Your choice for Bass Amps to include in Modeler

[Tubster]

What do people think are the Top 10 less obvious bass amps that should be in a modeler (helix, ampero, NUX mg300 etc)?

My choice:

1. Eden World Tour 800; 2. Sunn 300t; 3. Mesa Walkabout; 4.markbass Mk 2; 5.Fender Rumble 40 v3; 6 Galien  Krueger 800; 7. Mesa 400; 8. Trace Elliot Elf; 9. Aguilar th 500; 10. Axis 100

[ped]

To be honest, I ignore what the model is called/meant to sound like and find which sounds best. Most of the time that’s the ‘super flat’ in my Roland. I honestly don’t think amplifiers vary in their ‘baked in’ sound as much as these companies seem to think!

[Bassman68]

Got to agree with Ped here.

I’d much prefer a descriptive generalisation of an amp model like...

Clean transistor/bright punch cab (GK or Trace into 4x10 with horn)

Clean valve/warm stage filler (SVT into 2x15)

Driven valve/Big stage (Crunchy SVT into 8x10)

Warm studio recording (B15....)

It would be more about those classic sounds we can all relate to without getting too hooked up on exact models?

[PaulWarning]

is it just me that thinks amp modelers is just glorified pre set EQing with distortion thrown in (where appropriate) 

[Bassman68]

1 minute ago, PaulWarning said:

is it just me that thinks amp modelers is just glorified pre set EQing with distortion thrown in (where appropriate) 

Yes to a large degree? I’ve never been too keen on amp modelling myself, I normally prefer to have a fairly neutral/flat amp eq unless the song requires something different.

It’s only really recording when specific sounds have been required & I usually have left it to the engineer to come up with that as 9 times out of 10, they understand how to get the best results..

[BigRedX]

Listen with your ears and not with your eyes.

The great thing about modelling technology is that you can put the bass signal through anything without worrying about potentially damaging it. The worst thing that can happen is that the results won't sound very good.

On my Helix most of my bass patches don't have any amp or cab sims in them, just EQ. When they do a lot of the time it's a "guitar" amp, and it's normally been picked for it's drive sound rather than the clean sound of the amp so it's being used as a distortion effect rather than simulating whatever amp it's supposed to be.

[Jus Lukin]

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Edited March 10, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Lozz196]

Seeing that at many events Ashdown are the provided rigs (and that I’m also an Ashdown fanboi) I’d put the Ashdown ABM600 on that list.

[Skybone]

IIRC, the Helix already has amp models of the Sunn 300, the Mesa 400 and the GK 800.

Can't recall if it has the Aguilar, think it probably does.

To be fair, I think it is only the Helix that has a good selection of bass amp & cab models. The others (Headrush, Axe-FX, Ampero, etc.) are more geared towards guitarists.

The Kemper should have a reasonable amount of bass related models available. If you got one, you could always beg or borrow certain rigs and model them for yourself.

[Jus Lukin]

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Edited March 10, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Steve Browning]

Boogie Bass 400 and 2x15

Acoustic 370 and 301 cab

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

I would say one of the old Trace Elliot amps, though both the older and the newest Zoom bass multi effects does include that.

Though personally I would want higher quality modeling than what those Zoom effects provide if I were to use it, and then I might as well just buy the Trace Elliot Transit B preamp.

However I don't really have any need for amp and cab modeling, since after a lot of experimenting and dialing I found a tone that match my preferences perfectly, even when going direct and using headphones, utilizing a TC Electronic SpectraComp, as the first thing in my signal chain, right after my bass, going into my Boss LS-2 with a Joyo Orange Juice put in one of the effect loops and mixed at an about 60% Orange Juice/40% dry bass signal ratio via the LS-2, and then as the very last thing in my signal chain a patch on my Zoom MS70 CDR consisting of six fully parametric 2 band equalizers going into my Behringer BEQ700 Bass Graphic Equalizer.

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash

[fretmeister]

11 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

is it just me that thinks amp modelers is just glorified pre set EQing with distortion thrown in (where appropriate) 

Not anymore.

Modern ones model the entire signal path down to component level rather than the sound. So within the code they can change a resistor value in the ‘circuit’ if they want.

[machinehead]

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

Not anymore.

Modern ones model the entire signal path down to component level rather than the sound. So within the code they can change a resistor value in the ‘circuit’ if they want.

I can't hear all that much difference between most amps, never mind components within amps.

Frank.

[Tubster]

Thanks to those that added their suggestions of less obvious bass amps. Just looking at things outside SVT, B15 etc

Interesting to read how members dial up a sound in their modeler and how some felt that bass models were somewhat irrelevant.  Jus Lukin’s observation that bass amps in a modeler make a great jumping off point was great and Fretmeister’s comments were dead on the money.

I’m new to the whole subject but have dipped my toe in the water by buying a NUX mg 300 which contains the princely sum of ZERO bass amps. So I set out to send NUX a list of a few bass amps they might like to model, hence my original post. As my unit was €127, I won’t be holding my breath for instant action.

As suggested above, I built some bass patches from what was available in guitar amps - Jc 120, hi watt and Bassman. Bit of compression and eq.  NUX 300 supports external IRs. I bought a bass pack from RedWirez for under 10 dollars that has SVT, b15, hartke  410 and Aguilar 15, all miked with multiple mics. These made all the difference. Some great patches despite lack of a bass specific amp.

Highly recommend the humble NUX - maybe I’ll Kemper or Helix at some point, but for now, this will do fine.

[Bassman68]

TBH outside of the obvious sounds that can be identified on recordings (where more often than not it’s the particular bass being used) , Who can tell what amp has been used, once that track has been compressed/digitised etc?
Even on your average stage, who can tell what tones are coming through FOH.

For those reasons alone, That’s why I don’t care much for amp modelling in the long run, But if it makes people feel better or gives them inspiration to play, Knowing that they’re playing through A,B,C to sound like X,Y,Z.....Go for it?