MM Bongo signal too hot into Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen

Should be a trim pot inside the bass controlling the output gain. Turn it down.

 

Related : Bongo has too hot of an outputBongo has too hot of an output

 

It’s an active bass. Turning it down has zero tone implications. If it’s too hot just turn it down.

 

Sounds like you either need another interface with more dynamic range or put a DI box in the chain with a -15db pad.

 

Why bother with a pad when you’re using an active bass with a volume control? Keep it simple and just turn down.

 

Again, if the signal is hot just make it less so by using the onboard controls already present in your bass, which is active so it can be turned up or down without any tone implications. The Scarlett is also quite linear from -INF up to 0dbfs provided there’s no intersample clipping. Having its preamp gain higher or lower won’t make a perceptible difference.

 

An external preamp would be fine if you wanted the additional tone color, saturation, dynamic range limiting, or other elements that various preamps can provide. If that’s what you’re after then by all means. There are tons of cool options, all of which will do something, for better or worse, to your Bongo.

If you’re looking for one to solve your gain issue it will just be needlessly throwing money at a problem that can be solved with the existing gear you already own and fewer components/connections.

 

The first thing to figure out with compressors is what kind of circuit you like. The various types (FET, VCA, opto, vari-mu, etc.) all have different characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Once you've got that figured out there are many options available of every variety.

 

Too many years of nerd'ing for my own good

There are very few true tube compressors. Most just use the tube as a gain stage and maybe for some color/saturation. I don't know for certain, but the fattening of the Compressore makes me think that it's an opto compressor, but I don't know for certain. I don't see any references to an optical element on the product page or in the write-up on Ovnilab, so I'm probably wrong about that.

If you're going for heavy squash you might consider a compressor with a dry bend, also known as parallel compression. With this you can heavily squash things and also blend in some dry signal in parallel to preserve some of your transients which is usually where all of the cool "stuff" in a bass signal happens to live.

 

Does your model of Scarlett have the input pad (attenuation) control (-10dB)? If so, engage that and see if that tames the signal from the Bongo. This is separate from the input gain control.

 

I don't have a recommendation since I have just started the "recording journey" myself. I have used several DIs that I like, including the Telefunken TDA1. It has a -15db pad. There is some coloration of your tone with this DI, but I think it sounds really good.

My new toy, a UA Solo 610 is on its way to me. I hope this will be my main DI for home recording.

 

search around for 1/4" inline pads
These look good
https://naiant.com/studio-electronics-products/inline-devices/mpd-inline-attenuator/

There are tons of xlr pads but just not many for 1/4" and maybe it's just better to upgrade to an interface that meets your needs rather than trying to hack your current one to work.