Danny Danzi

chuckebaby

Danny Danzi

TraceyStudios


@Danny, it was actually a video demo , and I think you were demoing the acme bar gig plug and you showed how a compressor helps with the sustain of guitar and bass when using the smp sims.   
  

Yeah you can use just about any hardware compressor for that. I wouldn't use a pedal though. But honestly, check out that bass POD. It will make a huge difference in the sound of your bass because it's geared for bass tones. Plus you get a wide array of sounds with it that are easy to tweak.
 
Put it this way...if you're not quite happy with your bass tones, a compressor won't do much good. It will condition your signal like you want it to but that's about it. The bass pod is a pre-amp made for bass loaded with bass tones. So you're going to get something that excels at bass tones with a compressor built in that you can use lightly while getting solid bass tones instead of using a guitar sim plug or a bass going into a direct box. The pod also can act as a direct box too which is a nice added feature.
 
-Danny

do you side chain the pod,i use it to but only on certain songs because once mixdown starts if i want to change the sound of the bass and the pod's been printed to a track i find im kinda stuck with that sound.
i use a compressor to just smooth the sound out,thats about it.
but ive been trying to figure a decent way of side chaining the pod so i change presets later on incase im not happy with the sound during mix down.
i have the same one you do i believe,well mines a few years old,i love it for certain songs.your right the presets are awesome.

Nah, I stay away from side-chaining unless I absolutely have to. You know Chuck...on certain things, it doesn't bother me to go "destructive". The reason being, after doing this stuff for over 30 years, you kinda just know what will work and what won't, ya know? Most times, when I record a bass with the pod, all I have to do is adjust the low end a little with a high pass and add a little "clack" at like 2.5 k using a UAD Helios, some compression and I'm golden. With everything else (other than if we're doing a bass amp and sending signals into our Drawmer tube comp which totally kicks butt) I find that I sit there tweaking and tweaking, and I'm never happy with a bass tone.
 
This is especially true if the bass being used is something super cheap. But with a good sounding bass along with a guy that can actually play it, I can get a good sound out of anything. But that pod really works well for me. I don't use any of the presets though. I started with one of course, but then totally changed it, killed the effects and stuff and have it sounding great with any bass that plugs into it. A few knob tweaks and it's ready to roll with any bass. Mine is old too...I think I got it in like 2002. 
 
-Danny

as always,awesome response.
 
UAD Helios: i know someone else who uses this and says its the secret ingredient !
good stuff danny.

just picked up a bass pod on ebay for $50. Thanks !!!!

TraceyStudios


just picked up a bass pod on ebay for $50. Thanks !!!!

nice score,youll love it.
 
you can also hook it up online and download/exchange presets from line 6

chuckebaby

Danny Danzi

chuckebaby

Danny Danzi

TraceyStudios


@Danny, it was actually a video demo , and I think you were demoing the acme bar gig plug and you showed how a compressor helps with the sustain of guitar and bass when using the smp sims.   
  

Yeah you can use just about any hardware compressor for that. I wouldn't use a pedal though. But honestly, check out that bass POD. It will make a huge difference in the sound of your bass because it's geared for bass tones. Plus you get a wide array of sounds with it that are easy to tweak.
 
Put it this way...if you're not quite happy with your bass tones, a compressor won't do much good. It will condition your signal like you want it to but that's about it. The bass pod is a pre-amp made for bass loaded with bass tones. So you're going to get something that excels at bass tones with a compressor built in that you can use lightly while getting solid bass tones instead of using a guitar sim plug or a bass going into a direct box. The pod also can act as a direct box too which is a nice added feature.
 
-Danny

do you side chain the pod,i use it to but only on certain songs because once mixdown starts if i want to change the sound of the bass and the pod's been printed to a track i find im kinda stuck with that sound.
i use a compressor to just smooth the sound out,thats about it.
but ive been trying to figure a decent way of side chaining the pod so i change presets later on incase im not happy with the sound during mix down.
i have the same one you do i believe,well mines a few years old,i love it for certain songs.your right the presets are awesome.

