How To Record a Killer Direct Input Bass Tone (Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI Demo)

►► Get your Tech21 SansAmp here (this Sweetwater affiliate link supports my work at no extra cost to you. Thank you! 😊)
→ sweetwater.sjv.io/an94MR
This is mainly a demo for non-bass players like me who want to get a good bass tone in their home studios without having to buy a bass amp or microphones.
The Tech21 SansAmp Bass Driver DI pedal changed the way I am recording bass in the studio. The preamp sounds so nice, the EQ controls are effective and the drive adds just the right amount of presence to the sound. For me, it's night and day ! If you're not satisfied with your bass recordings your should definitely try one of these !
Tell me in comments: How do you record bass ? What do you think about this pedal ? Did you have any struggle with bass recording ?
Do you like the sounds ? Tone is subjective, and I am a big fan of overdriven bass tones. Maybe you agree or don't agree with me... Let's talk !
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► Full list of the pedals and gear I use to make music (these Sweetwater affiliate links support my work at no extra cost to you. Thank you! 😊)
- Singular Sound Aeros Looper Gold Edition (get 10% off by entering ANTOINE10 at checkout): www.singularsound.com/product...
- Strymon BigSky: sweetwater.sjv.io/rQqBPR
- Strymon Timeline: sweetwater.sjv.io/JzvW0R
- Strymon El Capistan: sweetwater.sjv.io/4PxqY9
- Strymon Ola: sweetwater.sjv.io/21LJ6O
- Strymon Iridium: sweetwater.sjv.io/zN5O2M
- Mission Engineering VM Pro: sweetwater.sjv.io/6eQD4N
- EHX Micro POG: sweetwater.sjv.io/eK5jjZ
- EHX Mel9: sweetwater.sjv.io/m5J1NM
- TC Electronic Polytune: sweetwater.sjv.io/PyvnnM
- Vox AC15 with Alnico Blue speaker: sweetwater.sjv.io/QyvEE9
- eBow Plus: sweetwater.sjv.io/4PxMoo
- Mogami Gold Cables: sweetwater.sjv.io/XYvKBg
- George L’s Patch Cables: sweetwater.sjv.io/OrvWjA
- Arturia Keylab 88: sweetwater.sjv.io/ZQvR51
- Arturia Keylab 49: sweetwater.sjv.io/AW1537
- Focusrite Scarlett 18i8: sweetwater.sjv.io/AW155J
- Shure SM57: sweetwater.sjv.io/VmvddJ
- Shure SM7B: sweetwater.sjv.io/XYvE5y
- Sennheiser MKE 600: sweetwater.sjv.io/0ZMzBY
- Yamaha HS8 Studio Monitors: sweetwater.sjv.io/OrvELK
- Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 4x4: sweetwater.sjv.io/R5NED2
- Sennheiser HD280 Pro: sweetwater.sjv.io/4PxMBL
- Pedaltrain Classic Pro: sweetwater.sjv.io/NkvEYP
- Cubase Artist: sweetwater.sjv.io/Y9vKkK
- Strymon BigSky Plugin: sweetwater.sjv.io/m5J1ky
More lessons and music:
► Ambient Guitar Academy (online courses): www.ambientguitaracademy.com/
► My studio albums : monochromeseasons.bandcamp.com
→ Subscribe : kzbin.info...
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Through original ambient music, chordal guitar lessons and tips on guitar pedals, Antoine is looking to educate and inspire aspiring ambient musicians to learn everything about the world of ambient guitar and chordal voicings on guitar.

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

►► Get your Tech21 SansAmp here (this Sweetwater affiliate link supports my work at no extra cost to you. Thank you! 😊) → sweetwater.sjv.io/an94MR

[@leportillow]

Ufff it was such a nice review! I just got my VT DI SansAmp bass pedal and I'm so glad of doing the purchase, just waiting for it to arrive home, thank you for this video!!

[@Florida_Living1]

Wow, night and day difference! Thanks for the video. Very helpful!

[@dnlhrs6156]

Thanks! This was helpful, and you're very easy on the eyes ♥_♥

[@jonmatthews4254]

Great demo, good quality sound. Nice touch having subtitles for deaf people.

