Getting a good bass sound with a REAL bass

[Ted]

Has anyone created a custom effect patch for getting a good sound from bass guitar when plugged directly into the guitar input?  If so can you share the settings?

I'm not thrilled with any of the three bass effects, but am hopeful that a custom effect can be created.  Effect tweaking is not my strength.

Thank in advance.

[guitarron]

What sort of sound are you looking for?
I had to tweak a preset for my Rick bass, the gain needed to be kicked up and eq'd for it because Rick pickups have weaker output.
Forum member, Lost Highway CWB, has a hot funky bass sound in this recording, not sure what he did here.
http://microrecorders.org/community/post-your-work/funk-da-cidade-cinza/msg1438/#msg1438
Ron

[Ted]

What sort of sound are you looking for?

I don't know.  Just something thicker and punchier.  I have an Ibanez P-Bass copy with a built in preamp & EQ.  It doesn't sound BAD with the preset bass patches, but I'd like it to sound better.

I have no bass amp though.  I'd like to find out what others have been able to do going directly into the Micro BR.  If I could get a sound like Lost Highway CWB did, I'd be ecstatic.

[admin]

Today I recorded an Acoustic Bass (a very good I must say) clean with no effects. It didnt sound great so I used a Directx Waves plugin called Renassaince Bass and it turned out very good. This plugin is not free though.

I advise you to mess around with the Effects Patches, I bet you can get some great sounds. I don't have a bass with me so I can't really advise you a patch.

[TheMohawk]

i know this is pretty late but getting the perfect bass sound was a preoccupation of mine in the studio.

Now messing about with the br i find that using the "Bass Cln" effect gives me a great staring point. I think once you have a great starting point with sound then all you really need do is tweak a couple of things.

If you press the TR2 which brings you in to edit the features of the "Bass Cln" effect you will see you have Compressor/Enhancer/EQ/NoiseSuppressor/Delay.

I put the compressor on, put the attack up, put the level up.
I put the enhancer on maybe put a couple of its low and main levels up a bit. Put the eq on and mess with the levels. Put the noise suppresor on. And i always keep the delay off for bass. This gives me a good a bass sound as i would like.

Basically just adjust these levels and you should get a good solid bass sound going on. Then maybe you can save that as a patch or whatever, but im not sure how to do that. Id rather just write it down or  remember it. Also good idea maybe to mute all other tracks and to bounce your edited bass sound  onto an empy v-track somewhere.

[Ted]

Thanks for the tips.  Do you have an MP3 you'd like to share with the bass sound you achieved?

I haven't had my nose in the Micro BR for a few months, but am wanting to resume recording again.  I'll give your ideas a try.

Do you use a preamp in combination with the patch tweaks, or are you just plugged directly into the Micro BR?

[TheMohawk]

I plug directly into it, because i want to know that i can achieve good stiff with just that on its own and be able to say so because i would like to think its possible. And i am especially touchy about the bass. I think i have a good sound, maybe you might think its crap but we'll see. I'll try get something simple put up.

[TheMohawk]

just noted there is another good one for the bass, its right before the "bass cln" effect its called Piezo Ld.
Simply go in and edit the properties. As usual i take the delay off. turn the compressor on pump it up, put the enhancer on and pump the low levels and main levels up in that too, put the eq on and again put the low gain up.....works for me. Maybe some more tweaking and you could get a real good sound. Maybe put the high gain up too to make it clearr and punchier but the low must go up for it to maintain bass!!

I always say as far as bass sound is concerned, stay away from the mid, lash up the low bass end and lash up the high end!!!

[TheMohawk]

i put something small up on a new thread "my bass sound"

[guitarron]

i have rick bass with the classic weak ass single coil rick pickups
i use tweaked"acoustic and just about anything for guitar-
piezo ld is one of them
on bass i 've been using a br600 which has some nice useful patches, right out of box
btw-welcome to forum ted and mohawk

[64Guitars]

on bass i 've been using a br600 which has some nice useful patches, right out of box

Yes, the BR-600 is probably a better choice than the Micro BR for serious bass players. Not that you can't get a half decent bass sound with a Micro BR. But all of its amp models are based on guitar amps (Fender Twin Reverb, VOX AC-30TB, Marshall Plexi, etc.), whereas the BR-600 includes two amp models based on classic bass amps (Acoustic solid-state and Ampeg tube). The BR-600 also has a defretter effect (to simulate the sound of a fretless bass), and an octave effect. And there are 14 preset patches for bass guitar that use these effects and bass amp models. So, right out of the box (as you said), there are lots of great effects for bass players to use. And they can tweak all the settings in the bass amp models, defretter, octave, enhancer, compressors, etc. to get an even better bass sound.

