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Is a SansAmp Bass Driver all I need?

N

NordLead

Sep 17, 2009
53
0
#1
I'm coming from a guitar background. Any guitarist would stay away from a small device like the Bass Driver (but for guitar) or a VST instinctively, but I'm hearing that the Bass Driver seriously just rules.

Is the bass driver really that good? I've never liked the whole VST & pedal modellers thing I've heard for guitar so I'm hesitant. I need something strictly for studio recording that can get me album-quality sound.
 
#2
if you like that kind of sound, it can be all you need.
[e.g. - my band rents few different practice rooms, none w/ tube ampeg, and i use sansamp to have 'my' sound in every studio]

sansamp bass driver is an analog device. it's not a digital modeler.
 
#4
If you're coming from a guitar background you should understand that unlike guitarists, many bassists like the sound of the instrument straight into the board and don't consider amps as essential to their tone. A simple DI box plugged into the mixing board is all you need.
 
#6
This is where you guys can help me out: tone. I don't know how to describe it well since I'm not a bassist. I like just a clean bass sound that fills out the low end. I've never liked any of the slappy/poppy type playing, and I don't intend on using the high frets either.

Maybe I should find some youtube samples and post them but you may get the point already. Just a non-distorted bass sound that's thick to fill out the low end is all I need.
 
#7
There are three main bass tones : boom boom, cling cling and grrr grrrr.
The Sansamp does boom boom very well, it's not very good at cling cling and while able to deliver an honest grrr grrr is rarely used this way because other boxes do it way better.
Hope it helps.
 
#8
NordLead said:
This is where you guys can help me out: tone. I don't know how to describe it well since I'm not a bassist. I like just a clean bass sound that fills out the low end. I've never liked any of the slappy/poppy type playing, and I don't intend on using the high frets either.

Maybe I should find some youtube samples and post them but you may get the point already. Just a non-distorted bass sound that's thick to fill out the low end is all I need.
Click to expand...

Thickness can come from a lot of places; your technique, the type of strings, compression, EQ...
 
#9
Yep it's all you need. I've been using one since 2001 and although I've never really bought into it's ability to model amps exactly, it is a very very versatile bit of kit that has always enabled me to dial in a pro bass tone both recorded and live no matter what stlye of music I'm playing. You can use the manufacturers 'amp model' settings to get a ballpark tone but then it's best just to use your ears and dial in what you need.
don't be put off by the fact there is only bass and treble eq controls either. The mid is there you just boost/cut the bass and treb to affect it and once you have the level you like you just 'zoom' in with the level conrtol. Which can demolish building depending what you're plugged into -it goes a long way!
It took me a while to realise it's potential to be honest, but now I would replace it tomorrow if I lost it for whatever reason.
 
#10
NordLead said:
. Any guitarist would stay away from a small device like the Bass Driver (but for guitar) or a VST instinctively.
Click to expand...

:eek: I hope all the dozens of manufacturers that make such things for guitar have been told this!


NordLead said:
This is where you guys can help me out: tone. I don't know how to describe it well since I'm not a bassist. I like just a clean bass sound that fills out the low end. I've never liked any of the slappy/poppy type playing, and I don't intend on using the high frets either.

Maybe I should find some youtube samples and post them but you may get the point already. Just a non-distorted bass sound that's thick to fill out the low end is all I need.
Click to expand...

I think the bass driver would be great for those needs. You might also consider the MXR M80 and Aphex bass Xciter.
 
#15
I solemnly swear that grrr grrr is, if anything, on the same evolutionary branch as clank clank. fuzz buzz exhibits entirely distinct characteristics, such as a gated envelope, and an almost complete lack of tonal variation through the sustain period,
 
#17
I think the ISBO (International Society For Bass Onomatopoeia) is scheduled to have a meeting sometime next year to standardize and harmonize these terms.

But y'all forgot about "thunk thunk", a lot of the 70s LA studio sound using Ps and Js w/flats running heavily compressed into the mixer.
 
#18
I really do love Sansamp products, and like using them for recording. I have a PSA-1 in my studio rack that I use for bass, guitars, on specific vocal passages, on the parallel compression side of a snare drum, combined with parallel compression across an entire drum kit, on B3 and Rhodes that need a little dirt and the player doesn't have an amp capable of doing it... The list goes on, but I think you get my point. They make great products.

That said, I would never record bass through a Sansamp device without a direct signal as either a safety net, or a second signal to blend with the Sansamp signal. The reason being is that Sansamp products have a tendency to paint you into a corner in terms of midrange response. If their flavor of midrange works for your bass tracks it's a truly wonderful thing, but if it doesn't work, it REALLY doesn't work.
 
#20
dhsierra1 said:
But y'all forgot about "thunk thunk", a lot of the 70s LA studio sound using Ps and Js w/flats running heavily compressed into the mixer.
Click to expand...

Let's not forget that the quintessential "LA thunk thunk" sound was really a production trick where the bass track would be doubled by a relatively clean electric guitar being palm muted. It gave the bass a false sense of presence in the mix, but it came at the expense (or bonus, depending on your perspective) of having that thunky sound.

Listen to Steely Dan's album "Aja" for some good examples.
 

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