Alternatives to hook bass into laptop?

[spinynorman]

I used to have a Thinkpad and just plugged the bass straight into the mic/line input to the soundcard, which was fine for playing along with mp3s, though not so good for the rare times I wanted to record. Then I bought an HP laptop and plugging straight in doesn't work well at all.

So I bought an M-Audio FastTrack with PCTools. It all installed ok, but even with everything turned up max there's very little volume from the bass. To get round it I'm using a Behringer mic preamp I had lying around, but I'd really like to keep the number of boxes and leads to a minimum.

Any suggestions for alternatives, preferably not mega expensive (up to £100 would be ok)? Or am I doing something wrong with the FastTrack?

[LiamPodmore]

I use a Lexicon Alpha, but like you, i occasionally have problems with the volume being too low, and have to resort to a Behringer BDI21 for a bit of extra grunt, but on the whole it's been a brill little unit. The cover below was done with one (Running audio into one channel and bass into the other)

Liam

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIaEoqz5qCs"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIaEoqz5qCs[/url]

[51m0n]

Get a DI to go into the mic input on the interface?

[dannybuoy]

A Zoom B3 is another option that gives you lots of toys to play with also.

[StraightSix]

Or try a little mixer - they can be had cheap nowadays and it opens up all sorts of other avenues like recording with low impedance mics etc.

[spinynorman]

I have put a Behringer Mic100 in front of the FastTrack and it works, though it does add noise. It also doesn't have a power switch, so it's always on, whether I'm using it or not. I've also taken a line out from a practice combo, which is ok, but I really wanted to get rid of that and free up the space. Long ago I had a VAmp, which was fun, but I spent so much time playing with the settings I never did any practice. So amp models or effects units are out.

I suppose I'm just very disappointed with the FastTrack. What I envisage is a bass amp head with a headphone socket and USB interface, but I doubt such a thing exists.