Bass Amps and Presets ?

S

studio66

Member
My Axe 2 arrives tomorrow (according to UPS) and just have a quick curiosity question...
I dont see much discussion about the bass amp...I see it has one.
Any bass presets?
Like most of you I play guitar but like to lay down a bass track here and there...is the bass gear in the Axe 2 enough to get you by?
Would have posted this in the bass section but doesn't seem to be much happening there :)
Thanks
 
I would guess: sure! :)

It doesn't seem the scope right now to add much more bass stuff.
Not that they would not want, but so much to do on the guitar front.

If I was them, I might reserve it for another product where they would take the whole market.
If they would now give a few amps more, more bass players will come and 30% of the forum would be bass players whining for more.
It's already pretty bad... :p ;)

PS For the Ultra, DonPetersen made quite a few FX blocks to sound like this or that bass/unit.
 
I used the SVT amp the other day to record some bass tracks and both myself and the bass player were very happy with what we heard. Recorded direct via USB.

The direct track I also recorded sounded excellent as well. I'll be doing some re-amping through some other amps to experiment with blending them with the original tracks.
 
The Axe-fx II works great for bass. It just takes a little exploring to get it to where you want/need it, and I would definitely work with re-amping as I just don't find a single setting that works for an entire mixed bass signal for hard rock. I think that the SVT sim could possibly sound a little more wide open, but you just have to work with it. Post 7.0 I've been using just it instead of what I was previously doing - putting a tube pre in front of the amp.

It would be nice to maybe have a GK or a Hartke/Mesa sim for bass guitar, but I am not by any means upset with the fact that I can also record bass through the Axe and get pretty damn good sound. I think that Fractal could really benefit by adding 1-2 more bass amp choices and really improve the functions of the unit for bass players, and it would be swell. I don't think there would be much complaining. Of course, what would really rock my freaking world is if they modeled the Darkglass B7k... t'would be ridiculous.
 
It works great for bass. I've used recorded plenty of bass tracks without re-amping and ended up doing less fixing 'in the mix' than with my real Ampeg. The restriction (if any) is the stock cabs rather than the fact that there is only one 'bass' amp. Plenty of user cabs and third party ones available though...
 
If they would now give a few amps more, more bass players will come and 30% of the forum would be bass players whining for more.
It's already pretty bad... :razz ;)
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@ vAmp, you certainly do have a way with words. Are you trying to be funny? As I'm a bassist, please explain to me why you think that comment is productive, even if you are trying to make a joke?

to the OP, I use the AxeFx for bass 90% of the time and you can get great sounds from it, with our without reamping (in a recording situation). A lot depends on the style of music and bass tone you are going for. Can you elaborate for us? There are many ways to get a good bass tone, but the specifics are really context-dependent. That said, just start with the SVT amp into the 8x10 cabinet, and use all of the basic parameters you would use on the real amp as a launching point. Boost switch and Treble Bright Switch can help if you are looking for more "aggressive" tones. Also, depending on your skill as a bassist, you may want to engage a studio compressor or even the multi-band compressor (stock settings, at the end of the signal path) to even out the tone a bit.

also, do a quick search on the forum for bass tones, and look on the Bass area of the forum. There's some stuff there, but not a ton of info. The more specific you can be with what you're looking to do, the more specific answers will be.

best regards,

Jim (whiny bassist and forum "second class citizen" in the eyes of vAmp et al)
 
You can get a variety of tones with the SVT or just the Tube Pre I would imagine. I totally agree with muleskinner about the cabs though. That is probably going to make the biggest impact on your sound.
 
It is just too easy. Cliff can sleep build another bass amp over a few days. One can only conclude that he must have a personal issue with bass amps as there is no business model where not broadening the market to include some bass players, or 50/50 bass/guitar guys makes monetary sense. For the life of me, this eludes all logical reason..

I would love to see some SWR, Aguilar as well as those already mentioned. I think 6-8 bass amps would fit well on an Axe-Fx-II's pallet. It has been stated by FAS that there is "plenty of space for more amps" So, Why not? I beg to reason. I think maybe Cliff got beat up by a bass player when he was a young lad. <- JK, LOL, dont hurt me fan boys.:?
 
