Bass recording setup for home studio options?

I have a small home studio in an extra bedroom, so space is kinda tight. I’m looking at getting away from playing a virtual bass with my keyboard and getting an actual bass guitar.
 
Option 1 is plugging a bass directly into my Scarlett 2i4 interface and playing through a virtual amp, something along the lines of the Ampeg VSTs that come in some of the Amplitude packages.
 
Option 2 is running the bass through a compact combo bass head/amp, like the Ampeg B-108. Going this route, I’m assuming I can come directly out of the Ampeg’s headphone-out into the 2i4 Left for mono recording, AND mic the amp and run that into the 2i4 Right simultaneously for stereo recording. Right?
 
I don’t have the room for a huge bass amp rig. Even a full-size bass might be cramped, so I’m thinking maybe a short-scale bass is the way to go. Would love to know some experienced opinions on my thinking, and if there are any other options I should consider.
 
Thanks so much!
Billy

I play Bass direct in to a SPL Gain Station (Tube Pre Amp) and its output to the Audio Interface. Depending on the song I use UAD plugins for Amp simulaton or only a limiter.
I prefer to record a clean bass. Then you can still make changes to the sound.
 

I Di into the Focusrite and get a great clean sound. 
 
I do have a Behringer Bass V-Amp rack unit and it's reasonably ok if you take the time to set up your own patches.
 
The default ones, to my ears, just don't work too well in a mix context.

yeah. it's all been said. no point to mic an amp if you haven't got the room. record DI and apply amp sims as you like.
 
i would just add: buy a good bass. don't be stingy. it'll last you a life time and if you get a crappy one, it's not going to sound good, no matter what you throw at it

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I have a two-channel A.R.T. passive direct box. Is that the kind of DI that will work before going into the Scarlett?
 
Should some sort of tube pre-amp also figure into the equation/signal flow? The Scarlett claims to have great pre-amps built in...

 

Billy86
 I have a two-channel A.R.T. passive direct box. Is that the kind of DI that will work before going into the Scarlett?
 

I would plug the bass directly into the scarlet instument jack. No need for another DI box.
 
 



 

Neve RNDI. Bonus: it's a lot cheaper than you'd think from the name on the chassis.

http://rupertneve.com/products/rndi/

I just plug the bass directly into my VS-100 and record raw.  I use Guitar Rig to get the tone I want.
BTW, I've found that Melodyne tightens up the raw bass track, fixing intonation issues.  Not sure I would want to do that with a mic'ed track.
 
Glen

Getting a good bass sound is a huge topic just like guitar. A lot depends on the type of music being recorded. 
And we do have the 2 options of using real or using a VST. 
Real:
Pros- if your a good bass player using a good bass there's nothing that can match a real bass track. And this is certainly a time saver if your a one take wonder.  There are things you play, very subtle things, that make a great bass track, these cannot be duplicated by a VST unless your willing to spend a month editing midi notes. For certain styles of music it is the only way to go. 
 
Cons- $$$- You need to spend the money and buy a good Bass with top quality Pups. Then you should have a good quality front end for it. Sure you can get away with plugging directly to some interfaces, but not all will give good results. My Scarlett 6i6 is one of them ( see later) 
 
VST:
Pros- It's free ( with Sonar) If your a better keyboard player than a Bass player VST are the way to go. We also now have the ability to play a bass part on a real bass or even a guitar and drop it to a Midi track. I like this a lot and will use this for my backing tracks exclusively to keep my bass the same song to song. You don't need a good bass or even worry about hitting bad note. Midi can fix anything! Best reason to own Sonar with Melodyn. 
 
Cons- It can take longer to build a good bass track manually (or poorly played).  For some styles of music the bass tone is pretty important and your not going to fool everyone that this was a real bass. But hey, you can come pretty darn close these days..
 
Using a real bass: 
The problem for me with going direct to my Scarlett 6i6 was the 6I6 pre amps are not very forgiving and I would always have a few overs. I did not have this issue with my Tascam interface so this is a design flaw. Bass needs to be tamed with a compressor so I bought a Joe Meek 3Q and problem solved. There are many solutions to bass front end and one needs to decide what suits their needs and tone. I also bought a little Fender Rumble 100 and that thing is amazing. It has a XLR ( DI) output that is ahead of the master volume and this allows me to set the monitoring level from right off to window rattle using the master. I find I play much better having the little 12" speaker right there at my feet while I lay down tracks. I have the headphones on to eliminate latency and I can feel my every touch of the strings.   I you need a small Bass amp check them out. 
I am looking at purchasing a Radial Bassbone. THAT is as good as it gets for bass DI. 

I use a US Fender P Bass and a blend of DI through a UA 6176, tech21 sansamp hardware and the Waves CLA bass plugin. I make sure all three tracks are in phase. You can get a wide range of bass sounds with different balances of all three. Sometimes I'll use a IK precision compressor on the bass bus in the mix. I have also used melodyne on occasion to fine tune a bass track.

I go direct into sound card with my Musicman Stingray, don't use and amp sim, just some compression and EQ in prochannel and am getting great results.

Fingered parts at beginning and end ... slap in the middle.

https://soundcloud.com/steve_karl/water-lilies

I record almost every Bass track in to an outboard compressor first (just light compression to tame the transients).
That goes directly in to DI in to my Focusrite mic pres.
I typically double every stringed bass track with a synth of some sort to fatten up the sound.
its time consuming but once you have done it 20-30 times it becomes easy because you know the note values you are looking for.
Adding saturation and compression are a must for any bass track.
I have never found any benefits from recording bass with a mic unless the room was good and the amp was good.