FinnDave Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Came across an interesting little problem yesterday. I was with my band recording a few songs to update our demo material and for some reason it took a long time to get a bass sound the engineer was happy with. I started out with the Fender Bassman valve head and 412 cab that I used at the same studio last year, but despite using the same Fender Jazz I had with me last time, the sound was weak, muffled and slightly distorted. I had my own gear in the car, so we changed the battered 412 for my Barefaced Super Twin, The sound improved, but there was still some unwanted distortion. Next we brought in my Ashdown ABM 500 and (reluctantly) replaced the Bassman. Very little improvement. I changed the Jazz for my Precision. Still distorting, and some odd clicking sounds as the notes decayed. Same clicking sounds when we swapped back to the Bassman, and with both amps when i used the Jazz again. By now, we had used up an hour or more of precious studio time just getting the bass right. Finally we simply decided to use my amp, my cab and my speaker lead, and suddenly the sound was fine. Quick check revealed that the culprit was the studio's speaker lead. The final bass sound was a mix of miked up Ashdown/Barefaced and DI from the amp to desk. We still managed to record five songs without overrunning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number6 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 If the studio equipment was at fault then they owe you an hour of studio time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Can't believe a studio engr didn't think of the lead as the first thing to check.... with it being the least hassle and a 30 sec thing to do. I would be pretty peeved that 'his' equipment cost an hour of 'our' time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 I reckon about 90% of problems like that are cable or general connection probs - they're the first thing I check. G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Bit odd that... leads carrying a bit of current like speaker leads typically work or don't. Must have had a high-resistance dry joint - or (I see this all the time) they were using an instrument cable in place of a proper speaker lead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted May 11, 2014 Author Share Posted May 11, 2014 I agree about the lost hour, but as we were getting the time in compensation for work done by a band member, it is difficult to argue the point. We got the tracks done we had planned to do, plus one more, so not complaining, just thought it worth a mention. Having used the studio's gear before, I had expected it work as well as it had last time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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