Anyone have any ideas why my bass guitar tracks are all fuzzy and crappy sounding

I use an Edirol UA25EX interface. Every other kind of track I do seems to turn out okay. But the bass guitar ends up with this airy sounding hiss deal. It's not in the plugins that I use after the recording, but in the recording itself. At first I thought it was because the signal was too hot, but turning it down just makes the crap sound quieter. By the way.....it really sounds okey dokey in a recording. You can't really tell that much, but if you listen solo it's kind of alarming. I have an option for an advanced driver. I thought I wasn't using that, but it is turned on. There is a phantom power of +48..(whatever that means) which I have on. There is a Hi-Z cut off thing which it appears I have pressed. (Could this be it....like it's trying to cut down the lows on a bass?) sigh thanks in advance.

Why do you have phantom power on?

Try it with Hi Z on and without phantom power. You're just plugging a 1/4 cable into your edirol right? Are you plugging into the left or right input on the face of the unit? Right is the only one that supports Hi z if I remember correctly. The right input(Hi Z) is for direct guitars, bass etc...Try both inputs and test them out. Do you have compression turned on on the back of the unit is it on bypass?

Hi-Z is for bass and guitar pickups that are hi-impedance. You have to switch the Hi-Z at ON and no phantom power Oupss! 70srocker already answered.

There's no way that phantom power should be sent down a jack lead, and you are using a jack lead?

The Phantom Menace

Thanks .... this is the mic I use. Sterling ST66 from Guitar Center

Are you recording the bass by micing the cabinet, or are you plugging the bass directly into the soundcard? If you are going direct you need Hi-Z on and Phantom power off. If you are micing the cabinet then you need Hi-Z off and Phantom power on.

No....I just use line in 1/4 for bass. I use the mic for acoustic guitar and vocals.

If you are near the computer you will get a hissy buzz with single coil pickups. Try moving more than six feet away from the machine