The first thing you need to determine is how you plan on recording. Are you recording ensembles live in the room, or individually tracking with headphones? Obviously, a lot of people (especially if they have never done any actual recording) are going to immediately say Ampeg SVT and B-15, but those amps both have severe problems outside of their very narrow niches.
There's a reason why bass guitar is usually tracked with a DI. Definitely get yourself some Countryman and/or Radial direct boxes.
If you really need a live amp in the room, my advice would be to get yourself a Barefaced cabinet or two (say, a Big Twin and a Big Baby), a PA power amp to run them, and a small selection of preamps to front-end them, beginning with a Tech21NYC SansAmp RBI rackmount and BDDI v2 pedal, an Alembic F-1X rackmount, and a Demeter VTBP-201S rackmount. It would be worth hunting down some discontinued ones, like a nice 1990s Trace Elliot SMX, an early 2000s SWR Interstellar Overdrive, an Eden, an Ampeg SVT-IIP, etc. Just bear in mind that the old ones can be difficult to repair, since the companies no longer exist or won't have parts.
Any band that expects to track live will obviously play live and own their own bass amp, which they should bring to the studio.
There's a reason why bass guitar is usually tracked with a DI. Definitely get yourself some Countryman and/or Radial direct boxes.
If you really need a live amp in the room, my advice would be to get yourself a Barefaced cabinet or two (say, a Big Twin and a Big Baby), a PA power amp to run them, and a small selection of preamps to front-end them, beginning with a Tech21NYC SansAmp RBI rackmount and BDDI v2 pedal, an Alembic F-1X rackmount, and a Demeter VTBP-201S rackmount. It would be worth hunting down some discontinued ones, like a nice 1990s Trace Elliot SMX, an early 2000s SWR Interstellar Overdrive, an Eden, an Ampeg SVT-IIP, etc. Just bear in mind that the old ones can be difficult to repair, since the companies no longer exist or won't have parts.
Any band that expects to track live will obviously play live and own their own bass amp, which they should bring to the studio.
