I’m new to home studio setups. I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, I want to buy a Little Mark IV, it says it is 500W. In my ignorance, I was thinking I could plug my bass into the head, the head into the Scarlett, and then the Scarlett into my Mac running a DAW, probably Logic or something like that. I’m just trying to get the best bass tone into the DAW instead of the virtual amps that they usually have. Is that something I can do? Also does the wattage of the head at 500W matter? Could that damage the Scarlett in any way, again I’m new to this so I just want to avoid any mistake
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Home studio setup
- Thread starter Josh Garcia
- Start date
If you are new to this, IMHO you should just plug your bass direct into the Scarlett.
Best bass tone will be direct injection of bass guitar straight into the interface.
Adding amps & cabs in is like a child going through the herb & spice cabinet and randomly grabbing bottles to shake into the casserole. It can be cool, or it can be gross. This is where ReAmping the recorded track out of the interface into a cool recording amp, into a cool speaker cab, into a few decent microphones, back into the interface can be nice as then you can blend your full DI Bass tone with a pinch or a dollop of your attenuated/sculpted Amplifier & Cabinet & Room tone(s).
500 watts is great for playing for 100s of people outside with no walls or in a very large room. Playing for a microphone in a relative closet, you’d be better served by a 15-30 watt amp, and even better served by a plug-in pack with decent amp/cab/mic/room simulations so you don’t even have to think about Luddite-like activity of tweaking physical hardware for ReAmping.
Adding amps & cabs in is like a child going through the herb & spice cabinet and randomly grabbing bottles to shake into the casserole. It can be cool, or it can be gross. This is where ReAmping the recorded track out of the interface into a cool recording amp, into a cool speaker cab, into a few decent microphones, back into the interface can be nice as then you can blend your full DI Bass tone with a pinch or a dollop of your attenuated/sculpted Amplifier & Cabinet & Room tone(s).
500 watts is great for playing for 100s of people outside with no walls or in a very large room. Playing for a microphone in a relative closet, you’d be better served by a 15-30 watt amp, and even better served by a plug-in pack with decent amp/cab/mic/room simulations so you don’t even have to think about Luddite-like activity of tweaking physical hardware for ReAmping.
So I’m going overkill with a 500w head? I do like to play out loud quite often and not just solely into the interface, maybe 300w? I will definitely stick with plugging the bass directly into the interface for recording. Maybe I just need to get better headphones to hear a better tone as mine are kinda cheap
The studio rabbit hole is...never ending lolz. It always begins with what your budget is and your purpose.
Decent headphones are ok to start, but if you get serious about recording, monitors are pretty essential.
But yes, as Matt said, 500w is overkill unless you plan on playing shows.
Decent headphones are ok to start, but if you get serious about recording, monitors are pretty essential.
But yes, as Matt said, 500w is overkill unless you plan on playing shows.
In case you want to use the Markbass for recording, it has a DI out that you would connect to the mic-input(!) of your interface. It’s independent from the power-amp and can be switched between dry and post-eq.
If you might plan to play live in the future, there’s nothing wrong with the 300@8ohm/500@4ohm watts Markbass amps, the DI has a bit higher quality than the one in your Scarlet, but the main reason that you buy an amp and a cabinet should be monitoring your bass, not recording. If it’s just about recording the money could be spend better.
If you might plan to play live in the future, there’s nothing wrong with the 300@8ohm/500@4ohm watts Markbass amps, the DI has a bit higher quality than the one in your Scarlet, but the main reason that you buy an amp and a cabinet should be monitoring your bass, not recording. If it’s just about recording the money could be spend better.
Direct injection is your best bet, DI box or bass preamp like a Tech 21 SansAmp, Aguilar Tone Hammer, MXR M80 ect. GL!
+1
I have Tech 21 VT Bass DI (for tubey goodness with overdrive) and Tech 21 Q\Strip (for clean signal with parametric EQ) going into SSL2 as two separate channels. I can switch back and forth between the two, or blend the two.
Super set-up…really dig the VT Bass DI and my guitar player uses a Q/Strip, gorgeous tone/s. Can never go wrong with SSL, how do like interface so far?
Do you ever use the interface console?
Do you ever use the interface console?
Sorry for the delay in response. I somehow missed your earlier question.
I got the Scarlett 2i2 last summer as my way of entering into the world of home recording. Then I picked up the idea for the SSL2 by watching the YouTube videos by Lee Sklar. That's what he uses for recording bass lines for other artists.
I've only had the SSL2 for the last couple of months but I do like it better than the 2i2 for its simpler controls as well as the form factor and layout. I don't think there is a significant difference in term of their overall performance, though. I'm still very much a newbie when it comes to home recording, but the SSL2/VTBass/Q\Strip setup has been working out really well for me as my quiet home practice rig.
Can you clarify your question regarding "interface console"?
You are not running that amp into the Scarlett in any way other than a microphone. I think you spent a lot of money on something that will have very little value in a home studio.. a low watt amp or a DI setup would be a much better choice. Dont discount the plugins. They can be very good. I say that even having a strong preference for using amps, mics and other outboard gear
the wattage of the amplifier only applies to the signal sent to the speaker outputs. if you plug in no speakers (which is fine for most solid-state power amps), the amp is not producing any wattage that matters. the direct out of the amp is not a "powered" signal, so you could have a billion watt amp and its direct out would not damage your recording interface.
a 500w amp is absolutely not overkill for playing out in a band. but you don't need and as others have advised probably do not want to use your amp in your recording setup (unless you want the sound of a mic'd bass cab).
a 500w amp is absolutely not overkill for playing out in a band. but you don't need and as others have advised probably do not want to use your amp in your recording setup (unless you want the sound of a mic'd bass cab).
Sorry I thought the SSL came with a software bundle for analogue style preamps and channel strips that can be setup to mimic SSL 4000 series consoles
It may be an ”add on pack” (software bundle) I thought I had read that the interface let you mix and channel route on a virtual analogue SSL (4K) console.
It may be an ”add on pack” (software bundle) I thought I had read that the interface let you mix and channel route on a virtual analogue SSL (4K) console.
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Now I understand what you mean. The answer is no, I haven't quite gotten that far into my new "home recording venture" yet.
This software you're talking about looks interesting, though. I'd like to do some research on it. Thanks for the info.
welcome to talkbass!
whether you're new at the recording game or not: you'll get the best signal, in the simplest way, by going direct! there's a reason why pros are comfortable with this method. good luck!
I think that software is the 'SSL 360'
AFAIK, it only works with the SSL 12 and up interfaces.
Gotcha, gave it a quick lookup, seems at first glance you need controller to run it
and the controller looks to be $2500-ish.
The SSL 12 has some great options and you can expand it adding channels using old ADATS machines, kinda cool actually
for older heads, I got a couple stacked up, not recording enough these days to justify anything like that setup. Thanks
That’s a perfectly valid way of doing it.
What you need to do is connect the amp’s line out (the XLR jack on the back) to your Focusrite. Never ever use the speaker out to go into the Focusrite.
You’ll probably want to engage the Post EQ button so you can use the amp’s tone controls to shape the signal going into you Focusrite.