Reverb on bass amps?

[Conan]

Sometimes I find my bass sound a bit on the "dry" side, and it got me to wondering...

Why do all guitar amps have reverb, but (to my knowledge) no bass amps do? Is reverb considered "bad" on bass? If so, why?

[skidder652003]

not sure if its considered bad as such, but it sounds rubbish to me in a band mix, would never consider it myself but some more of the "out there" members here might!

[CamdenRob]

Sounds rubbish in the mix and also on the lower notes... mushes it all up and looses definition.

I use it extensively on solo chordy bits though (essentially for anything in guitar territory), just got a TC hall of fame which is excellent

* Also... I seem to be following you around BC this morning... I'm not a stalker... honest...

Edited April 11, 2016 by CamdenRob

[FuNkShUi]

It sounds good if you are doing solo work (chords, tapping etc), but you lose the articulation, which doesn't help in the mix.

Although i guess it depends on the sound you're going for.

Edited April 11, 2016 by FuNkShUi

[project_c]

Check out this guy's videos, Michael Scmitt, he uses what sounds like a bit of delay to liven up is sound, he talks about it in one of his videos. I'm on a phone with bad sound so I don't know whether he's using it on this particular one, but it's worth checking out his channel anyway, he's an awesome bass player.

http://youtu.be/4vhiLD8bj30

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1460358691' post='3024842']
Sometimes I find my bass sound a bit on the "dry" side, and it got me to wondering...

Why do all guitar amps have reverb, but (to my knowledge) no bass amps do? Is reverb considered "bad" on bass? If so, why?
[/quote]

I use gobs of reverb on guitar but never been motivated to try it on bass, cant imagine it would sound very good.

[Conan]

Interesting...

I guess what I'm talking about is the flat, dead sound one can get in some heavily carpeted and furnished rooms. A bit of reverb would, to my mind, just lift that a bit and add a bit of "life". I am not talking about using lots of reverb as an effect.

[fretmeister]

From my personal experience - when locking into the drums it actually gets in the way of tightness. It's fine for solos / quiet chordal bits, but for the 99% bass job it hinders.

Reverb on heavy distorted guitars sounds just as bad. In most gigging situations the room has enough natural reverb (or sometimes far too much!)

Reverb on a dead sound just gives a reverby dead sound.

If you want more life in your sound - get some new strings!

[Conan]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1460362863' post='3024881']
If you want more life in your sound - get some new strings!
[/quote]

I always use new strings! That's not the kind of "life" I mean....

Never mind. Maybe it's only me

[discreet]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1460359073' post='3024845']
...mushes it all up and loses definition.
[/quote]

This, generally, But I know what you mean about dead rooms. Trouble is, if you apply an artificial 'room' to live bass and nothing else, it just sounds unnatural. Which may be what you're trying to achieve, in which case go for it.

I've spent years trying to get my sound as clean and as dry as possible, which works well in the context of a live band so I wouldn't consider it, but of course your mileage may vary and so on.

[Dad3353]

In outdoor gigs, for instance, a spot of reverb can 'open up' the sound, much like a tad of slap-back on the snare. Genre-dependent, and needs careful dosage, but reverb (or delay; even both..!) can work wonders. I would most often use a common effect for the whole band, though, dosing each channel individually, to 'glue' the sonic field together. If each has his/her own, it can be confusing for the ears. As with many things, less is often better than more, though.

[JapanAxe]

I have never used reverb on a bass live, but when I had a Korg Pandora there was a very useful small room reverb which made the bass sound less dead through headphones.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

It depends on the room. Most rooms are very 'wet' in the lows and mids, so reverb would only make things worse. OTOH in a very dry room, like a recording studio, some reverb might be in order. But as one usually adds studio effects in mix-down you still wouldn't want a reverb amp. However, back in the '60s many studio players did use guitar amps with reverb, most notably Carol Kaye. It's most noticeable on the tracks she did for Phil Spector, but you can hear it on Beach Boys tracks as well.

[wateroftyne]

I'm allergic to any reverb on the bass. Room acoustics aside, I like the note to start and stop when I say it should.

Actually, I tell a lie - I use a smidge of short decay when recording with palm muting. Sometimes. Very rarely.

[zero9]

My bass amp (Acoustic Image) has reverb - better go and check it works

[Conan]

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1460378480' post='3025121']
My bass amp (Acoustic Image) has reverb
[/quote]

Oh! That's the first time I've heard of it on a bass amp

[bootleg]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1460382076' post='3025176']


Oh! That's the first time I've heard of it on a bass amp
[/quote]

My Roland Cube has reverb and delay amongst other effects. I always have a smidge of reverb when I use it.

[AndyTravis]

I use an EBS reverb for a couple of breakdowns in songs, and a ludicrous Adele cover where the guitarist and drummer bugger off and order the break time beers.

[ShergoldSnickers]

Whilst this post is not strictly about reverb on bass amps per se, reverb has a place if used carefully. If you can, roll off all frequencies below around 400Hz on the reverb effect only, retaining the normal frequency range on the dry sound alone. This cuts out all the muddiness that reverb will chuck on by the bucketload if the proper bass frequencies get processed. Unless you are making a feature of the bass, apply only a smidge in any case.

You can be the judge on whether this works or not. Two bass tracks, one completely dry, and a melodic track with a fair amount of reverb. In fact, all the instruments that got reverb treatment has the feed to the reverb with the bass rolled off, as I think this helps tidy the mix as a whole.

[media]http://www.ianhalstead.com/fb/March-58-Panama-Mix.mp3[/media]

Edited May 5, 2016 by ShergoldSnickers