Is there a way to get speaker distortion on Direct Box Recorded Bass?

[777funk]

I love the low end and clean sound of a DI but at the same time I love the raw live feel of an amp.

Is there a good way to get a little bit of speaker distortion added into a bass track that was recorded with a DI?

[CaptainBetty]

Just use some parallel processing on the track... route the bass through some light distortion and mix it in to taste.

http://www.homestudiocorner.com/big-bass-sound/

More specifically: http://www.homestudiocorner.com/para...ng-bass-video/

(plenty of good articles from the above site...)

[moliere]

Ampeg SVX VST
AudioEase SpeakerPhone (for the rich)

Or parallel processing with a bit of saturation/overdrive as described above.

[Fex]

There are lots of ways to do this, and Cpt. Betty's is fine.

But this is awesome:
http://www.studiodevil.com/products/virtual_bass_amp/

[Analogy]

Split the bass signal to the DI and the amp, put a mic on the amp, record both.

[mrufino1]

Check out the js amp sim as well, I use the dumble or 1970 marshall (I think that's what it's called) setting on my bass, very cool mixed with the direct signal (which I record through a tech21 vtbass pedal). I copy the direct track and put the amp sim on the other track. Just get the gain to the right place (the amp sim peaks fast), and a little goes a long way as well. Oh, you may need to reverse the polarity of one of the tracks too, sometimes it is better, sometimes not.
Oh, edit #2, a little reverb can give it some life too, just a little though, not enough to blur it.

[robo]

You definitely need the real deal on a track.

No amp sim, spare nebula and even then not well, can do actual speaker distortion.

It's an established law of physics that your pants must be flapping to capture this elusive beast.

-robo

[PAPT]

If you mean actual speaker overload as opposed to electronics distortion then maybe a speaker/cabinet impulse. Maybe someone has made an overloaded speaker impulse.

[richie43]

Originally Posted by robo

You definitely need the real deal on a track.

No amp sim, spare nebula and even then not well, can do actual speaker distortion.

It's an established law of physics that your pants must be flapping to capture this elusive beast.

-robo

Lol. While I agree and try to record everything (that sounds like it's moving air) in a live mic setting, that is not always a possibility for everyone. I've had great luck with the very inexpensive studio devil bass amp sim. It doesn't sound great solo-ed, but blended with a DI and in the mix, it has saved many of my projects. A good free one is the TSE BOD, a sansamp emulation.
http://www.theserinaexperiment.net/f...c.php?f=9&t=68

[planetnine]

I think there's a freebie overdrive plug on the Voxengo site...


>

[Kenny]

I just used a JS guitar distortion plug to put some meaty dirt on a dry DI bass track (too lazy too reamp through my bass driver), and after some tweaking came up with something quite useable and pleasing. Now, I'm not clear on EXACTLY what you mean by "speaker distortion", but I was pretty amazed by the variety of distortion characteristics I could manifest out of that ugly little plug. Otherwise, go to Goodwill, get some old junky speakers for a couple bucks, and reamp through them till you find one that gives you what you're looking for.

[Fex]

Originally Posted by Kenny

I'm not clear on EXACTLY what you mean by "speaker distortion"

It does come in a few different flavours, depending on how loud the rig is. There's the point where the cones start shaking in their mounts. There's the point where the cab starts shaking. Then there's the point when the windows start rattling in their frames....

I like the second one.

[ObiK]

Originally Posted by moliere

Ampeg SVX VST
AudioEase SpeakerPhone (for the rich)

Or parallel processing with a bit of saturation/overdrive as described above.

You can use AmpliTube 3 FREE with the Custom Shop and select just the bass amp models you want from Ampeg SVX for a lot cheaper than the whole collection!