kingforaday Posted October 23 Share Posted October 23 I’ve got into home recording recently (Reaper) and I was extremely pleased to discover that through various buying/trading/hoarding of gear, I already had everything I needed to get started! I’m using a Yamaha EAD10 to record my drum kit, Hughes and Kettner Tubeman for guitars, I’ve got a rode NT1a for vocals… it all sounds good to me. Bass wise… i happened to already have a Hartke VXL preamp DI, I bought years ago purely because it was cheap. I’ve recorded a few songs and I’m pretty happy with it, good enough for me I think. However, I love tweaking my setup and trying new things! Is there anything that is a big jump up in quality (without going too crazy price wise)? The only thing I notice is the bass maybe sounds a bit less full or real(?) than the guitars… and I think that might be to do with the Tubeman’s cab sim. I’ve got a tech 21 VT to try out but what else do people recommend? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted October 24 Share Posted October 24 Have you tried using the Tubeman with the bass? Tech21 stuff is great, you could try and find a Behringer BDI21 for a fraction of the price. There are plenty of different Preamp / DI pedals kicking about that sound good, there's also a good number of digital units available. Experiment and have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted October 24 Author Share Posted October 24 8 minutes ago, Skybone said: Have you tried using the Tubeman with the bass? Tech21 stuff is great, you could try and find a Behringer BDI21 for a fraction of the price. There are plenty of different Preamp / DI pedals kicking about that sound good, there's also a good number of digital units available. Experiment and have fun. I haven’t no… that would make a lot of sense! I did pickup a hughes & kettner red box which is the cab sim part of the tubeman, I’ve tried it with little amps and it works well. I should try that too and see if it adds anything useful to the vxl. Much experimenting to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonK Posted October 24 Share Posted October 24 I thought I was the only one to own one of these Hartke pedals! For some reason I always thought it was a "cheap" option so recently upgraded to a Genzler Magellan preamp/DI, but you know what, although I like the fact the Genzler has a HPF on it, apart from that it turns out the Hartke is pretty much as flexible as far as EQ curves go, certainly to my ears... probably wasn't worth the £300 upgrade! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted October 24 Share Posted October 24 I used to gig with the VXL as my main DI for years, right in front of an HA5500, XL410 and an XL115! Prior to the HA5500 I had the HA3000 which had the same shape circuit as the VXL instead of the full eq, preferred that really as it was so easy to dial in a great sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted October 24 Author Share Posted October 24 1 hour ago, SimonK said: I thought I was the only one to own one of these Hartke pedals! For some reason I always thought it was a "cheap" option so recently upgraded to a Genzler Magellan preamp/DI, but you know what, although I like the fact the Genzler has a HPF on it, apart from that it turns out the Hartke is pretty much as flexible as far as EQ curves go, certainly to my ears... probably wasn't worth the £300 upgrade! ah you see, that’s kinda what I was hoping to hear - opinions like “yeah it’s actually totally fine!”. I’m just not sure if it’s cuz it’s a familiar sound to me having played a Hartke HA3500 for many years. It does sound good, I just wonder if I’m missing something with cab sims and HPF’s and IR’s and all the other fancy things you can get now. as pointed out, I probably just need to do more testing… I just wanted to get stuck into the recording I guess, so this has been a bit of an after thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted October 24 Author Share Posted October 24 16 minutes ago, lemmywinks said: I used to gig with the VXL as my main DI for years, right in front of an HA5500, XL410 and an XL115! Prior to the HA5500 I had the HA3000 which had the same shape circuit as the VXL instead of the full eq, preferred that really as it was so easy to dial in a great sound. Yeah I had a 3500 so I’m really used to that sound! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 You'd have to spend A LOT to get much better than the Hartke. If necessary HPFs, cab sims and IRs can all be done "inside the box" in software for free. While a Tech21 VT bass will sound different, it's not necessarily better just a different flavour... and given Tech21's total lack of interest in controlling the cost of their products for anybody outside the US I wouldn't be buying one unless it's used. There's probably a cheap/free plugin out there that does a better Ampeg anyway if that's what you're after. My only problem with the Hartke is its size, but since I'm not gigging it's not exactly a problem! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimonK Posted October 25 Share Posted October 25 I think the main reason I moved to the Magellan was that the controls on the Hartke are not exactly intuitive, and it irritates me that there is a significant level boost when you turn it on. I used it in my live rig where I like having different EQ options, and while the shape function got me out of trouble loads (I like how you can turn it on and then "sweep" the EQ to find the sweet spot) I struggled a bit with the other functions (hence the star stickers to remind me which control relats to which footswitch!). The Magellan does more or less the same thing but with two shape options that you can toggle between, and also has a HPF and critically a mute switch - so thinking about it (and clearly still trying to justify buying a second preamp!) - the Magellan is pretty much the same as the VXL but with a few more functions. But unlike @kingforaday intentions my experience is all live use. Ironically the best recording DI I've come across recently is my Aguilar 350s DI out - essentially using the little head as a DI box! My old pedal board with the VXL as the "brains": My latest (upgraded?) version: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingforaday Posted October 25 Author Share Posted October 25 It’s nice and comforting to know these get a bit of respect! It was literally something I bought cuz I thought “that’s cheap” and it sat unused in a drawer for years… which made me question if it was good enough I guess. To be fair it was the same with the Tubeman, it was crazy cheap compared to what they sell for… so I bought it either to sell on or for ‘one day’. It’s great having all this stuff to hand now that I’m making the shift from playing live, recording in studios, and working for a music organisation, to now just playing at home. It’s certainly taking the pressure off, and helping the decision to sell off all my big gear feel a bit easier, seeing as I already have everything I need! Who knew my random hoarding would one day come in handy!? thanks for the opinions, I’ll try to stop overthinking it and just enjoy the process. I am really pleased and surprised with how well it’s all coming together! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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