cases! I love bass distortion pedlas and the like, but they are pretty unusable direct, far to much scratchy unnatural harmonic stuff! Put it through an amp to smooth it all off and mic it up with a nice mic in the right place, job done!

A nice mic is a very useful tool if you record audio, but if you are just using your bass you may get good results coming out of your amps line-out. You get all your rack gear's sound and a bit of the sound of your amp (well, the sound of the preamp of your amp anyway) and it doesn't require any extra gear.

If you want to DI out of the head's speaker outs be CAREFUL! You need a DI that can absorb/pad down all that power or you're going to be running a lot of volatge into a puny soundcard input. DI NORMALLY means instrument (ie pretty small) level. Specialist DI's have a pad that is strong enough to reduce a speaker out to near enough line level. However, remember that if you have a tube head then even a DI with a 'speaker-level in' mode will not save the amp from slow damage. A tube amp needs to get rid of that power somewhere, either through a speaker cab or through a specialist device like a marshall powerbrake or a Hotplate. These things soak up the tube amps power and leave you with a signal safe to put into a sound cards line-in.

[Loves2Jam]

I would only use a neumann u47 fet, anything else is not gonna cut it.