• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

RE-Amping, pros and cons?

boroman

boroman

Apr 27, 2009
374
149
boro
www.dustblow.com
#1
Guys, I need your word about reamping. I know the pros, but what are the real cons of it? I mean, loss of signal, different (worse) sound? It would be done thru vintage Fender Precision, then Mackie analog mixer, MAcPro - Logic9 and then, after all, send thru Orange AD200 & vintage 810cabinet - signal took from AKD D12 mic again to the comp.
 
#3
There's no downside to re-amping. Essentially the sound of the take is the pure sound of the bass, which can be tailored on mix-down to be whatever you want it to be. I wouldn't limit myself to using a specific amp and speaker for the mixdown, or even using an amp and speaker, that's more of a guitar thing than bass.
 
#4
I'd ditch the D12 and look for something flatter unless you're a mid scooper. And though re-amping can be very cool sometimes, if you're sure about your sound and aren't doing it because you have isolation problems, I would just burn it right to the track and save time. Re-amping is more about being dissatisfied with the recorded sound than creating a sound in the first place IMHO.
 
#5
The downside is time, hassle and disruption of workflow. If you know what you want I don't see any upside, just get a good bass sound together and print it to tape(or hard disk I guess). If you don't know what you want then you are just punting, deferring the decision until you have 400 other deferred decisions to make at mixdown.

Things tend to come out better when people know what they want and are making firm, confident decisions at every step of the game.

JimmyM said:
I'd ditch the D12 and look for something flatter unless you're a mid scooper.
Click to expand...

That's the D112 you are thinking of. Different mic.
 
#6
Yeah the D12 has quite a nice quality on bass, is honkyer, middier than a D112, still has an extended bass response though.

Its not my go to mic for bass by any means but it's slightly old fashioned sound can be just whats needed.

Re amping has no downside as far as I see it, you either need it, and use it, or you don't.

If you have the time, space and gear to get the sound at the time then you don't need it and you can safely forget about it. If you DON"T have time, space or the gear then as long as you have a DI you know your safe to get a bass sound later.

Reamping can be useful in that you can tailor the bass sound at the amp to fit in with an already complete track, so many bass tracks are recorded straight after the drums to guide guitars and guide keyboards, all very well but you had better have a good idea of how the guitars are going to end up sitting to get the best results! either that or give yourself lots of options in the initial tracking.

Also, re amping to augment an existing bass track (including amp) through a grittier amp like a guitar amp can be a LOT more useful than adding a plug in or pedal distortion. Phase align it with the original and mix to taste and you can have a killer bass sound.

But generally, its just another option to be used when needed, there is no downside UNLESS you have a stupid engineer who insists on interrupting a session to start re amping right when the bands in mid flow! thats a bummer.
 
#9
seamonkey said:
The big pro on re-amping, is while playing you can concentrate on the playing.
While re-amping you can ride the controls to control the nuance of the tone.
Sometimes a musician on the faders can do just as good as a high priced compressor, parametric, or other processing.
Click to expand...

yeah definitely, subtle changes of volume/sound throughout a track are MUCH more creative ways to get a killer mix than eq or compression, results in a much more natural sound too! But it requires a fair bit of practice to get right!
 
#11
boroman said:
There isn't really a difference when the sound goes to the computer at 44.1khz and then this "bit-signal" goes thry a tube amp? I mean, this could be heard or not?
Click to expand...

yeah, it will probably sound a bit different if you could record using those two methods and compare, but not a lot. The amp does quite a lot to 'organic up' the signal that has been digital at some point.

It will never be quite the same because you have the sound of your DI box on the bass' signal and the impedance is not going to be the same as your bass. Also, the pickups will be out of the circuit and the amp and pickups interacting electronically does have a small effect on the sound.

but all these things are very minor, they are very unlikely to get in the way of a great bass sound!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back