[@Ctouch09]

The music is so good! Great demo!

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

Thanks man! There's plenty of this type of music on my channel :)

[@marcelb7259]

I use both a DI (Radial Pro DI) and a preamp (Sansamp Paradriver v2). Sometimes I add one mic in front of the cab (Audix i5 or Beyerdynamic TG D70d or Rode NT-2A). Sources are mixed in an analog console (Mackie Onyx 24.4) where I add compression (ART / Drawmer) and FX (Lexicon MXP-1). I can use pedalboard FX from time to time. Thank for your video, very nice sound and very good mix. Cheers from Canada.

[@davidgoode7416]

Awesome!

Nice! Always good advice :)

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

+Cécile Ratovoherizo Thank you Cécile :D

[@Pedalnerds]

Great tips! I am a non-bass player with an average bass and no bass amp so this definitely applies to me :)

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

+Nathan Shafer (EchoEchoGuy) I think we're a lot of guitar players in that situation, haha :D

[@TheBodhro]

I was wondering what the difference is between this oedal and the VTbass driverDI from the same company. I checkd the tech21 site but it made me not much wiser. Do you guys know more? Thanks! P.s. I will probably buy one of the two. I have a sandberg bass.

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

+Ronnie Bracke From what I understand: VT = emulate a SVT bass amp, more old school, with more mids and gain options BDDI = more of a modern sound, with more lows, scooped mids They seem very similar, but it seems like the VT is to emulate a certain kind of amp, while the BDDI is more neutral in its character, in a sense (it doesn't emulate one specific kind of amp). Anyways, I'm sure they sound similar to someone who is not a bassist, so you can't go wrong with both of them !

[@just_budha212]

Thanks I've subscribed from your good facts

[@1thess523]

I just recently got the rack mount version of this which I believe is the Sansamp RBI and boy does it improve your sound. So the first time I found out this pedal a guy demoed it on a little Ampeg combo and i couldn't believe how much better it made that amp sound. The first pedal i got was an Eden pedal to run through my Hartke LH500 head which on its own is alright but it's a simple 3 band eq but it does have a tube preamp and 500w, that pedal didn't work well with my active bass so I traded it for a Tech 21 VT pedal which is essentially an Ampeg SVT in a pedal. I recently upgraded to that RBI and now my rig sounds even better, i run a Squire Classic Vibe 60's Jazz through the Hartke and RBI along with an Eden 410 and a Ampeg Classic 1x15 and it rocks, the one thing i have to mention is the tone changes from direct to a rig because of the head that's being used and the speakers but all in all it's worth it.

[@ladosbassistmalaya]

Tq for sharing Sir 🙏😁

[@MrSewan-zr5bn]

Great explanation and you just help me a lot for my next recording.. I love that last bass line on your video.. Hysteria by Muse ..haha... Thanks bro.. 😘👍

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

The bass line is iconic! Thanks man :-)

[@ryananthony4840]

I have the Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) Tech 21 bass pedal and absolutely love it! They make great sounding pre's

[@chrisbishop874]

Got one of these,,suck out too much mids ,,i got a Boss line loop,,put it on blend with a clean signal...Now it works for me.

[@fatarry]

V2 has mid control. Also the paradriver is similar with sweepable mids.

[@JeserNoob]

I just got an Electro-Harmonix Battalion DI + Preamp and honestly hate myself for not having something between my interface and my bass before now. glad there's channels like yours giving huge pointers to us new guys

[@deadguitaristgaming1229]

Would this help for a bass with active pickups?

[@infinitesentient3545]

I can't afford new equipment so I'm making the best of what I have to work with. I use Guitar to Bass simulation through AmpliTube 3. I'm looking for tips on how to make that option sound as good as I can get it. I feel like my problem is not knowing how to setup a bass rig's effects or amp settings properly in the first place, I'm only familiar with guitar setups but I can play a decent bass. Any suggestions? Any vid's to point me to? Thanks for any help!

