Intro
You could ask yourself: why even bother with
bass amp modeling? Often enough the bass is recorded and mixed as a DI track. Even
live some bass player don’t use an amp. So why spend time on creating a
versatile piece of software for basses? Then on the other hand there are still
a lot of bass amps out there so there are also a lot of people who’d like an
amplified bass sound. Like me. And I am so happy that the team of Kuassa
decided to create this. I know that giving away the final verdict at the
beginning is kind of pointless but I would like to make something clear at the
beginning: I bought this and I am just so satisfied with it
that I wanted the world to know about it. So here we go…
I
decided to do this review with the help of the screenshot so can easily see
what I am writing about.
Functionalities
1.
I’d call this the ‘management panel’. Input, Input level, Presets, Gate,
Quality-Switch – you can see them so I won’t list everything in detail here. I
love the option to compare presets and the master CAB-switch. While it works
I’d say that the preset window is somewhat clumsy in terms of handling but I
don’t know any better examples (or at least none with other flaws) so I’ll let
it pass. Personally I tried the Dry-Wet-option once but to be honest: it only
makes sense if you really change the sound via Cerberus.
2.
Now it’s time for what you could control on the real thing (if it were the
pictured rack device). VALVE gives you an extremely rich and fat tone and if
you crank up gain it will slowly begin to become something on the border
between heavy saturation and overdrive. It will keep an extremely low punch if
you don’t cut out the bass via EQ or Cabs what is really great. FET behaves a
lot more, well, behaved. It’s clean to hell and back. It can feel a little
sterile at times but you have to force that. It’s a lot more flexible if you’re
willing to use all the other controls (including those on your bass). DRIVE is
self-explanatory. It features a slightly generic sound but it’s usable.
Personally I would put TSE B.O.D. in front of VALVE or FET and call it a day.
COMPRESS does is job subtlety but effective. You can use it as a nice support
up to noon and from there it acts more and more like a ‘drunk bassist’s best
friend’. I don’t use CONTOUR myself a lot. It feels like a scoop at the mids
which cleans up a little but I prefer shaping my tone with the EQs.
3.
What more of an EQ-section do you need? LO effectively controls the bass its
working point was chosen very well. The Boost really adds a lot of punch. I
wouldn’t use it unless your bass sounds really thin or you want to have fun.
But for recording tasks it just blows up the whole bass too much. Maybe if
you’re using a pick and a pickup close to the bridge. LO MID and HI MID will
help you massively adjusting Cerberus to your liking or manipulating the sound
to quite extreme settings, especially when using the FET mode. HI and its boost
option can be used for slightly dull basses and I really like to use those when
playing with my Epiphone T-Bird Pro. Especially while recording because I can
remove too bright sounds quite easily but not recover them from a rendered but
dull signal. Excellent work here!
4.
To answer the introductory question of No 3: A graphic EQ! I am not
particularly fond of those but after I tried a Mesa Mark V I know that they can
be really helpful. In this case I have to say: I don’t need it. It works fine
but I am happy with what the regular EQ does and so I never switch it on but for
reviewing purposes. If you want to know something specific about it you might
want to check it out yourself as you can download Cerberus from kuassa.com
5.
CAB and MIC selection and a MIX bar. I like most of the included cabs and mics
although I mainly use the 8x10 one (which most probably is a SVT-cab-simulation).
This section is quite unspectacular but functional so…that’s it. Better to hear
some stuff later on.
6.
The mics can be positioned freely although one can hear the changes quite
intensely. So I think it would’ve been better to just offer 3 or 4 distances
and the two angles. Maybe a choice between cone and cap but that’s all you
need. But it feels and looks nice. So no complaints here ;)
7.
If you don’t like the included cabs you can load yours here. There’s also a
Limiter and a Master Output Level. They all work perfectly fine. There’s not
much to say about here because I don’t know which IRs you would want to use and
I only checked the function once.
Sound
So
now over to some samples. I used my father’s 1974 Framus S-380 (Jazz Bass) and
my own C-tuned Epiphone T-Bird Pro. Settings were as shown.
First the pure DIs
Preset01
Preset02
Preset03
Preset04
Preset05
Preset06
Preset07
Preset08
Conclusion
I
love it. Do I need to say more? It’s really fantastic. VALVE, slight
compression, Contour off, EQ adjusted to T-Bird or Framus, 8x10, done. Pure fat and
warm growl.
Overview
Pro
|
Neutral
|
Con
|
Sounds
(!!!)
|
Preset
management
|
Nothing
|
Ease of use
|
Drive
a little boring
|
|
Lots
of options
Looks
Available
as Standalone
Price
and value
|
||
PS: I used it on every DrScythe-song since 'Destiny':
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