Differences in Bass Tone from Different Hardware/Software (Lots of Audio Files)

Bass Direct Through Different Preamps: I'm starting a thread on basically just bass tones and just what you get from different equipment. For this first group of audio files I've recorded 3 different bass lines direct through my Creation Audio MW1 and then reamped the same direct tone back through the MW1 out to all my different preamps and record the output and the files are below. I've also added a file of the drum loop I played to and a stereo guitar part that you can mix in however you like. Just load all the files into a new Reaper project and mute all the basslines and listen to how they mix in a track one at a time (100 bpm tempo if it matters). It's interesting hearing the different frequencies poking out just from the different preamps. The files are pretty close volume wise but if you hear a volume difference just change it on your machine so you are hearing an apples to apples comparison. Most of them are self-explanatory but there are a couple that need a bit of explanation. Aguilar Tone Hammer bass preamp has an AGS distortion on it and there is a file with and without the distortion so you can hear the idea of what it does. The SMPro BL Mod is my SMPro 8 channel preamp that was modded by Black Lion. The UA 4-710d file was done with the tube/trans knob about 10 o'clock favoring more trans than tube. The UA 610 is off a UA 6176 that has an 1176 compressor and there are 2 files...one with the 1176 bypassed and one with the 1176 on 1:1 ratio so the 1176 is engaged but with no gain reduction. The other preamps used are Pacifica, Fireface800, Great River ME-1NV, Presonus ADL600, Presonus Digimax, Sansamp Bass Driver, and the True P-Solo.

VST's and Your Bass Tone: VST Compressors, Tape Sims, Channel Strips, Bass Rider: To start out this section I've done all my compressors, tape simulations, channel strips, and the Waves Bass Rider so there are a lot of files in this zip folder. It's got Reacomp, Kush, Softube, Universal Audio, URS, & Waves to get an idea of the different sounds. I've used the Aguilar Bass Preamp without the AGS on for these VST files just because the Aguilar is a relatively good clean sound. On these I'm not trying to match anything, I've just chosen a bass preset and fiddled with it for a minute and then relatively matched volumes and printed it. On the compressors I could choose I've gotten them relatively in the 3-6db of compression but notice the differences in the look of the files while listening...some are limiting more than compressing and some let through the transients more and some are nice warm and gooey. More VST Bass Tones: In this zip folder I have all the other kind of cool VST's that affect your bass tone. I have Soundtoys, Alloy 2, Softube, Steven Slate VCC, & Universal Audio. On most of these I just chose a preset and put the preset name in the files name after the name of the VST. There are some pretty cool FX in here that I could see being useful in the right situation. I put a bunch of the Alloy 2 presets on here because it has so many options. I also put a preset from the Grand Audio Channel by Softube because I forgot it on the last one. Also, a couple of these files are in stereo because it seemed necessary for the effect I was using. I once again used the Aguilar bass preamp without the AGS distortion for these sounds.

Got a little bit of everything started, I'm not finished by any means but this gives a lot of stuff for people to listen to if they so desire and I've usurped this spot just in case I think of another category I want to throw up later. A lot of this is subtleties but if you are interested then it's interesting.

Well I finally finished all my hardware compressors and until I get an LA2A one day I'm probably leaving this thread done.