Marshall Bass State B65 upgrade for recording

[Sidney H]

I have a Marshall Bass State B65 and want to be mic'ed it on low volume on a rock band recording session. Do you guys think it's a good amp? Is there any speaker upgrade suggestion such as celestion or eminence? Should I search for another combo amp or a separate head and speaker for a low/medium volume recording amp? Thanks in advance.

 

[basscooker]

If you like the amp, probably just leave it alone, and use it as you can for lower-powered stuff or home practice. If you have some money to spend, it would be better invested in something else, IMHO. Depending on what you have available, you might find that going direct from your bass to the console gives comparable results in tone, if not better, than a mic'd solid state Marshall bass amp.

 

[Sidney H]

If you like the amp, probably just leave it alone, and use it as you can for lower-powered stuff or home practice. If you have some money to spend, it would be better invested in something else, IMHO. Depending on what you have available, you might find that going direct from your bass to the console gives comparable results in tone, if not better, than a mic'd solid state Marshall bass amp.

Hi. I'very read on various threats that a bass recorded through a di box would be better than a mic ed bass amp. So I bought a Radial JDI, but found that I preferred the sound of an amplified bass. I think it has more mids and highs, also it' easier to get a good sound from an overdrive pedal. Maybe I am recording with something wrong?

 

[B-string]

Or maybe you don't actually like bass, but prefer the sound of skinny string? OD pedals do need the damping of speakers without all the expensive toys to reshape distortion pedals (emulate a speaker cab), direct into a mixer can sound pretty rough.

For better mids and highs recording direct a new set of strings like Roto-Sound round wounds will bring a bass alive.

 

[Sidney H]

Or maybe you don't actually like bass, but prefer the sound of skinny string? OD pedals do need the damping of speakers without all the expensive toys to reshape distortion pedals (emulate a speaker cab), direct into a mixer can sound pretty rough.

For better mids and highs recording direct a new set of strings like Roto-Sound round wounds will bring a bass alive.

I do like bass a lot, but I find the sound of an amped bass very different from a di bass. IMHO, seems it has more "body". I am using a daddario exl 160, and when I plug directly into my audio interface it seems a little metallic. Anyway, I will make more recording tests these week.

 

[B-string]

Are you going from the XLR on your DI box to the mike input on a mixer? You need to impedance match as well as gain match for the best results. In the end you could find it is the natural bass's sound that is off, an amp and speaker can hide this. What is your audio interface?

 

[Sidney H]

Are you going from the XLR on your DI box to the mike input on a mixer? You need to impedance match as well as gain match for the best results. In the end you could find it is the natural bass's sound that is off, an amp and speaker can hide this. What is your audio interface?

Yes, i was using the xlr output from the JDI. I used to have a presonus firebox, where I made most of my tests using the radial JDI. A few weeks ago I started to use an Apogee duet but haven't recorded with JDI in it yet.

 

[B-string]

1/4" or firewire out and to what? If computer do you know what sound card or is it a on motherboard chipset (what kind). Lots of areas to look at, analoge side as well as the A/D-D/A sides.

 

[Sidney H]

1/4" or firewire out and to what? If computer do you know what sound card or is it a on motherboard chipset (what kind). Lots of areas to look at, analoge side as well as the A/D-D/A sides.

The apogee duet is a USB audio interface, and it is connected to my iMac. It accepts mic and 1/4 instrument input.

 

[basscooker]

But really it comes down to whether or not you like the amp. If you do, why not do both? Blend the mic and direct signal. Are you tracking? You don't need to worry about the room volume and keeping up with a drummer if that is the case.

I don't want you think I was trying to say it's a bad amp... Just that it seemed from the OP that you didn't know if it was a good amp or not. I don't have experience with that specific amp, but I have these. They're from the same line IIRC, and I get a decent sound from the rig.

I responded with the impression you didn't like the amp, and rereading the OP, think I may have misunderstood.

 

[Sidney H]

But really it comes down to whether or not you like the amp. If you do, why not do both? Blend the mic and direct signal. Are you tracking? You don't need to worry about the room volume and keeping up with a drummer if that is the case.

I don't want you think I was trying to say it's a bad amp... Just that it seemed from the OP that you didn't know if it was a good amp or not. I don't have experience with that specific amp, but I have these. They're from the same line IIRC, and I get a decent sound from the rig.

I responded with the impression you didn't like the amp, and rereading the OP, think I may have misunderstood.

Exactly. I do like the Bass State but have no other amp to compare to. So I started wondering if changing the speaker to a specific eminence or other would be an option for a pro sound.

I started to record and compare using the marshall's line out and also DI with JDI.