[@goncaloviegas9557]

Hi have a doubt so there is one cable going from the bass to the input of the pedal and then the output wich cable is the xlr goes to the interface to record in the daw is right that ?

[@pennywiseRJ]

where can i download the backtrack? i really liked the guitar chords progression

[@diegoebustamante]

I usually run my bass through a the walrus audio deep six and mayflower. Gives me killer tones.

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

+Diego Bustamante Nice ! I should try it with the deep six and the SansAmp together, that sounds like a great idea :)

[@ryanspencerlauderdale687]

I noticed in the mix that without the Bass Driver, as soon as you add the guitar in, all of the notes got really lost in the mix, whereas with it, the bass track just completely rounded out the rest of the mix and provided some nice beef to the sound. You could play most small gigs with this setup.

[@ryanslauderdale]

It could also be that a regular P-Bass is passive as well, so you need a preamp to get it to sound good.

[@carlucho1012]

Nice bro!! I got a PJ Squier and almost getting Hysteria tone with the Sansamp. Whats your pick ups configuration? Note that I am only using the Sansamp + Interface + Bass :)

[@TheBodhro]

Nice demo Antoine, question below ;-)

[@Elizabeth_Postol]

If i conect SansAmp to interface via XLR to microphone input on Focusrite, shouild i put the switch on SansAmp into "line" or "inst" position?

[@rebeccafinch7508]

Good question! I was wondering too, I'm guessing line?

[@dawndark1232]

Try the Darkglass pedals.do a video on one those pedals.

[@TimKaseyMythHealer]

I would use it as a re-amp device.

[@leonardygunawan1392]

Did you use pick all the time here?

[@guitarrocker1]

I record bass without a di and i have to do a lot of level editing on my bass tracks due to lack of signal. Is it because I need a di box?

[@OldManJeff]

An active preamp of any kind will boost that signal. This pedal will definitely give you what you need as far as gain is concerned.

[@rokinrandy]

sounds better than mine. figured if i got the captor x I would not need a bass amp. But of course that wont work. Tech 21 makes good pedals I have their fuzz. I hear the Caline is just as good for much cheaper but Idk yet

[@jamessmith-zk4co]

To not be a bassist, you play bass very well.

[@kornskydiver]

How did you connect the sansamp di to your computer? Xlr out directly to pc? Would a xlr to usb cable work?

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

XLR cable goes to my audio interface which is plugged to my computer via USB. The link between the instrument and my PC is the audio interface!

[@fernandoftfferraz]

Man, I use only the bass guitar, the pc and interface. To improve the sound you recommend this product? So, I´ll have to connect the bass into the SansAmp and the SansAmp into the interface?

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

Yes, it's that easy! But this video has been a while. Now I use Positive Grid's Bias Amp (virtual amplifier plugin) inside my computer for my bass sound. But honestly, both options are great (either amp simulation or adding the SansAmp pedal).

[@leportillow]

By the way, can you please help me with this brief question? what is the difference between xlr output vs standard output?

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

XLR are the cables that have 3 pins on it, and it's generally used to plug microphones. The 'standard' one is going to be an 1/4 inch plug which can be used with TS or TRS cables (commonly referred as 'instrument's cables'). If your question is about the sound quality, I don't believe there is going to be a difference in quality between those 2 kinds of outputs. You are more than likely to use a standard instrument cable with it instead of XLR.

[@hyppo00]

And for those with a little less money to spend, check out the Behringer V-tone BDI21. It's about as good as the Sansamp BassDriver for about 10% of the price. I've been using one for the last 5 years (also for live gigging) and it has never let me down. Check the comparison video on KZbin if you don't believe me.

[@GothPunk-ul8jz]

I am new to recording! so would I use one of these pedals to record my bass direct through an audio interface, no need to record the bass through a miked up amp.... is that the point of it?

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

That's exactly the point of it! You still can use it with an amp to beef up your sound, but I find it's already really good straight in your recording software without an amp (that's what I did in this video).

[@GothPunk-ul8jz]

Monochrome Seasons.. Awesome! Thanks for the speedy reply. Good video... Thumbs up!