Nah, I stay away from side-chaining unless I absolutely have to. You know Chuck...on certain things, it doesn't bother me to go "destructive". The reason being, after doing this stuff for over 30 years, you kinda just know what will work and what won't, ya know? Most times, when I record a bass with the pod, all I have to do is adjust the low end a little with a high pass and add a little "clack" at like 2.5 k using a UAD Helios, some compression and I'm golden. With everything else (other than if we're doing a bass amp and sending signals into our Drawmer tube comp which totally kicks butt) I find that I sit there tweaking and tweaking, and I'm never happy with a bass tone.
 
This is especially true if the bass being used is something super cheap. But with a good sounding bass along with a guy that can actually play it, I can get a good sound out of anything. But that pod really works well for me. I don't use any of the presets though. I started with one of course, but then totally changed it, killed the effects and stuff and have it sounding great with any bass that plugs into it. A few knob tweaks and it's ready to roll with any bass. Mine is old too...I think I got it in like 2002. 
 
-Danny

as always,awesome response.
 
UAD Helios: i know someone else who uses this and says its the secret ingredient !
good stuff danny.

LOL...bro, it soo is the SI for me! I hated that plug until one day, I tried it on bass and it just blew me away. It has all the bass frequencies you'd need to adjust right there in front of you. I mean granted, if you're getting a boxey bass tone or something too loaded up with mids, you want to sort that. But the way I record my bass, I only seem to need a little low end contour and I add in a little 2.5 k for just a little percussive attack and it's beautiful. Even with old, dead strings...I always seem to get what I need in a few seconds. It's also due to how I have my pod set up. I get a really good tone out of it, don't use any of my active sub in my bass and I don't use much of the bass knob in the pod.
 
That's the biggest problem with people tweaking bass tones. They don't understand that a bass has less low end than they think. So right away they add all this low end or sub low and they wonder where all the mud is coming from. So they solo up the bass and it sounds good to them which most times, it will all alone. What they are missing there is, if they put the kick drum in, they will hear where the problem is. If they add the rhythm guitars in...then it really muds up because most people use way too much low end in guitars. So the problem most times isn't even the bass at times...it's the instruments that play along with it. But people still need to be taught how much low end is acceptable in a bass because that dictates what amount of low end or WHERE the low end will be on your kick drum. :)
 
-Danny

TraceyStudios


just picked up a bass pod on ebay for $50. Thanks !!!!

Good choice man. For $50, that's a steal! Watch the "drive" on it if you want cleaner bass tones. Try to stay away from the effects. That makes things super destructive and if you blow it, you'll be re-recording. Watch how much of the compression you use. You can gain a little drive when using it to the extreme as well as some hiss.
 
I leave my "drive" all the way down as I hate drive on a bass. If you need to add some, it does work well, it's just not a sound I particularly care for. Try the compressor at like 12 o'clock and see how it sounds. You don't want to rely on it to compress...just to give you a decent signal going to disc. Channel and output level will be your signal going to disc. See how they work with your bass. You may end up with both being at 12 o'clock or one being higher than the other. Just test out how each reacts on your bass and playing. The idea is to keep the bass signal clean and clear in my opinion...unless you want a little drive.
 
Just keep in mind, the more you drive a bass to distortion, the harder it is to control if you will also have distorted guitars in the mix. A light gain or saturation so to speak, can be a good thing on modern tunes or dropped tuned basses....but just be careful because now you are introducing a low pitched distortion into the mix that can really wreak some havoc if you're not careful. This is why I hate driven bass so much. It just sounds terrible unless you high pass the heck out of it. And then you're stuck with a bass that sounds like a cheap immitation of a distorted guitar. So if you have to drive it, drive it to where it still sounds like a bass so you're not high passing all the GOOD bass lows out of it. :) Good luck!
 
-Danny

Thanks guys! @danny, printed your recomendations, so the moment the pod arrives I will be playing with it. I'm excited!

Thanks all!!!

Right on...let us know how you make out with it. :)

-Danny

I gotta give props to the line 6 bass hardware as well. I have a rack mount bass pod pro and the grey bean in my little recording area. My wife uses the bass pod pro as the preamp for her live rig. I also use the Low Down 400 as one of my main live rigs as well. The Line 6 Tone Port software sounds very good as well, but just doesn't seem to provide the killer tone that the hardware has.