ok recording bass choice question

[iamjethro]

I am mainly a guitar player who loves bass and always have had one to play aong at home, but not near good enough to make it my main instrument

I have a choice of 3 basses. I have a 92 Ibanez SR800 with the AFR P and J pickups, I have an Hofner Ignition Violin bass, and have a 92 Fender MIM Jazz.

For most recordings, everything I read says that a Pbass with flat strings (which I alreay love and put on my basses) is the sound I am looking for.

Question is will any of my basses get me there? I would guess the Ibanez would be closest due to the pbass type pickup it has, but it is active and I don't know much about that.

So, is there anyway to get that old sound without spending more on another bass?

 

[Dave W]

J bass. Roll off the bridge pickup a little, it starts to get into that P territory.

 

[scottfeldstein]

Yeah I would try the Jazz bass with the neck pickup soloed. Watch out for noise, though. Might need to noise gate it.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Jazz Bass vote here, too.

 

[fu22ba55]

Anything but the Hofner.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Anything but the Hofner.

I like the sounds I got from my old 500/1V63, but I'm not sure the Ignition version would do the same.

 

[iamjethro]

Thanks guys, Liking the input. DO active Pass pickups really sound that different from passive for getting the bass to sit in the mix?

 

[ahbass2500]

Clearly not the popular suggestion, but I would use the SR800. It may not have the most traditional P bass sound, but soloed neck pickup should get close. I have always been fond of active pickups and preamps for recording (they are typically very low noise).

For your active v passive pickup question, active pickups are lower noise relative to their output and that is the main difference. You can get active/passive pickups and active/passive preamps with a wide variety of sound options. Noting that most people confuse active preamps with active pickups. Most “active basses” have passive pickups. In the case of the SR800, the pickups are actually active pickups.

 

[Snert]

SR800

 

[iamjethro]

I was thinking the SR800 made sense in my mind, just wondering if the active thing would make it harder to mix or harder to dial in sound.
I am gonna start there, i think. It isn't like millions will be critiquing my output anyway.

 

[Element Zero]

Don’t believe everything you’ve read. Passive pickups, active pickups and active preamp, passive pickups and active preamp… they’ll all work just fine. There is no one trick pony. Trust your ears to what sounds best. Heck… record 3 separate times with each bass and decide for yourself what sounds best.

 

[J Wilson]

IF you have the time, though I think the Hofner would come off the list for me, record all three and see what you think.

It's not uncommon for a bass that sounds great onstage to not record all that well, and vice-versa. If this isn't commercial recording where the meter is running, I'd test them and see which you think works best.

 

[iamjethro]

Just me taking my time through my own songs mostly. Playing and singing everything within reason. So, I will prob start SR800, but the others may get to demo what they can do.

 

[Snert]

Record the bass clean and you can FX and re-amp later to get the final sound you want if need be.

 

[scottfeldstein]

Record the bass clean and you can FX and re-amp later to get the final sound you want if need be.

This. Always. I do usually record with a compressor, but that's it.

 

[iamjethro]

Thanx, guys.

 

[DaveParker39]

Just pick whichever bass is intonated the best and is most comfortable to you to play and then record as clean-slate as possible, tweak it in post.

 

[GTHintz]

I am mainly a guitar player who loves bass and always have had one to play aong at home, but not near good enough to make it my main instrument

I have a choice of 3 basses. I have a 92 Ibanez SR800 with the AFR P and J pickups, I have an Hofner Ignition Violin bass, and have a 92 Fender MIM Jazz.

For most recordings, everything I read says that a Pbass with flat strings (which I alreay love and put on my basses) is the sound I am looking for.

Question is will any of my basses get me there? I would guess the Ibanez would be closest due to the pbass type pickup it has, but it is active and I don't know much about that.

So, is there anyway to get that old sound without spending more on another bass?

Ibanez in a heartbeat.

 

[salmon256]

Use whatever you like honestly and tried them all as others I have said. Truthfully the jazz and ibanez will be "better" and the hofner does have issues at times but choose what you are going for. Some people use a hofner for specific reasons look at Tame Impala and Kainalu, they are hofner using artists. Of course lots of production on their end goes on but you get my point. Choose what you like and what you like for sound! Good luck!

 

[PennyroyalWe]

I’d say they all can get you close to a p bass sound. Even the Hofner gets close enough with the neck soloed. Depends a lot on what else you do to the track after the take has been recorded.