Man I dig the way this Hofner bass records

[WRGKMC]

I've had it about 6 months now. I been recording This bass

 

 

Direct through This Box.

 

 

And I get this.

 

 

Instrumental original bass has some decent mids that talk -

 

Played through a decent playback system the sub lows rock on the second one blows chunks.

 

Full Original Recording with Bass - https://soundcloud.com/wrgkmc/good-news

 

 

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Sounds very nice! Are you using flatwound strings?

 

Tell me a bit more about the pedal please...

[lug]

nice groove!

[WRGKMC]

Good ears Phil.

 

Yes, I'm using Labella Flats made specifically for a Hofner bass. Hofners are slightly longer then most short scales due to the tail piece extending the string length. I read some short scale strings can have the cloth wrap extend over the nut which I wanted to avoid. The other item is they are very well balanced for tension. I have another Gretch short scale which is tough finding the right tension balance for it. Many sets have low E's that are too flabby compared to the other strings. It makes it difficult to play with the fingers. I been doing well with the Round wound Boomer bass strings for it.

 

The bass came with some cheap round wounds. After playing it awhile I did like the brighter tones I could get. I did find an actual set of Hofner round wounds made in Germany I believe. I have that set tucked away for next string change. I have maybe 200 playing hours on the flats and they are beginning to loose their stiffness between frets at the lower positions (bending and wearing at the frets) This hasn't been a huge problem so far but I'm spending more time tuning up for each song. I'm very hard on strings because I like solid tones. I like the flats allot but I'll likely be switching back and forth just for variety sake.

 

As far as the box goes its a real gem for its price range. I have many other modeler type pedals I've used for recording bass and this ones on the top of my list recently. Its got the full array of effects from Chorus, Reverb, Synth, Drive, you name it. I don't use any of those much but they're there if you need them. I actually used the overdriven synth sound on an old Joe Walsh song and it came very close to nailing a Moog. Its many generations better than anything I've used before. The ability to lock in on a note and maintain pitch without glitches with low latency has gotten so much better.

 

What I like about the pedal is just the clean bass tones it produces. Vox does something very right with not only their tone stack, but their gain an volume knobs have just the right ranges to them for dialing up the right tones. I know this sounds very simplistic. You'd figure volume is volume but its actually more complex. My interface cards have fixed line level inputs. I can vary the input volume but its done through software.

 

The key item with this pedal is the gain knob works exactly like a preamp gain knob on a tube amp reacts. The Ramping up of volume includes the increase in warmth you'd get cranking up a tube amp. The range matches what a tube amp does too going from a overly tame clean tone up to a driven tone and beyond. The volume reacts like a master volume that comes after the preamp.

 

Between the two its really simple to match different pickup impedances. set the master volume about 1/2, dial up the gain to where the string attack and warmth is where you like it, then adjust the master volume for the right recording /amp level. saving the setting can be done with one hand in a two button operation.

 

These knobs along with the switches are also utilized for tweaking all your other parameters. I went through and set myself up 20 decent settings, most coming from the fixed presets with additional fine tuning.

 

In conclusion, its about the recorded tones I can get tracking. I can get those beefy bass tones I love which sit at the bottom end. Many of the presets do a fine job targeting how bass should sit in a mix. Especially when played back through a car system. I can simply dial up the punch to match the kick and just track.

 

Mixing requires no additional daw plugins in many cases. I'm not having to stick all kinds of Crazy EQ settings or additional compression on the track channel to make it match the drums.

 

The most I may use is a free Musiccrow Preamp Emulator which does a fine job getting the final gain staging right in the mix.

 

I also have the Guitar version of the Vox and between the two of them I been having a blast. Both give me the tones and string feel I been wanting to have for a long time. I could of course just crank my amps up and get allot of that, but most of my stuff lately has just been writing original music. I can sit at the console and doodle up what I want with little technical effort.

[WRGKMC]

Thanks man. I love playing random walking bass lines like that which keep moving and allow for multiple riffs to be fit in. I mostly write the lines as I'm playing all free style as I'm tracking the part.

 

Occasionally I may need to stop and overdub if some cool idea comes to me or I have some tight break I missed, but I hate stopping and doing that. I'm pretty old school when it comes to tracking. It dates back to my analog days where dubbing in was a real hassle. You'd have to rewind and punch in. by that time you've lost that groove.

 

I find its better to plow through and keep the groove going whenever possible. I do the same for the guitar parts. Those were all single takes. I may play along with it a couple of times before I hit record to have some general idea what's needed and then.

 

I may record a backup or two if I'm not pleased with the results. It may be the performance if I feel my hands weren't up to speed or it may be a drive/tone issue that doesn't quite hit the spot.

 

Its all about the groove though. Its amazing when I'm tracking the drums and rhythm guitar. I may think I have something cool there until I listen to it play back a couple of days later.

 

With the better songs I can hear the bass parts hiding within the percussion and kick before I even pick the instrument up. Guitar is my main instrument and I often the chord changes for the musical progression.

 

I do use the bass and drums tracking first too. Its more riff based however involving catch lines instead of backing a progression. I prefer doing that kind of stuff more with a live drummer vs canned drums however. I find having those live dynamics going and emotional exchange much more inspirational. My focus and energy level is often higher when I play live and can usually pull of some premeditated gymnastics on the fret board and land on my feet without stumbling with a live drummer.