FAS Bass is G3 - but why no pro UR bass cab IRs yet?

Clark, with all due respect.

You've now called people childish and narrow-minded, when in fact everybody here is being rather open-minded and quite mature about our standpoint. You've also insinuated that a group of musicians are too cheap to consider a piece of gear like the Axe-fx II. That's almost preposterous as your other statements.

The argument that "not a lot of bassists are buying the Axe-fx" might very well just have to do with the fact that there isn't a lot in the Axe-fx for bassists. How many times and ways do we have to say it? Even if there aren't a ton of bass players solely buying the Axe-fx II to play bass through, there are hoards of dudes recording bass for their projects, or even just pro-type demos on this thing. One would think a creator of such a technology would want a great representation.

Yes, we're all aware of the fact that Cliff is a guitarist, and he built the unit as an effects and then power/preamp sim for guitar. And nobody here is "demanding" anything of Cliff et al. We are merely lamenting the fact that there is a ton of untapped potential for this unit, and that we don't see a lot of that potential being even mentioned.

Look - the cabs in the bass department will kind of do the job. But they're really not very good. I mean, honestly. And the Redwirez cabs? Also not very good. I think once the SVT is G3'd it'll kick a bunch of ass if we can only get some good SVT cab IRs in UR format. And frankly, I kind of like the new FAS Bass model.

Excluding bass players, or not developing the bass aspects of the unit might make sense from a business standpoint of importance of market share, but it doesn't make sense when a bunch of semi-ok bass production is being done with a unit when we could be creating absolutely killer recordings.
 
Jokes are jokes. C'mon I'm just messing with you guys. :)

SV BASS will be the next Cab Pack. I made it for a reason. In fact I think I'll record sone bass for you guys to hear what it'll sound like. :)

Amp wise we already have Mesa, Ampeg, Orange, Fender etc covered. I'm not sure if I know the tonal difference between bass amp tones.
 
I saw Tony Levin using a Kemper on stage 6 months ago....:devilish:
 
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I must say it would be nice to not have to Rube Goldberg bass tones with this unit.

For bloody sakes, how many variants of a TV Cab, Mesa Cab, and 2 X 12 do we already have in the unit that are UR?

The only bass cab IR's we really have that is UR stock in the unit is a Super Beatle and the Bassman 4X10 and let's face it, if it wasn't used by guitarists, it probably wouldn't be there.

The fact that I have to bi-amp stuff to get to the types of bass tones I hear in my head is a lot of work.

Compare that to tons of variant Marshall guitar tones, tons of variant Fender guitar tones, tons of variant Mesa tones, as well as a ton of esoteric guitar amps that a lot guitar players never even touched a knob on.

Just having some UR bass IR's like CK is doing as well as Ownhammer with the Sunn pack, is a step in the right direction.

I know that many guitar amps may be modded into bass amps, like on one thread Cliff said the JTM 45 can be modded into a Sunn bass head.

Even someone giving us a road map of which guitar amps with specific mods can be turned into the bass counterparts would be a step in the right direction.

As bass players, we are used to standing in the shadows, getting stale beer, and the most psycho of groupies attracted to us, so we know how the pecking order goes: vox, guitar, keys, bass, then the drummer... at least we are not drummers!!! :devilish:

But all kidding aside, it would be nice if FAS hooked us with a road map how to get certain bass amps by modding the existing guitar amps, if there's no interest in G3'ing the oft wished for bass amps... along with commercial providers giving us some love with UR cabs that are not just Ampeg.

PS. And as far as bass players having no money, check out the prices on our gear whether it be instrument, amp, or strings offered from the same maker. There is usually a 4 to 1 price differential between the cost of bass strings to guitar strings. Amps and basses are also usually much higher priced from the same maker for not that much more material used. So cry me a river with that tired stereotype of bass players have no money, if we had no money, we would have no gear and certainly none of us would be FAS customers.
 
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Clark Kent said:
Jokes are jokes. C'mon I'm just messing with you guys. :)

SV BASS will be the next Cab Pack. I made it for a reason. In fact I think I'll record sone bass for you guys to hear what it'll sound like. :)

Amp wise we already have Mesa, Ampeg, Orange, Fender etc covered. I'm not sure if I know the tonal difference between bass amp tones.
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It's all good, Clark. I know you're just having fun with us. Some of us want to vent a little, that's all. The fact that you aren't sure about the tonal differences between the provided stock amps sort of speaks to the problem, and we all know that the cabinet plays a significant role in the tone.

It's not that good tones aren't already in the box, but it would be cool to fire up an amp and companion cabinet and immediately hear what I consider to be that amp's trademark. For example, every SVT tube head I've ever played through with its 8x10 companion, with all settings straight up at noon, has an immediately recognizable sound. It may need tweaking, but the tone is just there. I can't say I've ever fired up the AxeFX SV Bass model and 8x10 cab and felt like "oh yeah, THAT'S the tone I know and love!" It might be a nice solid tone, but it just seems to be missing that "something", you know what I mean? The SV Bass model sans cab block, run into a power amp and 8x10 cabinet, however, DOES nail the tone. This is why I believe it is the cabinet IR that needs examination.

