ISO "practice amp tone" when recording

[fretlessman71]

When I play through my Fender Bassman 25 (kickback shape version), it sounds FANTASTIC. Clean and clear at any volume low or high, and nearly impossible to overload. And the amp never craps out when you turn it up past 6 and beyond, but gets thicker and fatter instead - there must be some kind of "brick wall limiter" built in so that 11 year olds can't destroy the speaker by cranking the volume "just to see what happens". It's a criminally underrated amp; if you see one for sale, nab it.

There are many practice bass amps that do this sort of thing, and I've always appreciated the sort of "studio treatment" sound that a practice amp can dispense.

I'd love to get this sort of tone and response when I record straight into my computer (2019 iMac w/ i5 chip, Focusrite 18i8, Clark DI because it fattens my tone). It may not be what engineers want, but it's what I'D like to have.

I've experimented with the limiters in Logic Pro X, but I don't really know what I'm doing. Is there an easy process to achieve this tone as a recordable signal? (Mic'ing isn't an option; I live very near a large intersection, and it's never quiet here.)

(HEY ADMIN! Maybe the Oxford Comma could be used in the title of this forum, as it currently only refers to the gear used to make the recording. "Recording, Gear, and Equipment" would be more inclusive to my topic, and it really doesn't fit anywhere else...)

 

[silky smoove]

You're largely describing the difference between a DI signal, which is effectively the same as what your amp sees on the way in, and a signal that's gone through a preamp, power amp, any onboard processing, pushed through a speaker and then to your ears through open air. The two are quite different. The good news is that judicious use of a low pass filter will address most of the differences. Beyond that adding in a high pass filter to taste and possibly some EQ, compression and saturation to mimic the signal processing and you can get shockingly close. You can also just grab any quality amp sim and get somewhere similar to what your amp is doing. Many of these are affordable or at least offer a trial period to see if you like what they do.

 

[micguy]

If your amp is solid state, you may be able to disconnect the speaker and plug the amp into a DI. It has to be a DI that's designed for speaker level - The Countryman 85 will do this, AFAIK.

 

[fretlessman71]

If your amp is solid state, you may be able to disconnect the speaker and plug the amp into a DI. It has to be a DI that's designed for speaker level - The Countryman 85 will do this, AFAIK.

Not a bad thought; but I was thinking that if I could recreate the signal path virtually, it'd be something I could save as a "patch", and I'd learn something to boot. But your idea has definite merit.