# Bass Amp Simulator



## José Herring (Dec 16, 2020)

What's a good one? I'm about to get IK Ampeg models but just wondering if there are better ones out there these days.


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## AudioLoco (Dec 16, 2020)

The IK is still the staple in my opinion.
Although, there are a couple of interesting ones from PA;The B15 emulation and BassDude...
Also the PSA1000 SansAmp is pretty good and gets used a lot in bass mixing.


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## blackzeroaudio (Dec 16, 2020)

All the Ampeg models from Plugin Alliance are great.

Depending on your preferred style, Parallax by Neural DSP is actually my favorite bass processor at the moment.


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## MartinH. (Dec 16, 2020)

This one is a bit buggy in my experience, but I like the sound for high gain, and it's only 2 bucks: 








Sphene LE


A contemporary high-gain bass workstation. (LE Version)




shop.audified.com






These are good (imho) and free: 
https://www.tseaudio.com/software/tseBOD








IGNITE AMPS - Engineering for the moshpit


Italian tube and solid state amplifiers, stomp-boxes and audio plug-ins




www.igniteamps.com






Not sure if it fully applies to bass amps too, but for guitars the cab IR is kind of more important than the amp, so you might want to consider using 3rd party IRs with whatever sim you decide to use.


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## Trash Panda (Dec 16, 2020)

Parallax by Neural DSP or just get Helix Native and never need a bass or guitar amp sim or effect suite ever again.


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## chopin4525 (Dec 16, 2020)

Mark Studio 2 by Overloud could be an alternative worth checking since it's rarely mentioned.


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## cqd (Dec 16, 2020)

The pa ones are good.. Cerberus by kuassa.. check out duality by audio assault too.. only 7 bucks at the minute..


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## José Herring (Dec 16, 2020)

Trash Panda said:


> Parallax by Neural DSP or just get Helix Native and never need a bass or guitar amp sim or effect suite ever again.


Helix seems interesting. Do I need to get the hardware in order to be eligible for the software? It's kind of confusing.


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## Trash Panda (Dec 16, 2020)

José Herring said:


> Helix seems interesting. Do I need to get the hardware in order to be eligible for the software? It's kind of confusing.


Helix Native is the VST version of the hardware. You get a discount on the plugin if you have a hardware Helix model, but it’s not necessary.


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## ReleaseCandidate (Dec 17, 2020)

José Herring said:


> What's a good one? I'm about to get IK Ampeg models but just wondering if there are better ones out there these days.



Well, depends what tone you want to achieve with what bass. And if you want to use it to play (in Realtime, with the 'response' of the ampsim) or if it's for reamping. And then comes the cabsim and microphones and... 
You have to try for yourself.


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## José Herring (Jan 2, 2021)

ReleaseCandidate said:


> Well, depends what tone you want to achieve with what bass. And if you want to use it to play (in Realtime, with the 'response' of the ampsim) or if it's for reamping. And then comes the cabsim and microphones and...
> You have to try for yourself.


I'm not a bass player so bass response is of little concern. Mostly I use amps sims to beef up my synth and sample basses like the bass sequence in Tenet. That type of stuff. I try running it through my hardware fx pedals but when I do that I lose bass as they are intended for guitars. So, I've had some luck with plugins. 

My idea is I want to try kind of a updated urban scoring like in the 70's but updated. Rhythm tracks with orchestra or as they would say now, a beat with strings and brass.


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## Ashermusic (Jan 2, 2021)

I am very happy with the 1K Multimedia version.


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## Living Fossil (Jan 2, 2021)

For me, it's either the Ampeg SVT-VR or the Ampeg B15n, both from PiA.
Before i got those, i used different models from IK (Ampeg collections etc.).


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## ReleaseCandidate (Jan 2, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I'm not a bass player so bass response is of little concern. Mostly I use amps sims to beef up my synth and sample basses like the bass sequence in Tenet.


OK, so you don't have a D.I. signal, but already amped. 
Like @Ashermusic said, the amps or pedals of Amplitube or Bias FX or Guitar Rig or another . Just don't buy anything. 
Doesn't really matter if you're not playing through it, than the response and 'feel' would matter. 
And btw. what guitar pedals did you use that they ate the lowend? Never happened to me, also didn't happen with guitar amps - but cabins can be a problém with detuned guitars/7strings/8atrings.


