I've been struggling to get a good electric rock bass tone for tracking for awhile now. I own a Kemper and can make it sound great for electric guitars but haven't found anything on it I like for electric bass. Was playing with the Helix Native plugin earlier and it sounded pretty good. Any Helix users here have some presets they like for bass? Any other plugins I should check out?

 

A few more options:

B-15N vs SVT-3PRO vs SVT-VR vs V-4B

B-15N

SVT-3PRO

SVT-VR

V-4B

 

Last edited: Jan 24, 2022

I just mixed a rock record, they gave me 2 tracks for the bass: mic'd amp & DI. The mic track was a bit lacking in both definition and 'oomph'.
I used the Yamaha Ampeg Bundle (can be found on sister site) on the DI track and it worked wonders. Took a bit to dial in a tone that sounded good and and mixed with what I had, but I was extremely happy with the results. Give it a whirl.

 

Yeah, the Yamaha bundle was my second choice. I thought it sounded very good. Will have to check out the Brainworx B-15N as well.

 

I use Softube Amp Room for rock bass tones. The standard Custom 100w bass amp and 8x10 sounds pretty decent and has more punch to it than say Amplitube 5. For metal bass tones I mostly use Neural DSP Parallax.

 

This is one of the most detailed and complex patches I've ever tried:

However you don't necessarily need too much to make it sound great. Many a times I find that the B7K model alone is enough to sound great. I haven't taken a deep dive into the amps yet but I really like the Ampeg SVT and the SVT-4 PRO models. Also I really like the Rochester Comp model for bass compression.
Here are a few simpler preset examples. Some use external IRs though:

 

If you buy smart you can pick up the Brainworx plugins for $14.99. Download the demos to see which ones work best in a mix. I ended up with the B-15N & V-4B, and I will probably get the others too. You can also try the Darkglass plugin. I agree with you about the Kemper not being as flexible for bass, although it does work sometimes with 3rd party profiles.

 

For a pick played modern (distorted!) Rock/metal tone, you could try Nembrini blackIce Beta Gamma. I love it. Fast good results. For a more classic rock bass tone I use the already mention Softube Amp Room.

 

The tone I'm trying to get is close to Duff McKagan's in GNR and Velvet Revolver. I know he uses a GK RB800 amp. Slightly scooped with distortion but not fuzzy. The Helix actually does a decent job. I am going to have to try out the Plugin Alliance Gallien Krueger 800rb. You would think the Kemper could do this easily but haven't found any profiles that work so far.

 

That bass in the video has active pickups as well..

 

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner haha. Thats the tone I was looking for. About to load it up and see if it sounds as good as in the video.