As I covered in my overview on bass DI versus amp, recording bass DI has a number of advantages over recording with an amp. Aside from the convenience and relative cost savings in being able to just plug straight into your recording hardware, you can still get a great tone without needing to go through the trouble of getting and miking and actual bass amp/cab. I mentioned this in my recent complete guide on how to mix bass which is great particularly for DI recorded bass, but one of the optional steps I mentioned was using a bass amp modeler conservatively to help sculpt your tone. Let’s do an overview on what I think is the best bass amp modeler available today.
What is an Amp Modeler
An amp modeler is a piece of hardware or software/plugin which reproduces the sounds and effects of recording via an amplifier.
A bass amp modeler is useful when you don’t want to record bass with a microphone or amp but want that similar warmth that you can’t always get from a dry DI signal.
A bass amp modeler mimics the tone, characteristics, and flavor of that entire setup either through a pedal, a processing unit, or simply a plugin like I’m about to cover, so let’s get into my pick for the best bass amp modeler.
Best Bass Amp Modeler
My favorite pick for the best bass amp modeler is the BassKnob STD from Bogren Digital:
A lot of what I like about this plugin and why I call it the best bass amp modeler lies in its simplicity.
It has just TWO main settings.
Clean/Dirt
The clean/dirt switch toggles between two different tones.
Clean is a cleaner (duh), warmer or more mid heavy tone which will be suitable for most of the time.
I find this setting works well when my bass tone is a bit too top heavy and thin, installing imparting that thickness and body in the bass that it’s sorely lacking.
Dirt is the more distorted and top meaning higher frequency heavy tone. This is nice when you need a bit more top end or grit in your bass to help it cut through the mix.
Regardless of which setting you choose, you should set this alongside the gain knob to achieve the ideal tone as they work together to sculpt the overall tone of your bass.
Gain Knob
Speaking of the gain knob, this controls multiple parameters of your tone with one simple dial.
First, this controls the volume of your tone. Admittedly there are dedicated input and output levels, and you should especially adjust that output slider to both maintain gain staging but also set the level where you want AFTER getting the tone you want on the gain knob.
In other words, while the gain knob does in fact have a large bearing on the volume, DO NOT use it for that purpose. Instead, adjust it to where you like the tone the most, then adjust the output volume accordingly.
More importantly, the gain knob controls the distortion level and overall character of your tone with precision. The higher you turn that knob, the brighter and more distorted that tone will get, particularly on the “Dirt” setting.
Additional Features
A few additional features on BassKnob include:
Tuner
Pretty straightforward but the plugin contains an onboard tuner. Note that you can adjust the relative reference frequency which is set at 440Hz by default.
Cab/No Cab/IR
You can toggle the tone to use or bypass a virtual cab, giving you a fuller or thinner, dirtier tone, respectively.
99% of the time you’ll want to keep this on cab as the unfiltered tone is noisier and lacks that roundness that you’ll generally want on your bass.
Additionally and a very nice detail is that BassKnob also includes an IR setting, so you can use your own custom sound as an impulse response to filter that bass tone through.
With IR becoming more popular, it’s nice to be able to find a number of free options online, download them, then direct this plugin to any one of them to tailor your tone accordingly.
Mono/Stereo (Under “Settings”)
Another straightforward option, but you can set the plugin to act in mono or stereo in case you need to accommodate a stereo bass (or otherwise) track.
Gate
Lastly, there’s a noise gate to filter out noise on the track without having to bring in an outside gate.
The Best Bass Amp Modeler Tips
As I covered in the aforementioned bass mix tutorial, I like to use BassKnob relatively conservatively (little gain) as part of my greater chain to simply nudge the character of the tone in one direction or the other (low/mids or higher leaning)
I recommend first deciding if you need more warmth/fullness/roundness OR top end transient bite from your tone. If it’s the former, keep it on the “Clean” setting. If it’s the latter, try the “Dirt” setting.
After you get that in order, try experimenting with the gain knob somewhere between the 1 and 3 values until you find that sweet spot where you’re giving your bass tone that gentle touch toward the character you’re looking for.
Again, make sure your output level is high enough to ensure you can adequately judge where the other parameters should be set to, then set it to the level you need to maintain gain staging and you should be good to go.
