Your Bass Guitar Signal Chain?

[TheD20]

I normally take my Spector bass > Axe Fx Ultra, then split the signal to an Ampeg model and one to guitar amp like a Recto or FAS Modern. Then i blend the two in Cubase, and normally use The Glue, or Cruchessor for compression and PSP MixSaturator. Most of the time i use sQuad for EQ, though sometimes I'll use Gliss Eq.

Sometimes i'll use a Sansamp bass driver as well and track three tracks of bass and blend those.

[chokehold]

@darkflame23:

A litte off-topic excursion into basics:

Ever tried to imagine what overdrive/distortion is?

Basically, it's clipping.
Clipping "the tops" of the sound waves as they get too "big" for the dynamic range that the circuit it's going through offers.

Say you have a signal that comes pounding into your mixer at +16dB, but the mixer's circuitry is only laid out for +4dB ... that'd be what?
Exactly, "over-driven".
So the signal from then on would sound fuzzy, because the clean, round tops of the waves would be too high above the +4dB and they'd get cut off. (Very basically speaking.)

Any overdrive/distortion FX does exactly that. Push the incoming signal louder and louder and louder and mayber LOUDER THAN HELL, let the limited dynamic range of the circuit "cut the tops" and push it on to the output.
Of course, some also introduce saturation, harmonics, etc. but the basic principle is the same.

What's the effect of all that? The really quiet parts get boosted and become louder, the really loud parts get clipped and start turning from sine into rectangular waves = enter fuzz, but they don't really get much louder.

So... when quiet is made loud and loud is kept loud and possibly clipped to stay loud ... what is that?

It's a constriction of the signal's dynamic range, which means that the distance from the quietest to the loudest part of the signal is reduced...

Voilá - compression.

[milosh_]

here's how i have been getting a ridiculously cool dub bass tone recently:

spirit steinberger xt-2 bass with stock EMG passive pickups (neck pickup only, tone rolled all the way off) and status black nylon flatwound strings. played over the fretboard, dub stylee.

bass out into avalon u5 d.i. set for max gain (around 30dB to get it up to somewhere near modular synth level), treble cut filter, and EQ curve 3 (slight mid cut).

u5 out into motm moog ladder low pass filter with loads of highs rolled off and slightly overdriven.

filter out into motm class a discrete vca slightly overdriven.

vca out into chandler tg2 d.i. slightly overdriven.

no plugins

the crazy thing is that it already sounds compressed to f**k, but there is no actual compressor in the chain. i think it must be a result of all that overdriven class a circuitry. i could put it through the chandler germanium comps and thermionic culture pullet eq, but i like it as is and don't really think it needs it.

sorry, please forgive my geek out.

I have similar approach
I don't have so many gear but I plug Squier Vintage Bass (flatwound strings, and there is a neck passive fender humbucker only - signal hot as hell) to Universal Audio LA-610 (HIz input)
input gain + 30 (max)
I use a little of La2 compresion from LA-610
then RME fireface converters
some VST EQ(fabfilter pro-Q) an compression (very little)
(sometimes additional saturation with bootsie's plugs or PSP mixpack 2)
job done

cheers

[bullshark]

I use: bass => Radialpro DI(to split the signal) => Vintech 273 pre => Antress modern comp(very light setting) => Voxengo GlissEq.

Tried all kind of effect, including cab and amp sim, but I much, much prefer the clean tone of the bass(Musicman Sterling 5, fender P and Fender Jazz); easier to mix too, as the amp&cab sim would muddy up the signal.

Tone modeling I do with my fingers.

[Mudcat007]

I try to do a virtual emulation of an arrangement that worked well in the analog world. This achieves a nice old-school bass guitar tone.

I record my bass direct to two tracks(P-Bass with flats).

Track one (virtual mic'ed amp analog recording):

Density > LexTAC > KeFIR or LeCab (I use a variety of cab IRs depending on what sound I'm going for) > Ferric

Track two (virtual direct analog recording):

Density > Voxengo Tube Amp > Ferric

I mix the tracks down to a buss on mixdown. I may or may not EQ and/or compress/limit the buss.

[taijiguy]

Live: bass guitar --> amp
Studio: bass guitar --> mixer

Sometimes there's a Wattson SuperFuzz (a.k.a. Wattson Classic Fuzz) following the bass guitar.

[surferman]

My chain is most often more like a link. and the link is a cable.

[robogone]

Bass->DI Box->Mixer->DAW->VSTs

[Hakim Callier]

Ibanez SR300 (Elixir strings) > ISA 110-DI > FMR Audio RNLA (on Insert) > Mytek > PT

OR

Ibanez SR300 (Elixir strings) MXR M80-DI > ISA 110-Line > FMR Audio RNLA (on Insert) > Mytek > PT

[deleted]

DELETED

[Hakim Callier]

I actually prefer micing my Orange 30B with an audix i5 up close and my modified NT1-A. Trust me OktavaMod's NT1-A sounds good on bass cab of axis at about 30cm.

I'll usually send the audix i5 through the ISA 110 along with the DI and the off axis distance mic will be Black Lion Audio's Auteur.

[markanini]

I've found the old stanby Blockfish indespesible for getting a really fat bass sound. In opto mode I set 'responce' to 10 o clock and 'opto memonry' 9 o clock. Here's a clip of a funk-rock type bassline on a bass with flatwounds. DI with nothing but blockfish: http://www.box.net/shared/39vsbqh7yf

[Dean Aka Nekro]

I am constanly using different setups at the moment but i do have certain preferences if it is my own stuff/no democracy involved

Mic wise its usually an Audio Technica AE-Series AE2500 Dual-Element (sweet microphone for kicks and 1x15"s as its perfectly phase alligned it) but beyond that it depends

[Vectorman]

Been through a lot of different signal paths - I guess my next album will have a lot of variety in the bass sounds, since I'm always dicking around with it, LOL.

Right now I'm trying a fairly minimalistic thing, just running my Ibanez ATK (with Nordstrand replacement pickup and TI Jazz Flats) through an ART Dual MP into the DAW and then through Uhbik Q, The Glue, and Wavearts Tubesaturator. I've been demoing the latter and had been trying it on some synth tracks, but I rather like what it's doing for bass as well.

[stk]

here's how i have been getting a ridiculously cool dub bass tone recently:

spirit steinberger xt-2 bass with stock EMG passive pickups (neck pickup only, tone rolled all the way off) and status black nylon flatwound strings. played over the fretboard, dub stylee.

bass out into avalon u5 d.i. set for max gain (around 30dB to get it up to somewhere near modular synth level), treble cut filter, and EQ curve 3 (slight mid cut).

u5 out into motm moog ladder low pass filter with loads of highs rolled off and slightly overdriven.

filter out into motm class a discrete vca slightly overdriven.

vca out into chandler tg2 d.i. slightly overdriven.

no plugins

I bet that's a cool brown note sine tone, love to hear it