a good guitar
choose strings to suite the style of music and sound ... this just takes time to work out

trim string height for even sound and levels
adjust play technique wit the above

a gentle compressor like the LA2 ... or any of the optos
LA3 gives a transistor sound
LA2 gives the eveness but is a chip so a bit more bland

a Tube Pre or Mic with DI can help
perhaps some sub sonic filtering
top end roll off ... but can be done later in the editor

a BIG chunk of the GOOD is going to come from your fingers
learn to play to the sound

It depends on the sound you are going for, but as with everything getting it right at the sources is #1. Make sure there is at least a bit of life in the strings and if its an active bass, the battery is new.

I good DI can really help, the ones made by Radial are low cost and quite good. Also another choice for a lower cost is a SansAmp Bass driver which go for about $125 on the used market in the US.

For many modern styles of music its good to have a little more top end on the bass than you might expect. It helps it compete with the guitars for clarity.

mhutch wrote: I'm playing a newish Ibanez Soundgear bass...

Here's the main problem, get a Musicman or Fender...

I have a Ibanez Sound gear bass, and it can sound fantastic. Many clients choose it over a fender jazz or Musicman.... Its tone cuts through a dense rock mix. but its all a matter of taste in the end.

KingSix wrote: [quote=mhutch]I'm playing a newish Ibanez Soundgear bass...

Here's the main problem, get a Musicman or Fender...

"Tis a poor carpenter who blames his tools"... 90%+ of a good bass sound is in the hands of the player. The touch, the attack, the feel, how the player synchs to the drummer. This takes practice and this doesn't come overnight. Keep working at it, man. Bass isn't as easy as some people think, and you have to LISTEN to the other players and work within that format. You get into that groove, you're good to go. I've heard guys that took a set of friggin' flatwounds and made them sound like Chris Squire...LOL!!!

you can also add an amp simulator into the equation for more variables.
Either in line or parallel.

If it has a neck that has the frets in the proper place for the scale length, and if it has a decent pickup thats sends an even signal out, and if it stays in tune, then I'm good to go with whatever is laying around for bass.

Very very little has to do with brand......

Very very much has to do with hands and technique as well as having an inherant feel for groove.

As for DI, if you like that modern sound (and that bass will give you that very easily) the Hartke Bass Attack pedal is the best 79 bucks you can spend.

Thanks so much for all the help! I've been playing around with it and have to say, it's OK, but not great. It is a cheap bass, and I bought it used for next to nothing.

A friend has offered to loan me his Rickenbacker for a couple weeks, so I'm going to give that a shot. The Ibanez is already back up on the classified ads from whence it came.

I've heard really good things about that Sansamp, so I might pick one of those up as well. I'll post some samples once I get a few solid things down. Until then, thanks again everyone.

Matt

Davedog wrote: If it has a neck that has the frets in the proper place for the scale length, and if it has a decent pickup thats sends an even signal out, and if it stays in tune, then I'm good to go with whatever is laying around for bass.
...

I'm definitely with Dave here. Just about any bass that is in good shape can produce a good sound. Note that bassists play a much wider variety of instrument brands than guitarists who are tied tightly to the Fender/Gibson tones with a few other brands thrown in for space.

The key question is whether it feels good enough for you so that you can play it well. Since you are primarily a guitar player you might want to go shopping for a bass that fits your playing style - a Fender or a Musicman (though they are what I would prefer) might be going in the wrong direction for you.

Make sure you get some external compression into the signal chain as you record. I find the bass guitar is just too dynamic to recording dry without it.

So I ended up borrowing a Fender P-bass with flatwounds. It sounds awesome. I just have it going through my Boss ME-50 and then straight into Logic. It's exactly the sound I was looking for. Thanks again for the tips!

Hello,
I've been recording DI basses a lot lately (digi003).

I'd suggest you make a double analisys to your situation.

First, half of the problematic is the bass you are using and how you are playing it. Bass tone is based mostly on how the bass is played, how your fingers are used.
After your fingers, bass type, wood, mics... etc !

Second, the other half is technology. Mics or direct.
Using mics on and amp can give you 1000 different tonal possibilities. Then you amp gives the sound and the mic hears it. How many amps ? How many mics you can try ! All diferent tones.

However, DI recording is a very very good alternative in today recording facilities with so much software solutions to shape tone. In this case I suggest:

Try the ampeg bass amp simulator (by amplitube I believe) You will have a ton of mics and amps to shape the sound in a very useful way. After that, follow the regular mixing procedures.

You have an ART tube mp ? Use it !!! I use a ART MPA GOLD with MULLARD tubes on it (I changed them, great improve!).

Drive the sound on the input and control it with the output. It will change the whole value of the bass mics. You can even try the HI position on the tubes if you need some more extreme sound.

Hope it helps !