Which recording pre can do this?

erickdan · #1 10-13-2008, 11:02 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFhSZ...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHdN_O5k3WM

Get both these tones from the same pre amp?

I play a Fender Jazz 4 string with flats.

msquared · #2 10-13-2008, 11:29 AM

The first link is malformed.

What recording pre can give you the Marcus tone? Any reasonably decent DI, like the Avalon U5, GT Brick, etc. That video could have easily been recorded on a Countryman or the amp DI. Most of that tone is coming from his hands and some of it from the bass. All you need to do is get a decent recording of it. If you can't pull it off in the first place, no preamp on earth is going to give it to you.

It all starts with the musician.

Mushroo · #3 10-13-2008, 11:37 AM

+1 to msquared comment. Marcus's sound should be possible on any Jazz bass with enough practice. In your case, I'd recommend swapping the flats for roundwound strings to get a more "authentic" Marcus slap sound.

Your first link was broken.

(edit) Here is a more helpful reply: If Marcus Miller came by your studio and wanted to lay down some tracks, you could use any clean-sounding DI you wanted. Countryman is a popular and relatively inexpensive industry standard. You probably would NOT want to, for example, use a SansAmp with the drive turned up to 11.

erickdan · #4 10-13-2008, 11:59 AM

Sorry, heres the correct link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFhSZ...eature=related

I believe what you said very much about a lot of it being in the musicians hands. I saw another vid of marcus last night where he changed his tone from his signature amarcus tone to a Jaco tone withough changin bass or eq. he just changed his playing style and tone of his whole rig just changed completly

msquared · #5 10-13-2008, 03:09 PM

Marcus's bass and rig are both similar to Jaco's, a four string Jazz bass and a clean (or sterile, depending on how you roll) amp. It sounds like the EQ is similar as well. Since Marcus is slapping and popping up by the neck and Jaco played fingerstyle back by the bridge, it would be pretty easy to get both tones with Marcus's setup.

The Bonamassa stuff probably doesn't deviate too far from the Marcus stuff in terms of gear. It's all in how it's played.

Do a little browsing in this forum and check out the recording DI thread that happened here recently. It's a great list of quality DIs.

erickdan · #6 10-13-2008, 03:40 PM

Dude I've spent so much time reading this forum over the past year my eyes are burning out of my skull =)

Do you think I will be able to record that sound better by taking the DI out of a amp head like a Eden or Mesa or by using one of these recording pres?

I cant pick one so I think I'll just pick up a Countryman Type 85 Active Direct Box, BBE BMAX T Bass Guitar Preamp, and a Tech 21 SansAmp RBI Bass Guitar Direct Box, then sell whatever I dont like lol

msquared · #7 10-13-2008, 03:59 PM

I don't think it really matters. The DI in the Eden is the only one out of the ones you've mentioned that I have experience with, and at least on the older Eden gear it doesn't suck at all.

I think that out of the Countryman, the BBE, and the Sansamp, you'll find things about all of them that you'd like but ultimately will probably be best served by the Countryman. I like my Sansamp but I don't use it for recording clean stuff, it's too noisy.

As stated in other threads, I'm a big Groove Tubes Brick evangelist. I recommend it highly. Also the Avalon U5 is the gold standard for people who can't justify the cost of Millenia or A Designs gear. Either one would probably be the last DI you'd ever need to buy for recording the style of music in either of your links.

erickdan · #8 10-13-2008, 04:05 PM

I appreciate your help a ton

I will probably steer clear of Sansamp if they are noisy for recording

dmilt23451 · #9 10-14-2008, 10:41 PM

I have done quite a bit of work with the countryman, as well as a bunch of other DI boxes and I prefer the cm

superflybass · #10 10-14-2008, 10:58 PM

I have owned many countryman's they are nice
if you dont want to spend that type of cash check out a used presonus tube pre there very versital for a cheap pre ! and they sound nice on bass !

erickdan · #11 10-15-2008, 10:14 AM

I'm going to try out the REDDI and the Countryman 85.

Either way I still need to put a pre behind it though. Decisions Decisions...

msquared · #12 10-15-2008, 11:30 AM

You might as well skip the Countryman if you've got the dough for a REDDI.

For preamps, go to www.mercenary.com or www.vintageking.com and go as nuts as budget allows.

erickdan · #13 10-15-2008, 12:08 PM

Actually if there are pre's in the console or recording interface then I can record direct from the REDDI correct?

That vintageking site is nice.

erickdan · #14 10-16-2008, 10:45 AM

I mean it seems redundant to me to go DI -> Pre -> Pre in the recording interface.

Am I wrong, or do you use the Pre in teh middle for tone shaping and getting the signal hotter?

Mushroo · #15 10-16-2008, 10:55 AM

I would personally recommend going bass -> DI -> recording console.

(edit) To clarify this recommendation, I find that it's easier to process an unprocessed track during mixing than to unprocess a processed track. I also personally really like the sound of a good bass recorded direct.

msquared · #16 10-16-2008, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by erickdan

Actually if there are pre's in the console or recording interface then I can record direct from the REDDI correct?

Yeah, you only need one pre. You can't go bass -> DI -> console unless the DI is also boosting gain (in which case it is a DI/preamp). This is one reason I love the GT Brick, it's both a DI and a preamp. You can run directly to the console from it and send a dry signal out to your amp like a DI does. Most mic preamps won't do that.

dmilt23451 · #17 10-16-2008, 11:35 PM

It all depends on if your interface also has preamps built into is otherwise you need to boost your instrument level to line level which is what the preamp will do.