Maybe buying a Bass... Do I need an amp?

[Dominik Gräber]

Hey there! I am really considering to buy a Bass but don't want to spend even more Money on a Bass amp. Especially because I would need one I could directly plug Into my PC for recording.

Now I already heard that you should be careful using a guitar amp with a Bass. But what I Wonder now, are there good and preferrably free Options to Plug my Bass directly Into my PC and use this as an amp? How would I even Plug my Bass Into my pc?

Captain @Ed Seith got any Tips on that maybe?

 

[Christian Schulze]

I mean you could plug you bass into your guitar amp, but you would risk blowing the speakers out.
Regarding plugging the guitar into the PC, that should work.

Lets wait on the captains answer though.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

I mean you could plug you bass into your guitar amp, but you would risk blowing the speakers out.
Regarding plugging the guitar into the PC, that should work.

Lets wait on the captains answer though.

Yeah, I heard people do that, I Just don't know anything about how that would Work

 

[Donovan Etue]

Hey I can help out a little bit! Yeah it's generally speaking a pretty bad idea to plug a bass into a guitar amp. The frequencies a bass puts out aren't suitable for guitar speakers. If you're playing it at very low volume you may be alright but when you crank it you will more than likely damage the speaker to your cab. To connect a bass to your pc would be practically just like plugging your guitar into a pc. If you own an audio interface like a Scarlett, or Evo 4 you just connect the interface into your pc, go into your daw of choice more specifically the input settings, select your interface and boom your interface is connected. You may need to install drivers though. From there use a instrument cable that's connected to your bass and plug it into the interface like you would plug it into an amp. Boom, your bass is connected to your PC. From there you will hear the DI which is the direct input. It's generally speaking the purest your instrument will sound. I haven't researched into bass amp sims much but I know that you've got limited choices on good ones with a lower budget. The Ignite SHB-1 is based off of the real SHB-1 bass amp sim for the bassist of the metal band Subhuman. I've heard good things about it as well as the Bias Amp 2 plug in which does have a few different bass amps. You'll also need a cab loader which will digitally replicate a cab to get the bass tone to sound like bass instead of annoying harsh static. My Evo 4 interface came bundled with Torpedo Wall of Sounds which is a very adjustable cab sim plugin with hundreds of guitar and bass cabs. You can swap out different mics, adjust the distance between the mic and cab, change the room to add more reverb, and other different things to help you get a pretty damn good tone out of what you've got. You could also go with the NadIR which is an impulse response software which is similar to a cab sim. I've used both and I like both. I personally prefer Wall of Sound but I've never had an issue with NadIR. Hopefully this helps man. If you've got any questions feel free to ask. If I can't help answer the question I can link/find a video that will haha.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Hey I can help out a little bit! Yeah it's generally speaking a pretty bad idea to plug a bass into a guitar amp. The frequencies a bass puts out aren't suitable for guitar speakers. If you're playing it at very low volume you may be alright but when you crank it you will more than likely damage the speaker to your cab. To connect a bass to your pc would be practically just like plugging your guitar into a pc. If you own an audio interface like a Scarlett, or Evo 4 you just connect the interface into your pc, go into your daw of choice more specifically the input settings, select your interface and boom your interface is connected. You may need to install drivers though. From there use a instrument cable that's connected to your bass and plug it into the interface like you would plug it into an amp. Boom, your bass is connected to your PC. From there you will hear the DI which is the direct input. It's generally speaking the purest your instrument will sound. I haven't researched into bass amp sims much but I know that you've got limited choices on good ones with a lower budget. The Ignite SHB-1 is based off of the real SHB-1 bass amp sim for the bassist of the metal band Subhuman. I've heard good things about it as well as the Bias Amp 2 plug in which does have a few different bass amps. You'll also need a cab loader which will digitally replicate a cab to get the bass tone to sound like bass instead of annoying harsh static. My Evo 4 interface came bundled with Torpedo Wall of Sounds which is a very adjustable cab sim plugin with hundreds of guitar and bass cabs. You can swap out different mics, adjust the distance between the mic and cab, change the room to add more reverb, and other different things to help you get a pretty damn good tone out of what you've got. You could also go with the NadIR which is an impulse response software which is similar to a cab sim. I've used both and I like both. I personally prefer Wall of Sound but I've never had an issue with NadIR. Hopefully this helps man. If you've got any questions feel free to ask. If I can't help answer the question I can link/find a video that will haha.

Thanks for the info man! Doesn't sound super promising yet. I do not own an interface and do not plan on getting one for now. For my guitar I use my Boss Katana directly into my pc. Is there a way to connect your instrument to your pc without an interface?

 

[Donovan Etue]

Thanks for the info man! Doesn't sound super promising yet. I do not own an interface and do not plan on getting one for now. For my guitar I use my Boss Katana directly into my pc. Is there a way to connect your instrument to your pc without an interface?

