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Hello,

I am thinking of a "nice" bass recording, and would like if some of you have an idea of Abraham Laboriel's sound or close related sound, and what kind of material is used to obtain it.

The latest I heard from him is the live "abe&friends" in Zurich with Paul Jackson Jr, Vinnie Colaiuta. Great players, Great sound !

Many thanks for the insights :-)

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anonymous Mon, 05/07/2007 - 09:07

I've only heard certain pieces by Mr. Laboriel but the sound, as I can recall, is a lot of amp blend combined with a DI--that is, if there's even a direct signal at all. Maybe lots of room sound, too.

If you can't find his gear and recording techniques online you might try, as an affordable reproduction, an Ibanez Soundgear or the [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.ibanez.c…"]Fieldy signature bass[/]="http://www.ibanez.c…"]Fieldy signature bass[/] through some kind of amp with a smaller speaker for clarity (I'd say 10s, because they're kind of quacky).

...or, wait for someone with actual knowledge to reply.

anonymous Wed, 05/09/2007 - 02:10

Hi
thanks for this first response, I'll wait and see if there are more infos about this.

concerning the instrument , I know he's been recently using a lot the yamaha TRB5PII, although he has many other hand made basses

In the interview about this last album, he mentions some brands' names, but hard to have a clear idea of the gears used (preamps, effects, amps ..?)

About the amp, you mention a small 10" amp right,
this means also generally with less power, around 35-50Watts, is it sufficient enough ?
at which distance would you put the mics ?

It's interesting because a sound engineer from paris that worked with the biggest studios there once told me the same for guitar.

FifthCircle Wed, 05/09/2007 - 11:49

It has been a few years since I worked with Abe... I don't remember the particular bass he had with him, but at that time, he travelled with an ADL200 tube direct box (not to be confused with the ADL 300 which is a pale comparison) and we put a small diaphragm condenser (I think a KM84 actually) on his amp which we used a touch of in the final sound.

--Ben

anonymous Thu, 05/10/2007 - 02:38

Many thanks Ben,

You mean big part of the sound was directly taken from the box, and only a little bit from the amp

Then do you think that the recent presonus ADL600 is close to the ADL200 as this latest seems rare...
( I search the web and came back to you again here (Dead Link Removed) ) can't find any price of that piece

Thanks

FifthCircle Thu, 05/10/2007 - 10:09

Never used the ADL 600, but I highly doubt that it sounds anything like the ADL 200. The ADL 200 was made until about 6 or 8 years ago. It is a half rack space stereo tube direct box that was made by ADL, but designed by the same person that designed the Vac Rac line of gear.

It is a pretty simple design, sounds big and fat, but not overly-so... Occasionally, you'll see them pop up on ebay (where I found mine), but they are indeed pretty rare. Most of the folks that I know that own them aren't planning on getting rid of them (because they like them)

-Ben