Bass DI recording.. compression

[tjburton]

On the cheap side of things (a few hundred bucks) What budget channel strip do you find acceptable for bass guitar?

I currently have a Great River MP-1NV and an RNC which works well for most things vocal or guitar, but those of you that have tried to use the RNC on bass you know it is not the greatest for that application.

Anyone tried the new Meek 3Q on bass? It sounds interesting and is in the price reange I am looking at ($200ish).

Thanks guys!

Tim Burton

[Flight Feathers]

HHB Radius 50

[mjau]

I've played with the Meek 3q on bass, and it gets a "sound" - one thing that might be right for certain rock mixes but otherwise is limited. I've also used the HHb on bass, and it is a monster. Absolutely great DI bass with that box.

[Slider]

MP-1NV a DBX 160x should work great.
I'm not crazy about the Joe Meek stuff.

[rhythm ranch]

Agreed with Slider on the 160X, but a really cheap alternative is the 163X. I've had it work great on bass.

[nacho459]

dbx comps work well on bass if you just want to smooth it out. The best ones (IMHO) are the ones thet only give you Threshold, Ratio, and Gain controls, like the 160x, 160xt, 160a, even the 166 can do wonders.

[rolandk]

How come you don't like the RNC on bass? Works fine for me as long as you don't use a super fast release setting.

[tjburton]

With the RNC I always have some amount of artifact (distortion) in there somewhere when recording bass. The guys at FMR are aware of it - its on the FAQ's on their site too. I LOVE the RNC for what it is. It works great for me on Vocals and guitar, but I think I need something else for the bass. Either another compressor or a budget channel strip... sometimes cheap gear can pull one thing off well - I am just looking for input for what has worked well for recording bass (with compression) on a budget from others.

The HHB radius 50 mentioned above looks interesting - I'll likely be looking around the net to see if there are any deals to be had.

Tim

[mertmo]

I have to second the DBX 163x.
Sounds wonderful on bass (and most things - I find it to be an amazingly useful tracking compressor)

And it's CHEAP!

[bentonevolution]

I've had a lot of luck with an ART TubePAC... You can get them used on ebay. They are out of production though. Our band tracks and practices with it for bass...great on vocals too. Great unit for the price.

[jspartz]

I have been really enjoying the Ashley SC-50 on bass.

Jason

[vvv]

I'll third on the dbx163X; mine follows an ART TPS II with the "limiter" disengaged.

[psychicoctopus]

Holy crap, I discovered the DBX 163X as a bass DI minutes before finding this thread. It's not bad at all.

[Rolsen]

I use my Meek 3Q as a bass DI - medium attack, medium slow release. Its okay, though I have very little to compare it to besides a Studio Projects VTB-1, and my recording bass is a cheap Johnson jazz bass rippoff. My main problem is trying to get the bass more 'melodically present' in my mixes, like how the bass in 'The Cure' is always so much part of the melody - mine always seems kinda subsonic. That Meek threshold control is super touchy. I've learned to use a little less compression and a slightly slower attack time so the bass notes are better annunciated. I'm watching this thread closely for tips....

[mjau]

I found the Meek difficult to coax subtle sound out of. When I did use it, I generally cranked the compressor and/or at least one band of eq and used it as an effect box. For that, I thought it was great, but as an all-purpose thing, it was too one-dimensional.