funkle

This probably isn’t helpful, but I generally prefer a 2 band preamp on a bass. I control the mids by picking the right bass for the job in the first place (P vs J vs Stingray), using pickup selection where I have a 2 pickup bass, or changing where I place my right hand when plucking. YMMV. I use John East preamps wherever I can. My Jazz has a East J-Tone (2 band) and my ‘Stingray’ has a 2 band East MMSR. (The Celinders I have both came with tweakable Greengrove 2 band preamps.) However John doesn’t have a flat 2 band just on it’s own, the BTB 01 (https://www.east-uk.com/product/btb-01/?v=79cba1185463) which could be perfect for this uses the Bass/Treble section from the J-Retro, which has a little too much bass boost baked in for my taste. So you either need to ask him to make a custom, buy the highly tweakable Uni Pre and omit installing the mid, or use a J-Tone. Or go Aguilar as you planned, lol

Just coming back to this topic nearly a year on. I still love the gritty thump of this bass. I took it into a studio and did have some niggles with hum, so am going to try out @greenolive ‘s Nordstrand 51 humbucker he’s got for sale and report back.

It was an old friend, now living in Liverpool, but who comes up to Edinburgh a lot for work, and tends to record at a place called Anvil Studios in Ratho. From the sound of things on the tracks, there’s still a lot of work to do on instrumentation and mixing, so it may be a bit yet before they’re out. I’ll let you know!

Yep, there is, I have used that before too. If I needed the space, I could have freed up the block I used.

Good question. I guess in one sense, I did. However, I was trying to copy a signal chain of what I thought would happen in some studios anyway. A ‘colour’ DI, gentle compression on the way in (fast response, fairly fast release) to keep overall levels fairly consistent, and a brickwall limiter to prevent any unexpected signal peaks from causing distortion. Oh, and the noise gate. Probably should have had that at the beginning as opposed to the end. I experimented a lot at home before taking it to the studio. The limiter did exactly what I wanted, nothing until I slapped or plucked too hard, then it clamped down on the top of the note. So most of the time, using the compressor and limiter resulted in just light compression.

Had my first big success with the Stomp last few days. 13 songs recorded in 2 days in sessions for a singer songwriter. I took the Stomp to the local studio expecting to use a ‘recording signal chain’ I designed to monitor myself and send a dry signal to the desk for them to process. As it turned out, the sound was so good that the engineer simply took the effected signal just as it was. It sounded great in the mix. I used a Stingray for 2 tracks and a Precision Bass with flats for the rest, and it sounded super with both, no tweaks needed. Chain was Zero Bass DI for a very light touch of grit, Rochester Comp with gentle 4:1 compression, the LA2A clone as limiter for peaks, and Noise Gate. Really pleased. I see no need for expensive DIs. Sounds to me like digital has caught up. Edit: I also have to give big props to @krispn for turning me on to TI Flatwounds. They sound great, and recorded great. Thanks mate. Also, the beers you made were nice 😊

I’m using the LA2A clone as a limiter for recording. It works well. I like both this and the Rochester as compressors, although the Rochester is not actually great at limiting in my experience.

Just sold a Hipshot bridge to Ian. Straightforward deal, easy communications, quick payment, it’s how these things should go! Pete

Just sold a DiMarzio pickup to Ordep, straightforward deal with easy comms and payment. Thanks again! Pete

Beautiful. I’d love to see this replicated with bass cabs.