There are exactly zero factory presets that attempt to demonstrate what someone at FAS considers to be a good representation of the axefx bass capabilities. Is that an accident?
 
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jimfist said:
It's all good, Clark. I know you're just having fun with us. Some of us want to vent a little, that's all. The fact that you aren't sure about the tonal differences between the provided stock amps sort of speaks to the problem, and we all know that the cabinet plays a significant role in the tone.

It's not that good tones aren't already in the box, but it would be cool to fire up an amp and companion cabinet and immediately hear what I consider to be that amp's trademark. For example, every SVT tube head I've ever played through with its 8x10 companion, with all settings straight up at noon, has an immediately recognizable sound. It may need tweaking, but the tone is just there. I can't say I've ever fired up the AxeFX SV Bass model and 8x10 cab and felt like "oh yeah, THAT'S the tone I know and love!" It might be a nice solid tone, but it just seems to be missing that "something", you know what I mean? The SV Bass model sans cab block, run into a power amp and 8x10 cabinet, however, DOES nail the tone. This is why I believe it is the cabinet IR that needs examination.

There are exactly zero factory presets that attempt to demonstrate what someone at FAS considers to be a good representation of the axefx bass capabilities. Is that an accident?
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Maybe just maybe... Wild guess, Cliff might have plans for a fractal unit for bass players down the track?
 
It would be cool to have a dedicated unit, but why bother?

I can't remember but I seem to recall Cliff saying that he could have many more amps emulated than we already have. And since the mimic process can clearly emulate any type of amp, we could certainly see some bass amp additions to the unit we currently have with no problem whatsoever.

It would be cool if Cliff would weigh in more on why there seems to be a conscious exclusion of bass development. I can't say I can clearly remember when he's talked about it, aside from when he made the concession to add a few more bass amps to the list. :eagerness:
 
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Speculum Speculorum said:
It would be cool if Cliff would weigh in more on why there seems to be a conscious exclusion of bass development. I can't say I can clearly remember when he's talked about it, aside from when he made the concession to add a few more bass amps to the list. :eagerness:
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I agree that it would be nice if someone from fractal would join in on this topic.
 
Stupid question but are there any presets besides the first two that are for bass? I'm looking through the list and nothing seems obvious to me
 
I bought a Mesa Powerhouse 1x12 and a Bergantino HD 1x12 and use them in stereo ... problem solved.

From my experience IRs are great for recording but suffer in translation to FRFR. Especially for bass.
 
Clark Kent said:
FRFR wattage may not be enough for bass.
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Using a Matrix GT1000FX and 2x Matrix CFR and Q12s.

Power: 260W RMS, 520W Peak

Impedance: 8 Ohms x2 > 4 ohms so amp should be putting out 500 W per channel. Should be good there. Hell the traditional 1x12s are only rated at ~300W.

Don't get me wrong, it sounds good but not nearly as good as the real deal. I use FRFR to supplement the traditional cabs; clean through traditional cabs and FX through FRFR.

Maybe we just need your IRs CK :)
 
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maschoff said:
Using a Matrix GT1000FX and Matrix CFR and Q12s.

Don't get me wrong, it sounds good but not nearly as good as the real deal. I use FRFR to supplement the traditional cabs; clean through traditional cabs and FX through FRFR.

Maybe we just need your IRs CK :)
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Haha. Well we're comparing a miked signal to a real cab in the room. I know some IR producers like to use that term for hype "with these IRs you get the amp in the room sound" but no IR can break the laws of physics. :) It's going to be a powered version of a miked signal. If it doesn't sound like a miked signal then I guess it's not going to be a good miked signal is it? :) However you can definitely go for that if you want to. The subkick that I used with the Cab Pack gives you all the low end you'll ever need. However one FRFR speaker is not physically the same thing as a 4x12 or 4x10 cabinet and therefore will not sound comparable. I haven't tried them all so I might be wrong.

I found my happy place with having in ear monitors and then running a real cab for that amp in the room sound. Using an EHX Magnum 44 to run a cabinet felt like enough to get that feedback going on and getting that "fill the room" type of feel. :)
 
One thing that everyone needs to realize is that an intelligent business owner (like Cliff) would see the Bass segment at 5% of sales as an untapped market and a potential growth segment.

1. Cliff has already spent untold hours and dollars developing the hardware and the algorithms for this incredible system that we guitarists love.
2. Many of the recent improvements in feel are probably a direct result of input from major players, not mere mortals like you and I. I wouldn't presume that Cliff would be unable translate this ability to Bass players.
3. Fractal Audio already has someone on payroll who can work closely with the player and has a talent for communicating said players suggestions to Cliffs programming genius.
4. The bass player from one of Cliffs most respected bands just bought Fractal products.

To me that looks like Fractal is poised to increase market share in an untapped market segment with just a small effort compared to what they have already achieved.

But what do I know? I've just been drinking and playing my guitar all night.
 
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