[@Middlestepofficial]

Yeah, Sansamp make some good hardware emulators. I have the RBI preamp for bass and record metal music mostly. You can tweak the sound of the bass in detail how you wish! I use it as a preamp to an Ampeg amp and you can feel it crushing your kidney stones...

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

Very nice Bruno!!

[@Middlestepofficial]

Thanks. Although there are not much videos for these products, I planned to make a short demo review in future about the Sansamp RBI monster so people can at least have some reference insight what it can do

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

Good idea! You can post your link here when it's done (if ever people read the comments!)

[@Middlestepofficial]

Yeah of course :) thanks

[@PunkHippie1971]

Would there be any way to accomplish this with software vst and an interface?

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

PunkHippie1971 Of course! this video was from 1 or 2 years ago. Now I'm recording bass with Bias FX and Bias Amp plugins which are very good amp simulator plugins for recording D.I. My bass parts never sounded so good!

[@VTuberDestrisOfficial]

There's a free plugin from TSE Audio called the BOD (Bass Overdrive) that emulates the Sansamp

[@spaceorbison]

If you're on a budget check this one out Behringer BDI21 V-Tone, 29$, I just found it looking around

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

Cool, thanks man!

[@FernandoLopez-gf2sr]

Great demo. For me the Tech21 sounds a bit boxy and without alive. I feel kills the harmonics. Sounds a bit like a plastic opamps.

[@FabioKasper]

I guess I love my active bass pickups then. :-) Good video nonetheless.

[@FabioKasper]

Some people also use J48 DI, which can then be used for recording other passive sources.

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

+Fabio Kasper I never played a bass with active pickups, but I'm sure it's great ! I do think that home studio hobbyists tend to have passive basses in their studios more often than never. The SansAmp was just a nice instant easy solution for me and I wanted to share my experience!

[@FabioKasper]

+Monochrome Seasons Yep, the SansAmp really does have very good reputation. Good stuff!

[@matthewdonoghue321]

This is a great video but the title is very misleading, the title says "how to record" you haven't shown how to record at all, you have given a great demo of the bass driver pedal. I am trying to find a video which actually shows "how to record " ie what cable, what soundcard, what software.

[@Hellion73]

Yeah, i wanted to know how hook up the record chain from the bass to the pedal to the DI box and to the interface😒

[@theunionbeats1]

you have the same bass as me bruh! love my p bass :)

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

Very nice bass, I love it too!

[@theunionbeats1]

same color and everything! ha

[@user-no5rb7mb2x]

iDubbbz play bass!?

[@M5guitar1]

Sounds a bit digital with pedal or compressed.

[@raphaelnercessian]

I like better the sound without the DI, sounds less compressed.

[@bassslapper-hc2me]

na

[@oinkooink]

Those Sansamps for bass literally cost an arm and a leg. Obscenely priced. Particularly when you factor in the with/ without in this video. It's just swapping one no amp sound for another. It doesn't prevent the woolly, lack of articulation that you always get with DI. For a nice articulate bass tone that sounds like an amp...you need to record an amp. DI will always sound muffled and woolly. Not that I have an amp. I'm stuck with woolly, muffled DI bass. And this pedal won't change that.

[@Dannyroo08]

ok boomer

[@taojialovetaojialove8372]

i prefer vt bass , bass driver di change your origin sound too much i think..

[@AntoineMichaudGuitar]

+yaojialove taojialove I didn't try other models, the VT seems like a great option too ! Yes, it does change your sound, but I think the EQ controls are still versatile, and maybe I showed examples that were too drastic in my video. I could have dialed settings that were closer to the original.

[@Bassman1999]

The bass sounds great without the Sansamp..........you have way way too much bass dialed in on the DI. I also hate to hear the Sansamp on full blend, sounds too processed and compressed. 50/50 is better.

[@jasoncarraway966]

Still sounds lifeless to me

[@bassslapper-hc2me]

his music is mono tone

[@tillsymon7248]

The bass sounds best without the pedal.

[@mertkzlkaya1776]

says “average bass” plays a fender..

[@homborgor]

I’m heterosexual but hello