Hi, and welcome!

Can you post a short (~20 sec) MP3 clip illustrating the tone you are having a problem with? Use the "Upload a File" button at the bottom right of the reply box.

Sure thing!

Attached files Amp sim.mp3 (125.6 KB)  DI track.mp3 (125.6 KB) 

While the raw track is never going to be a particularly attractive sound, I would not in any sense call it bass-heavy. It springs to life in your second clip when you put it through a sim and add huge dollops of cymbals.

What sort of listening environment do you have for you to say it has excess bass?

I thought the same - I'm not hearing anything bassy at all - in fact my guitars sound pretty much like that via a DI? That like Boswell is hinting at, suggests the room and the monitors maybe? Is it the same on headphones?

Thank you guys for your feedback! I have a pair of Presonus eris e3.5 monitors while my room is not "acustically" treated. On them it really sounds bass heavy compared to recordings of other people from YouTube with the same settings. I just can't achieve a good guitar tone and mix in general even after watching and reading countless guides. The monitors tho are amazing and everything sounds great from them.

And yes, on headphones it sounds the same.

Are you plugging your headphones into the phones output of the Scarlett or the phones socket on the Presonus monitors? Is there any difference between the sound when you try the two headphone outputs in turn?

It's hard to think of those monitors with their 3.5" woofers producing an over-bassy sound.

try a Hi Pass Filter @ 80 Hz while you record. maybe a little soft knee compression, 2:1 ratio with a medium attack knocking off about 3dB.

that should get you to where it sounds like a record.

I found out that recording straight into the audio interface isn't optimal. I have a Focusrite too - a Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen to be precise. Altough stated in the manual that one can connect a guitar straight into the unit, I always usea proper DI. For bass I use a SansAmp Bassdriver and for guitars a Radial. Since not to long, I have a Mooer RADAR - an poweramp and cabsim that goes before the interface, with very satisfying results.

Anyway invest in a good DI box, and your guitar and bassguitar recordings will sound better. This is because the input impedence of the most audio interfaces is not high enough, while dedicated DI boxes have an hight impedence. Stuff like Mooer RADAR go after a preamp or FX unit/stompbox(es) and then it doesn't matter if you use a DI box. But maybe you want to reamp, or have total control over your sound and want a total recall situation - then use a proper DI box!

Or pickup an eleven rack off eBay cheap and get an all around better piece of kit.