On Saturday I recorded bass for 9 songs for the new Kelli Eagan record with session bass player Andrew Dow. Andrew is a great bass player, with subtle 70’s style feel and vibe.
We worked out of The Moontower Recording Studio in Somerville Ma.
For a DI signal we ran the bass through a Neve 33421 mic pre with no compression. The DI sounded very present and accurate, but lacked a beefy and thick low end.
We also ran the bass through a West Filmore tube bass amp. Andrew borrowed this amp from a friend, and I had honestly never heard of this beast before plugging it in. We ran it into an Ampeg 4×10 cabinet with an AKG solid tube mic about 6 inches away from the grill pointed at the center of the speaker cone. The mic was amplified with the No Toasters Nice Pair mic pre.
This amp signal, in combination with the Neve DI sounded stunning. It was the perfect balance between amp tube distortion and clean Neve DI sound. The great part about getting an awesome bass sound from the source is that the player reacts positively to a great sound. Andrew really opened up and started playing in the pocket once we had the sound locked in.
2 responses so far ↓
Stu // October 2, 2009 at 9:40 pm |
I hope to pick up a West Fillmore amp some day. That’s the beast that Mel Schacher (as well as Mark Farner) used during the early days of Grand Funk. Mel played through stacks of 2×15 cabs I believe…but I bet it still sounded great through the Ampeg 4×10. Was it a newer cab, like the HLF? I’ll have to check out the recording, if for no other reason than to check out the bass lines and the sound. Hope the engineer keeps the low end up in the mix!
shaneoconnorrecording // October 7, 2009 at 6:35 pm |
it was a newer ampeg. the only thing available at the studio i was working in that fit the bill.