Yes and no. I've heard of people using a instrument to usb cable to connect their instrument to their PC but if I remember right the sound of the guitars weren't great and it had higher amount of latency. I'd have to go through and find what post it was I found it in but I'm pretty sure that was the case. From there I'm not sure of other ways of connecting a guitar/bass to a PC.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Yes and no. I've heard of people using a instrument to usb cable to connect their instrument to their PC but if I remember right the sound of the guitars weren't great and it had higher amount of latency. I'd have to go through and find what post it was I found it in but I'm pretty sure that was the case. From there I'm not sure of other ways of connecting a guitar/bass to a PC.

Okay, I'll have to look into it. If there is no easy way I will probably just not get a bass for now.

 

[Firsty Lasty]

I don't believe there is any reason to fear playing a bass through a guitar amp. Nothing will go wrong. The one drawback is for live performance you won't have the power you would expect.

Bass into a DI with no amp works fine.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

I don't believe there is any reason to fear playing a bass through a guitar amp. Nothing will go wrong. The one drawback is for live performance you won't have the power you would expect.

Bass into a DI with no amp works fine.

I heard you can Blow Out your Amp speakers? Although I would only Play in 0.5W in my bedroom anyway.

What's DI exactly?

 

[Firsty Lasty]

DI = direct input. You're not going to blow out any speakers or cause any kind of damage.

 

[Donovan Etue]

Here's a video by Philip McKnight going over whether a bass guitar is safe to play through a guitar amp.

 

[Rad Synner]

I think pretty much everything was said here but let me had just my POV.

So as mentioned, you could plug your bass in your guitar amp but that can cause damage to the speakers. As mentionned, the speakers of a guitar amp are not made to deal well with the low frequencies that a bass produces and needs. The truth is also that the amp itself will not give the best bass tone but then again, it can do the job if you just need basic sound. The key is I guess to just not play loud while your bass is plugged in because thats what can really cause damages.

Now the best solution to avoid an amp in my opinion is what was also mentionned: a soundcard. from what I saw, you said that you sort of use your boss Katana as a medium between your guitar and computer which can do the trick just fine. However, I would suggest to eventually think about investing into a soundcard to really get the best tones out of both your bass and guitar. The basic focusrite will do more than just the job and it can improve your recordings drastically. The katana while giving very solid sounds is a good temporary solution but my ultiate advice is to still consider moving forward from it in the right time!

Hope that helps. Bass rock, Hail Johnny Christ \m/

 

[Ed Seith]

As long as you don't crank it, the amp will be fine. If the Katana doesn't have any bass amp settings, then see if it has a BYPASS mode. If it does, the Katana is your bass interface to the PC. If not, you can still use a very clean amp dialed in neutrally and with no effects to get it into the PC.

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Thanks everybody! I will have to Look Into your suggestions a Bit more before I can decide on anything.

@Radu-Cristian Perde why would the Katana be a worse solution than an Interface? After all it's Designed to be used that way.

@Ed Seith do you have any recommendations what to use when I connected Bass and PC to get my Tones and good recordings? I know there were some suggestions but I'd Love to know your opinion / experience too!

 

[Rad Synner]

@Dominik Gräber well technically it is an interface in itself. And it does the trick just fine plus from what I know, you can use it as a DI with no effect to then use plug ins or other things. Im not sure how the preamps are in the amp so they must be pretty basic which will do the trick just fine but im not sure how they compare to soundcard preamp. Plus you are limited in the sense that you cant plug a mic or something else but then again, it depends what you want to do too! If you just want to have some basic recordings just for fun and sort of limited to guitar, the katana will do the trick just fine

 

[Dominik Gräber]

@Dominik Gräber well technically it is an interface in itself. And it does the trick just fine plus from what I know, you can use it as a DI with no effect to then use plug ins or other things. Im not sure how the preamps are in the amp so they must be pretty basic which will do the trick just fine but im not sure how they compare to soundcard preamp. Plus you are limited in the sense that you cant plug a mic or something else but then again, it depends what you want to do too! If you just want to have some basic recordings just for fun and sort of limited to guitar, the katana will do the trick just fine

Well the Point is to Not need a mic

 

[Ed Seith]

Back in the day, most bass guitars were recorded direct - bassists didn't even bother bringing a rig - just a bass guitar. They'd grub a tuner and cable from the guitarist, plug in and play. Their tone was basically up to the engineer. There is NOTHING wrong with recording that way, which is why I asked if the Katana had a preset BYPASS selection.

 

[Rad Synner]

Well the Point is to Not need a mic

I meant a mic for recording vocals but for guitar, dont even worry about it

 

[Dominik Gräber]

Back in the day, most bass guitars were recorded direct - bassists didn't even bother bringing a rig - just a bass guitar. They'd grub a tuner and cable from the guitarist, plug in and play. Their tone was basically up to the engineer. There is NOTHING wrong with recording that way, which is why I asked if the Katana had a preset BYPASS selection.

Gonna have to look into it. Did a quick Google search but had no time to Look at the amp

 

[Dominik Gräber]

I meant a mic for recording vocals but for guitar, dont even worry about it

The day I start to sing AND RECORD IT will be the day the world ends! So no worries here