Tonemeister said:
You can get a variety of tones with the SVT or just the Tube Pre I would imagine. I totally agree with muleskinner about the cabs though. That is probably going to make the biggest impact on your sound.
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+1 Tube pre can be very nice. Also, don't be afraid to spend some time with NO cab block and see if you like that. Sometimes I'll go into the SVT amp and then do a split coming out of it, sending one path to a cabinet and another path to a compressor (and parametric EQ) but no CAB block. This allows you to blend things and shape the tone in a much greater way than you would with just the AMP into CAB routing. Of course, there are limitless possibilities. Also, the CAB block's MIC selection parameter, PROXIMITY, etc. are very useful.
 
I play bass as well, and even though I haven't extensively worked on creating tons of bass patches for the Axe FX II, the tube pre and the modeled bass amp in the Axe FX II sound very good to my ears. With all the tone shaping capabilities, I really don't see much of a problem getting tons of great sounding bass sounds from the Axe the way it exists currently. I use Redwirez impulses, but I remember the bass IR's in the Axe not sounding bad at all. I think the Axe is a great tool for bass as well as guitar.
 
Perhaps multiple bass players have hit on his wife and his revenge is forcing bass players to continue lifting hundreds of pounds in gear for the rest of their days?
 
kerrlehr said:
It is just too easy. Cliff can sleep build another bass amp over a few days. One can only conclude that he must have a personal issue with bass amps as there is no business model where not broadening the market to include some bass players, or 50/50 bass/guitar guys makes monetary sense. For the life of me, this eludes all logical reason..

I would love to see some SWR, Aguilar as well as those already mentioned. I think 6-8 bass amps would fit well on an Axe-Fx-II's pallet. It has been stated by FAS that there is "plenty of space for more amps" So, Why not? I beg to reason. I think maybe Cliff got beat up by a bass player when he was a young lad. <- JK, LOL, dont hurt me fan boys.:?
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+1

I can appreciate that spending time indulging bassists would only take Cliff away from his mission and love, which is guitar and (tube) guitar amps. Bassists still benefit from this, even if they only are a sidebar in the world for Fractal Audio. No biggie, and fine with me. BUT...if they ever did unleash their technology to focus on the bass guitar (amp models)...holy crap! I can only wish (and do regularly on the Wish List area of the forum). By not going 100% for the bass market at this point in time, it does give them the ability to branch out in the future. In the end, this may prove to be a very savvy business move. Or maybe they never do and it just doesn't matter and will not matter. Time will tell.
 
jimfist said:
+1 Tube pre can be very nice. Also, don't be afraid to spend some time with NO cab block and see if you like that. Sometimes I'll go into the SVT amp and then do a split coming out of it, sending one path to a cabinet and another path to a compressor (and parametric EQ) but no CAB block. This allows you to blend things and shape the tone in a much greater way than you would with just the AMP into CAB routing. Of course, there are limitless possibilities. Also, the CAB block's MIC selection parameter, PROXIMITY, etc. are very useful.
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Tube pre good. I've also got good results on some of the guitar amps I've tried paired with a bass cab. Bassman and Shiva Clean spring to mind. Some of the drives sound awesome with bass when the 'mix' knob is used judiciously.

I nearly always go for a parallel routing system for bass - one with more compression and bottom end, one with less or no compression and more grit/mids and up. Often no cab on the latter, more of a 'DI' feel. I'd usually do the same when recording a real amp as well. A drive block with tape distortion also works well on bass for evening out the tone a bit. I love playing bass through this unit.
 
Bass-meant tapes...

A lot of users keep coming on here and stating (approx.): "With the tools currently in the Axe-FX II, I can get a good bass-tone."

I don't think that's the point....If that rationale was applied to guitar, someone could just say: "I can get a really good guitar-tone with a MESA Mark V model, why do we need 12 other MESA-based models?"

Of course the answer is obvious: So that we can have more variety at our starting-point!

