CLA Bass Tones

  • I know Don was kind enough to post the CLA Bass Start Me Up profile. Has anybody else profiled any of the other presets in the CLA Bass plugin?

    I initially bought the Kemper to use on bass so I don't have to mic up the Ampegs but have been having a hard time finding profiles I like and have tried most commercial profiles. The CLA Bass profile is a nice starting point, but I am also looking for overdriven bass tones like Duff with Velvet Revolver or the Mike Dirnt tone on Boulevard of Broken Dreams or even the Steve Lack tone on the Veruca Salt song Volcano Girls. They all have a very consistent distorted tone.

    Any suggestions?

  • Yeah, you're probably right :) I'm not a bass player, but did just buy one, mainly for my son, but I also wanted to mess with it as well, and I've run into similar problems trying to find a profile that I like. I don't want to say they don't sound good, as that's subjective, but playing on headphones I just can't find anything so far...

  • Did you check out this vid?


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    It's not CLA of course :)

    Kemper PowerRack |Kemper Stage| Rivera 4x12 V30 cab | Yamaha DXR10 pair | UA Apollo Twin Duo | Adam A7X | Cubase DAW
    Fender Telecaster 62 re-issue chambered mahogany | Kramer! (1988 or so...) | Gibson Les Paul R7 | Fender Stratocaster HBS-1 Classic Relic Custom Shop | LTD EC-1000 Evertune | 1988 Desert Yellow JEM

  • bleys21, don't give up yet. The Kemper takes a while to find what you are looking for. I'm still looking on bass haha.


    Thanks for the video tip musicmad. He did an amazing job on it. I think one of my problems is the pickups in the studio bass. I believe it has Dimarzio Billy Sheehan Will Power pickups in it. To say it has a woody tone would be an understatement. Been thinking about just throwing some EMG P-Bass pickups in it. Any suggestions?

  • I'm certainly not up to speed yet on bass pickups like I am on guitar pickups, but I wonder a similar thing with the Jazz bass clone I've got...maybe the pickups just aren't very good? I kinda bought it as a potential modding platform, so I may need to take the plunge and buy some decent pickups for it...

  • think one of my problems is the pickups in the studio bass. I believe it has Dimarzio Billy Sheehan Will Power pickups in it. To say it has a woody tone would be an understatement. Been thinking about just throwing some EMG P-Bass pickups in it. Any suggestions?

    one thing I learned from my G&L SB-2 with quite hot P & J pickups is, that you should turn up the vol pot(s) on the bass only about half to get 'traditional' sounds.
    Precision type pickups already have a mid-heavy, woody quality to them, it seems like the Will Power pickups were made to make this even more pronounced. Personally, I set my base (haha) tone with the Jazz pickup und then dial in as much Precision as I want.

    The Brass Diver Profiles in the Bass Rig Pack are generally a pretty good base-line (again, haha) soundwise - tried and tested tones.
    The Focus R. Pita and E. Dan WTDI are probably even more neutral.
    So by using one of these, try putting a Studio EQ in front of the STACK. With a small bandwidth and quite a bit of boost, 'scan' the lo-mids/mids to find the troublesome area (the woolyness will get really pronounced), then turn the EQ band gain from boost to cut and widen the bandwidth slightly.


    hth