Best way to record from my amp

[kieranfitz]

To me it sounds like you have the master volume way up and are using the input volume to control the amp volume. You should try to get your sound into reaper with your master turned all the way down (for now).

You should be able to hear your bass through the monitors, which is really what you should be listening to anyway.

Starting from scratch:
Amp off, plug DI out (xlr) into XLR in (phantom off)
Master VU all the way down, EQ flat, Gain all the way down.
Plug your bass in and turn on (don't expect to hear anything though:))
While slowly turning up the Gain, check to see if anything is coming into Reaper.
When you've got something, switch pre/post and see if it's the same. It should be.
Play with EQ and see what you get.
If this worked, you should have lovely clean bass coming out of your monitors and nothing from your amp. You can then, SLOWLY, turn up your master, though really if you are recording, you should just listen to your monitors.

Hope it helps

[Mornats]

I'll do that step by step and let you know the results. Just one question, do you mean the gain on the amp or the input gain on the interface? Maybe I need to work with the gain on the amp to get some volume out of it. In my initial tests, going pre-eq allowed me to turn up the input gain on my interface to about 4 o'clock and get a good clean sound at decent volume (with the amp's master volume at zero). Switching to post-eq and I get nothing unless I turn the amp's master volume up. I can get it on 2 (out of 10) safely in my living room but I need to put the input gain up on the audio interface to around 6-7 o'clock which is where I get the mass of hiss and even then, the volume going into reaper is about half what I get plugging the bass straight into the interface.

So I think shinoman's right that the hiss is coming from the interface. If I plug a low-output bass (still active, just lower output) directly into the interface I can turn it up to max without hiss so I'm only actually getting the hiss with the amp plugged in. So that could be the XLR input on the interface, the XLR lead or the amp causing the hiss. Hmmm.

Anyway, I'll do what you said step by step and report back Cheers!

[kieranfitz]

Gain on the amp. You can use that to push the amp into overdrive while keeping the master volume where you want it.

If the amp won't put anything out post EQ without turning up the master then that really is a bad design.

Lemme know

[Mornats]

Well, a partial success. The gain knob on the amp will push enough volume into the Guitar Rig interface to give me a good sound without bringing in hiss. I have to have it at 3/4 to full to get a decent signal though. So at least I can record pre-eq now but I can only get the high gain sound rather than the slightly cleaner sound of the lower gain setting.

In other news, it looks like Ashdown are bringing out amp simulation software. They posted a screenshot on their Facebook page of an ABM 900 amp sim on an iPad. Hopefully they'll have a VST/AU version too.