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Best bass you've ever recorded with

#42
Thought: hose much is the bass and how much is the amps Eq's, string choice, speaker choice etc?

I theorise that there is no bad gear (disregarding broken/ defective parts), just wrong combinations and settings for a situation.
 
#43
kyral210 said:
Thought: hose much is the bass and how much is the amps Eq's, string choice, speaker choice etc?

I theorise that there is no bad gear (disregarding broken/ defective parts), just wrong combinations and settings for a situation.
Click to expand...

I've been recording with the same producer for years, and he specifically mentioned how good my Alembic sounded. Hence the thread.
 
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#45
My Wal Mk1. I got it while half way thru recording of my long time original bands' 3rd album. Once we heard it on tape, I went back and re-tracked most of the first half.

Before that was my 69 Jazz. I used it on much of our 2nd album, it sounded huge on tape. Unfortunately it never sounded the same way live, ultimately that turned me to sell it off.
 
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#47
My brother's 2004 stock Fender Highway 1 Precision bass, run through a homemade vintage tube DI and an 1176, sounded amazing in the studio.

When he purchased It, it was advertised with a Fender Original 1962 Reissue Precision Pickup, but that turned out to be incorrect...
 
#49
My 51/55 has been used exclusively on the next 2 EP's we are releasing shortly. It was right at home on everything from cry in your beer ballads & Neil Young/ Tom Petty style rockers, to Bill Withers acoustic soul & yacht rock tunes.
IMG_6611.JPG
 
#50
Strictly speaking, as of this writing the answer would be an Ibanez Soundgear with Labella flats. Its a been a while since I have recorded on bass though. With the next session I do on bass it will be a Yamaha or Fender depending on the tune that up next in the queue. The Ibby was good, not great. The new stable is next level up in comparison.
 
#52
Podgorny said:
Interesting to me that most posts here (my own included) are clearly biased toward the poster's own instruments. Basically amounting to a thread of "post here if you think your bass sounds good".
The truth is, most of the time a player brings their own instrument to a recording session, the engineer or producer won't say anything so long as the instrument isn't obviously bad or completely wrong for the record. This is because the player/performance are what matters most, and if a player is comfortable, they'll be more likely to play well. And to that end, I vividly recall a session early in my career where the hired player had an emergency and called in another bassist to sub. The bassist they called was Willie Weeks. And Willie played the original bassist's gear and sounded so different that I would never have believed it was the same instrument/recording chain had I not been in the room.
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True, but many, if not most of us have a good selection to pick from in our own stashes.... I have have/had instruments that were great players but dogs sonically. What we pick from our collections is still carries weight
 
#54
gtirard said:
I saw so many posts saying that all producers and sound engineers *require* a Precision as being the only bass that "sits perfectly in the mix" - I thought I would find 90% of P-Bass in this thread, and I'm glad it's not the case.


It does get said a lot but the reality is, the P has had a lot of success in the studio. Likely its just because its a familiar sound that they know how to work with. Unfortunately these days with no budgets and engineers with limited experience recording live instruments you need to go with the proven commodities. I am guilty of it. My time is quite limited so I have gone for the known commodity over finding something more unique more often than I care to admit
 
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#55
No professional recording experience here, but several of my basses have sounded great in the studio. For vintage tones, my Fender J with Lindy Fralin's noiseless Split-Jazz pickups never fails. I've used it on several tracks, and it would have been perfectly fine on several others.

For modern punch and clarity, my G&L USA M-2500 is amazing. I used that on a track for my brother's studio that was commercially released, and he was extremely happy with the tone.

But for unique tones that record extremely well, my old DiPinto Belvedere semi-hollow was great. It had some heavy semi-hollow thud, but wasn't muddy at all, and with rounds it had some zing. When I was tracking for an EP and started playing, my bandmates were blown away by the tone, and it came out well in the final mixes. If I did more recording, I probably would have kept it.
 
#56
kyral210 said:
Thought: hose much is the bass and how much is the amps Eq's, string choice, speaker choice etc?
Click to expand...
An amp rarely has much to do with the recorded bass sound in most pro recording situations. Sure, sometimes (less and less these days) an amp is mic'd along with the DI'd signal but typically the DI is the meat of the sound, or, the entire sound. Then whatever processing the producer wants to add down the line-compression, eq, effects, etc(which can include re-amping or amp sims of course). I remember when it was pretty standard to go to a session and there'd be a B15 in an iso closet mic'd up ready to go, but that's more and more rare in these days of sessions being done at all manner of studios, from big traditional places to sitting in front of a laptop.
To me the question of "what's the best bass you've recorded with" is about the bass that is consistently the most "plug n play", that sounds great in the mix with little to no fussing about, across multiple genres and types of mixes. Of course a P is famous for that, but many others do this as well.
 
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#57
gtirard said:
I saw so many posts saying that all producers and sound engineers *require* a Precision as being the only bass that "sits perfectly in the mix" - I thought I would find 90% of P-Bass in this thread, and I'm glad it's not the case.

;)
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Most producers and engineers are a lot more open-minded than TB gives them credit for, and are down with trying whatever you plug in for starters.
 
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#58
My most-recorded bass of late is a L2000, easy to play, a large variation of available sounds.

After that, a Squier 40th Anniv. Jazz, for that sound.

Then a Reverend Mercalli, because I really like it.

Then a T-40, but I feel I need a cartage company to move it between rooms.
 
#59
pbass2 said:
An amp rarely has much to do with the recorded bass sound in most pro recording situations. Sure, sometimes (less and less these days) an amp is mic'd along with the DI'd signal but typically the DI is the meat of the sound, or, the entire sound. Then whatever processing the producer wants to add down the line-compression, eq, effects, etc(which can include re-amping or amp sims of course). I remember when it was pretty standard to go to a session and there'd be a B15 in an iso closet mic'd up ready to go, but that's more and more rare in these days of sessions being done at all manner of studios, from big traditional places to sitting in front of a laptop.
To me the question of "what's the best bass you've recorded with" is about the bass that is consistently the most "plug n play", that sounds great in the mix with little to no fussing about, across multiple genres and types of mixes. Of course a P is famous for that, but many others do this as well.
Click to expand...

In my case, it's never a question of plug and play either. There's always some experimentation to dial the best possible tone.
 
#60
Rdore2000 said:
In my case, it's never a question of plug and play either. There's always some experimentation to dial the best possible tone.
Click to expand...
Certainly can go down that path. I love the whole process. I'm just talking about sessions where you show up, you're expected to be up and running for the first take with a sound that you've selected that you think is gonna work outta the gate. Heck, half the time the producer or engineer doesn't even notice what bass you're playing at first (because they've just spent the last hour and a half getting drum sounds!;))
 
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