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## José Herring (Jan 2, 2021)

ReleaseCandidate said:


> OK, so you don't have a D.I. signal, but already amped.
> Like @Ashermusic said, the amps or pedals of Amplitube or Bias FX or Guitar Rig or another . Just don't buy anything.
> Doesn't really matter if you're not playing through it, than the response and 'feel' would matter.
> And btw. what guitar pedals did you use that they ate the lowend? Never happened to me, also didn't happen with guitar amps - but cabins can be a problém with detuned guitars/7strings/8atrings.


I have an Eectroharmonix Big Huff and Boss DS-1 distortion pedal. I tend to notice that the low end kind of disappears when I run my outboard synths through them. Could it just be an impedance miss match perhaps?


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## ReleaseCandidate (Jan 2, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I have an Eectroharmonix Big Huff and Boss DS-1 distortion pedal.


Ah, OK, yes. Yes, you'd need the Bass Big Muff to get the sound of the russian Big Muff. Actually I don't know why anybody would even want to use the current non-bass Big Muff for guitars 
But yes, with overdrive/distortion pedals you'd almost always need a bass mod or the bass version if you want some lowend and not only the mids boosted.


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## sostenuto (Jan 2, 2021)

Kazrog LLC - Thermionix (all) here & Recabinet. 'Amped Bass' to start. 

_Keyboardist so lots to learn_.


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## kgdrum (Jan 2, 2021)

Living Fossil said:


> For me, it's either the Ampeg SVT-VR or the Ampeg B15n, both from PiA.
> Before i got those, i used different models from IK (Ampeg collections etc.).


These are my two go-to bass amp simulators & for $19 each during the sale PA is having now these are a real bargain.
If I was just choosing just one I’d say go for SVT-VR.


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## jiten (Jan 2, 2021)

Check out Acustica Audio Surrey too. I just recently picked it up on the intro offer which is still active (also trying to learn guitar now as somewhat of a new COVID-quarantine hobby, but that's another story...)

It's a nebula plugin, which I hadn't had experience with before, so the installation process wasn't the most straightforward for me. But since I got that sorted out, I'm really digging the tone. Another thing to note is that the main plugin has a decent bit of latency which makes it tricky to use playing live, but thankfully they include zero-latency versions you can use for that purpose, then swap out on mix/render.

There are a few demo videos out. Here is one showing it on synths since you mentioned that specifically as a use-case:


And on bass guitar (around the 1:50 mark):


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## AudioLoco (Jan 3, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I have an Eectroharmonix Big Huff and Boss DS-1 distortion pedal. I tend to notice that the low end kind of disappears when I run my outboard synths through them. Could it just be an impedance miss match perhaps?


The answer in the pedal world to that problem was given directly by Electro Harmonix. 
Their Big Muff for bass (the green one) has a parallel path. So one part is sent directly to the output, thus bypassing the distortion, and the other is distorted normally. You balance the two signals, get the low end from the unprocessed part and the mid dirt from the distorted path.

So parallel processing on bass is king for many. Often bass duplicated to multiple signals, each distorted differently and then recombined with a drier signal. 
You don't lose the intelligibility and punch of the low end and still have a piercing, angry mid range to attack the mix with. (gotta be mindful to phase issues though)


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## lux (Jan 3, 2021)

José Herring said:


> I have an Eectroharmonix Big Huff and Boss DS-1 distortion pedal. I tend to notice that the low end kind of disappears when I run my outboard synths through them. Could it just be an impedance miss match perhaps?


why don't you try adding some guitar/bass cab impulses, there hundred free ones out there. Those pedals are designed to shoot their tone when used in conjunction with amps/cabs, I would personally never use them without a cab end as they sound just horrible to me. DS-1 is known for that tight acid/overcompressed yet amazing distorted tone and big muff (I'm guessing the recent standard issue) offers a mid-low bandpassed muffled distortion/fuzz. Is that moment they reach the amp/cab that you know what they are supposed to sound like imo.


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## puzz (Jan 3, 2021)

I would use the Billy Sheehan technique, used in a live situation, but used in mixing as well.
You split your bass signal (bass, synthbass, whatever), so your low end is not affected by saturation/distortion, only the higher frequencies, then you mix the two signals.


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