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Favorite bass amp sim?

dyross said:
Reviving this post as AuroraDSP is having a big sale. Mammoth (which I've had my eye on as I want a nice solution to the metal bass sim in addition to my more prog style) is only $24.99!

Is there any reason to try anything else for metal bass given this deal? Parallax will be ~$60 for BF, and my impression of NDSP these days is that you pay extra for the extra CPU use (...). There's also the Bogren Ampknob. Anything else released recently worth a try?
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That bit about extra CPU usage seems to hold true. I got Nolly and Darkglass earlier in the year and part of me wishes I'd have gotten something cheaper and was easier on the CPU.:emoji_sweat_smile: They do sound really nice, though.

Mammoth seemed nice when I tried it! It has a B7K in there as one of the drive types as well. Bogren's Bassknob is also really nice!
Since I have NDSP's B7K already, I'm considering grabbing Bassknob to put in front of it. While I like the B7K's distortion, I find that it lacks a lot of power on its own, and putting it through Bassknob's clean channel seemed to add a lot of that "oomph" I was wanting when I demo'd it.
 
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Draco Solis said:
That bit about extra CPU usage seems to hold true. I got Nolly and Darkglass earlier in the year and part of me wishes I'd have gotten something cheaper and was easier on the CPU.:emoji_sweat_smile:
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Yeah, my current workflow requires plugins either to be cheap in CPU, or adjustable (for example, love Mercuriall's oversampling options). So, Tonex has been really nice for low CPU, but I haven't yet found a great way to get the split metal bass sound from Tonex. I guess I should look for Darkglass models there, too...
 
dyross said:
Reviving this post as AuroraDSP is having a big sale. Mammoth (which I've had my eye on as I want a nice solution to the metal bass sim in addition to my more prog style) is only $24.99!

Is there any reason to try anything else for metal bass given this deal? Parallax will be ~$60 for BF, and my impression of NDSP these days is that you pay extra for the extra CPU use (...). There's also the Bogren Ampknob. Anything else released recently worth a try?
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I never heard of this bass amp sim,judging from the(older)new product thread from when it was first developed and released in 2020 on GS I’d probably pass.
Myself I would go with one of the better Ampeg plugins from PA etc… or wait for Neural’s BF sale.
Whichever Amp sim you get you can usually use different cabinet IR’s add saturation,distortion,compression,pedals etc……Mammoth might be great but there’s absolutely no subsequent posts that I can find on GS since 2020 which would make me a bit leery.
If it was a great bass amp sim I would expect multiple threads and countless pages discussing it on GS.

gearspace.com

Aurora DSP - Mammoth Bass Plugin - Gearspace

Aurora DSP is a new startup in the audio software industry. We set out to create a bass plugin with excellent sound, capable of achieving more than satisfying effects in a blink of an eye. That's how Mammoth came to life - an advanced bass guitar processo
gearspace.com
 
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KEM said:
Neural Parallax, Neural Darkglass
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As much as I hate to promote Neural, as I think most of their plugins are overhyped, these two are extremely solid. Neural Parallax Arc Reactor preset just might be my favorite bass tone for rock/metal. It really straddles the line between clean and dirty and handles the crunchy breakup point very well.
 
Some great suggestions so far. The only one I haven’t seen mentioned, and is one of my personal favorites is Audified’s GK Amplification 3 Pro, which as you might guess, is modeled after three Galien-Krueger bass amps and several of their cabs. On sale for $49 USD at Plugin Boutique.

Although you would have to already be a fan of those amps (which I am) to find it appealing.

I’ve been searching for an amp sim that does the same with the old GK 250ML guitar amp.
 
I searched high and low, including the latest from all the machine learning models. None of them felt like they were nailing it. Ended up getting a Sansamp Bass Driver pedal and it's a lot quicker and easy to get sounds. Vast majority of the bass sounds you hear on recordings are going to be a DI, so if you use a lot of bass guitar I'd just get a Sansamp or something similar.

One thing I learned- a clean bass amp is entirely an EQ curve, so there's no point in using an amp simulation. Just put a DI into a cab sim and you're done. Usually the amp EQ is a big ole mid scoop and low boost. Overdrive/distortion is a different story, obviously.
 
That's a good point, and a SansAmp is a classic way to go for exactly this application. But I do think the Ampeg(/Brainworx) plugs do a fantastic job with exactly the kind of saturation and even overdrive that makes a J-bass or P-bass "sound like a record," and that helps things tremendously in a mix. I'm very happy with them, at least, and I'm a sucker for bass tone.

The approaches you're suggesting have tons of merit, though. EQ of choice and a cab sim, or SansAmp, or just using whatever specific processing you want to beef up and tailor the sound, all good. In my experience, the amplifier isn't nearly as important to the role of the electric bass as it is to the role of the electric guitar. Many different approaches will yield good results.
 
JCmusik08 said:
Metal bassist turned plug-in dev here, I created this plugin to simplify my approach and signal chain. Nails anything from warm vintage tones to brutal metal tones that will cut through the mix. It’s called QuadBass, and you there’s even a free demo!
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You might want to fix your website certificates. They’re sending up warning flags in Safari and Chrome.
 
All of the PA Ampegs are good imo. Their GK is even better imo. All of the PA sims are DSP by Igor Nembrini btw.

The best I've come across (so far) is Nembrini's own branded Bass Driver, which is an emulation of three modded Sans Amp Bass DIs with comps going into a crossover going into an EQ going into another EQ going into cab IR(s), and if desired blended with raw DI. You do have to know what you're wanting and how to accomplish it, so it isn't the most plug-n-go thing out there compared to something like a B15 for instance where its super easy to dial in something useable for a lot of material.

As a side note, the Celestion Bergantino bass cab IRs are great and the Ownhammer Ampeg IRs are also great imo for anyone using bass sims, as they both open up a wide range of additional high quality sounds imo.

[edit] I also have one of the original Sans Amp Bass DI hardware boxes which is shockingly good imo within the range of what it does.
 
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Thanks for that tip, I'm looking at Nembrini Audio now and it looks like really great stuff! And his pile of freebies is massive. I definitely plan to play around with some of these... I love the PA Ampegs so that's endorsement enough for me. Very cool!
 
proggermusic said:
Thanks for that tip, I'm looking at Nembrini Audio now and it looks like really great stuff! And his pile of freebies is massive. I definitely plan to play around with some of these... I love the PA Ampegs so that's endorsement enough for me. Very cool!
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Not sure what the Klon does for bass but that's one of the best Nembrini products - and it's free. I have the (also free) ChowDSP Klon and I actually prefer Nembrini's.
 
elucid said:
Not sure what the Klon does for bass but that's one of the best Nembrini products - and it's free. I have the (also free) ChowDSP Klon and I actually prefer Nembrini's.
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Yes, I'm really interested in this developer now, I'm so glad to learn about him. I'm traveling this week but I plan on installing all his free plugins on my main computer when I get home. At first glance, his products that I'm most interested in.... are the free ones. Wow. If I end up getting some solid work out of them, I'll undoubtedly buy a couple of his non-free pieces out of gratitude.

The number of high quality freebies out there these days is astounding.
 
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