Bill
 
jimfist said:
@ vAmp, you certainly do have a way with words. Are you trying to be funny? As I'm a bassist, please explain to me why you think that comment is productive, even if you are trying to make a joke?
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Just stating the truth IMHO. I'm even being conservative with that 30%.
It would just become the "whining" of guitar players all over again when the Axe started out (and still going on).
Bass players thinking Cliff is now on it cause he added 2 new bass amps and wanting everything else yesterday... Major whinefest I don't wanna see.
This may exactly be the reason why he's holding out on a few bass amps.
He must know he can double his market, but that's not his first concern, I think.
Any musician can and will come to the Axe if they see the maker is trying to please everyone. I think Cliff is aware of the dangers of that.

You basically answered your own question:
I can appreciate that spending time indulging bassists would only take Cliff away from his mission and love, which is guitar and (tube) guitar amps.
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There just isn't the time and it's just not his first love, like it isn't for most guitar players.
Although I still think some stuff may come, in this one or another product.
 
billmeedog said:
A lot of users keep coming on here and stating (approx.): "With the tools currently in the Axe-FX II, I can get a good bass-tone."

I don't think that's the point....If that rationale was applied to guitar, someone could just say: "I can get a really good guitar-tone with a MESA Mark V model, why do we need 12 other MESA-based models?"

Of course the answer is obvious: So that we can have more variety at our starting-point!

Bill
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Well said. That's our argument right there Bassists! Unite! Bass amps and cabs are also useful for Guitar tone shaping. Take Adam Jones of Tool, he uses a Diezel and an old 1976 Marshall Non Master Bass amp and even bass cabs I think. Certainly if those tools were there everyone would use them
 
vAmp said:
Just stating the truth IMHO. I'm even being conservative with that 30%.
It would just become the "whining" of guitar players all over again when the Axe started out (and still going on).
Bass players thinking Cliff is now on it cause he added 2 new bass amps and wanting everything else yesterday... Major whinefest I don't wanna see.
This may exactly be the reason why he's holding out on a few bass amps.
He must know he can double his market, but that's not his first concern, I think.
Any musician can and will come to the Axe if they see the maker is trying to please everyone. I think Cliff is aware of the dangers of that.

You basically answered your own question:

There just isn't the time and it's just not his first love, like it isn't for most guitar players.
Although I still think some stuff may come, in this one or another product.
Click to expand...

With all due respect, vAmp, you may refer to it as "whining", but I beg to differ. Why, then, are there "Wish List" and a "Bass and Other" sections on the forum? Just because you seem to have some kind of hyper-sensitivity to letting bassists into the conversation, that's not our problem. It's yours. Nobody's got a gun to your head, forcing you to read every thread on this forum. If a thread doesn't interest you - or aggravates you - then you simply DON'T NEED TO READ THE THREAD.

Yeah, this thing with bassists has been discussed at length many times before over the years, so there isn't anything new about what is being said with respect to bass amps/cabs/effects. For reasons of pure self-interest and selfishness, I don't really care what ANYONE on this forum thinks (other than Cliff and his moderators), or if they think I and all other bassists are "whining" for wishing for more bass stuff, as long as we're not violating forum rules. As the ancient Chinese saying goes: "tough tittie". :razz
 
Agreed with Jimfist. It's not that I'm unhappy with the bass guitar tones possible from the Axe. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm thrilled that I can use a single unit to get great tones for guitar and bass. It's really the only way I can record great sounding music as I live in an apartment. This thing rocks.

It would, however, be nice to have a bit more to work with. It's not that I can't get a good tone out of the Axe with an SVT and a Fat Rat distortion pedal in front of it with some Redwirez IRs. I can. And I'm digging it. But just like I can dial in tones ranging from an old blues sound to a face-melting heavy metal slag-fest, I would like a few more areas to tickle for bass production. It would be nice to get some different places. Guitarists telling me that I can make a guitar amp sound like a bass amp is pretty much a bunch of hooey. It's not the same thing no matter how much you tweak.
 
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