Warwick Corvette 5, Logic Pro, and You

[Mitch Pirtle]

Ok, actually this is about me *blush*

Old geezer here, attempting to modernize with a MacBook Pro, MBox2, Logic Pro, and a vintage Warwick Corvette 5.

Man, that tone simply stinks. I mean S-T-E-E-N-K-S, and not in a good way. I play around with the existing virtual amps, and even muck around with the garageband ones. Pew!

*mitchy pinches nose shut

Oh, also listening through Sennheiser HD280 'phones.

I have had some (inexperienced) engineers make funny faces at me when I plug my Corvette into the direct box, but usually get a pretty killer tone out of it with a little effort.

With this current setup however, I've put a LOT of effort and just can't get a decent sound out of it. Do I blame the bass? Is Logic's stock stuff just not up to snuff? Can I blame bad parenting or poor personal hygiene?

Would love to know from other Corvette owners out there what their experiences were going direct, and what tricks they did to get the most out of that monster growl.

Because for me that monster growl is more like, well the forum rules prohibit me from being descriptive

 

[BetterBottomEnd]

I blame video games. They're the cause of every other problem in our society.

 

[projectMalamute]

Logic Pro should give back whatever is put in to it, that's not the problem. If you have had good results with that bass elsewhere than that is not the problem. So I'm gonna guess it's the M Box hardware. I've never heard that unit but I would assume the pre's are junk, possibly the converters as well. Get a real preamp, or if you've got an amp with a line out try that.

 

[projectMalamute]

Could be user error as well. Can you get a decent clean DI sound before you start mucking around with amp sims and plugins?

 

[pretaanluxis]

are you using a USB preamp/soundcard?

 

[dcartoon]

To offer something different, have you tried listening through some speakers or different headphones?

I have a pair of HD280's, and I really like the sound, but they tend to roll off a lot of bass, which might be what's killing your tone.

Just a thought,

Dan

 

[DocBop]

You like DI's why not get one and run it into the M-Box. As mentioned forget the virtual amps and stuff and get a good bass signal recorded first, then process it.

 

[Mitch Pirtle]

Thanks for the advice guys, I've been playing Bass for thirty years but only plugged it into a laptop for about 45 minutes *blush*

I mean I *love* my Mac, and I *love* my Warwick, but the combination of the two is causing me a lotta heartache.

 

[Ibanezzer]

+1 on the suggestion of taking your signal from an existing di (a di out on your amp for example) and then into the recording interface.

I use a macbook pro w/ garageband and have great results when using a singal from the di output on my preamp. I also take a second signal (track) from a mic on the bass cab and take that straight to the recording interface. Depending on what sound i'm aiming for in a specific take will determin the ratio used between mic and di in the final mix.

 

[stranger0]

Logic is pretty faithful in capturing the recording tone of your bass, for me, the tone of my MTD 5 string is pretty accuate whether I am using my M-Audio Fast Track Pro or my Presonus Firestudio/Digimax.

I'd be VERY curious to know if the DI will bypass whatever the Mbox is processing and have it's own sound.

let us know, or pm me with the results, it's a good theory that I'm curious to see how it comes out.

 

[fretlessrock]

Thanks for the advice guys, I've been playing Bass for thirty years but only plugged it into a laptop for about 45 minutes *blush*

I mean I *love* my Mac, and I *love* my Warwick, but the combination of the two is causing me a lotta heartache.

Having such a small amount of experience is the issue here, I'd bet. I've taken worse hardware (much worse!) and not had these issues. Logic can be fairly intimidating, especially for novices, so I'd suggest taking a step back and giving it a shot in GarageBand.

Open a new GB project, creat a new real Instrument, choose the MBox2 as your source, enable monitoring, and start playing. You can try all of the GB effect presets just by clicking on them while you play. It is very easy to audition sounds that way.

Also, if you have a way to try a different set of phones, or a pair of speakers, or send a signal to your home stereo, give it a whirl.

 

[hockey_head]

get your hands on an old ashly bp41 bass preamp and use the direct out.
the ashly has a majic button.
get the tone where you think it's awesome and then press the "presence" button...,.......all better


these show up on ebay for around 200- 4-- u.s. dollars

 

[Beorht-Dana]

The bad tone is almost certainly a result of the MBox. Logic on it's on is not going to change your tone in any perceivable way. It's all about the hardware that gets the sound into the computer. As it has been said before, try some other kind of pre/DI before the MBox. A SansAmp would probably work nicely.

 

[boylebass]

I'm a little suprised that there hasn't been more mention of the mic'd-up cabinet route. My old Corvette was the twangiest bass ever through the MBox. Mic'ing a cab was an easy solution. I could go on for a long time here, but just the mic proximity and tone controls are a few jumping off points.

Another solution that works for me has come up- a decent preamp. I use my Fishman pro platinum... It's (to quote all hail Bob) a Swiss Army knife. I especially love it on my Squier mod J fretless>Fishman>MBox>GB or ProTools. I won't leave home without it.

My $.02.

 

[Mitch Pirtle]

Man, I really wished I'd learned of these forums *before* buying that brand new MBox2. Not only do I worry about upgrading to Leopard, I hear more and more about the poor quality of the MBox line in general.

*mitchy chalks down more experience