For those bass players who've already got a Micro BR and aren't ready to upgrade, I'd suggest looking at the settings of the three "bass" patches included in the Micro BR's presets and tweaking the settings to suit your needs.

==============================

Patch: GT78:Bass Cln

Song: C-ACFG1
Folder: SONG0006.BR0
Algorithm: VOCAL MULTI

Compressor: On
  Sustain: 5
  Attack: 60
  Level: 100

Enhancer: Off

4-band Equalizer:On
  LowGain: 0 dB
  LowMidGain: -2 dB
  LowMidFreq: 160 Hz
  LowMidQ: 2
  HiMidGain: +3 dB
  HiMidFreq: 1.0 kHz
  HiMidQ: 2
  HiGain: 0 dB
  Level: +1 dB

Noise Suppressor: Off

Delay: Off

==============================

Patch: GT79:BassCrnc

Song: C-ACFG1
Folder: SONG0006.BR0
Algorithm: COSM GTR AMP

Preamp: CRUNCH
  Volume: 40
  Bass: 60
  Middle: 50
  Treble: 40
  Presence: 0
  Master: 80
  Bright: Off

Speaker Sim: Off

Noise Suppressor: On
  Threshold: 10
  Release: 30

FX: Compressor
  Sustain: 5
  Attack: 100
  Level: 80

Delay: Off

==============================

Patch: GT80:BassSolo

Song: C-ACFG1
Folder: SONG0006.BR0
Algorithm: COSM GTR AMP

Preamp: Off

Speaker Sim: Off

Noise Suppressor: On
  Threshold: 10
  Release: 30

FX: Chorus
  Rate: 35
  Depth: 50
  Effect Level: 90

Delay: Single
  Delay Time: 500 ms
  Feedback: 20
  Effect Level: 27

==============================

Notice that GT78:Bass Cln actually uses an algorithm from the MIC patch bank (VOCAL MULTI), so there's no amp modeling at all. And GT80:BassSolo uses a GTR bank algorithm but turns the amp modeling off. Only the GT79:BassCrnc patch makes use of guitar amp modeling to add a bit of distortion ("crunch").

[Greeny]

I've been using 'BassCrnc' with my Fender Jazz Copy and I thought it sounded okay. But I'm just a guitarist dabbling in a bit of bass embellishment, so any old bass-line is fine with me (as long as it adds something to the song).

I have a feeling that BOSS weren't really thinking about bass players when they decided on the effects list for the BR. It's very guitar-biased.

[TheMohawk]

Definitely definitly get the feeling it's aimed more at the long haired wrestler type guitarists, metaller's undertakers who shout random roars from the pit of their stomach, very macho and so on and all that. I love acoustic and harmonica and so on want to use it for that.
It's also very biased against beginners by the looks of the manual. Very exsclusive as if you don't know this shit already then you're not welcome here. Fuck it.

[Greeny]

Definitely definitly get the feeling it's aimed more at the long haired wrestler type guitarists, metaller's undertakers who shout random roars from the pit of their stomach, very macho and so on and all that. I love acoustic and harmonica and so on want to use it for that.
It's also very biased against beginners by the looks of the manual. Very exsclusive as if you don't know this shit already then you're not welcome here. Fuck it.

The BR seems to be aimed, as you say, towards a harder metal sound. But that's a million miles away from from what I do, and it's been versatile enough to get exactly what I want (softer, acoustic-based pop).

The bass effects may be lacking, but I've still found plenty of good guitar tones and drum variations in this little box.

I've had mine for 2 weeks - and as you say, the manual scared the f*ck out of me. In fact, it's pretty poor as a user guide in my opinion. Which is why I'm glad I stumbled across his forum. I used the tutorials to record my first song, and they're so easy / good that I haven't even needed to look at the manual! I'm still learning, but it gets easier and easier.

Keep the faith!