I need an intervention! But I did find heaven purchasing a Read Custom Purity pre!

[maisbass]

Yes, as probably most of you lurking here, I think I need an intervention. The evolution of the smartphone while great, is dangerous too! I've been obsessed with lurking here through the classifieds and starting to get an overload of serious gas! I see a lot of you on here buying and trading gear like we change our clothes every day! Haha! Ok so now that I have come clean and recognized my problem, I am reformed! It's a miracle! So onto the real topic here....

I've been playing bass for 32 years now, so needless to say, I've been around a while. I just purchased a Read Purity Bass pre from a fellow TB'er and I got to gig with it last night. My signal chain was: Fodera Emperor Elite II - Avalon U5 (tone circuit disabled) - Read Purity Pre - FX return of EBS Neo Gorm 2X10. All I can say is WOW! The tone was simply amazing. I feel like I finally found the Holy Grail of Bass tone! I know the Read Pre has been discussed here a kazillion times but I was so blown away last night that I just wanted to share my experience. I left the Eq disabled on the Read, and just used the emphasis knob. Absolutely tube heaven and mid grind that cut through the mix.

One thing I did have to do was isolate the Read pre from the rack rails to eliminate a ground loop caused by the unit. Anyone else experience this?

So I also have an Mesa Carbine M6 on the way (purchased here), which I was planning to use with this setup. Perhaps use only the power section of the Mesa, or use both pre's with an fx loop switcher. I have an Epifani UL 2x12 cab I would use with this setup.

So the question is, what do you think? Do you think I'm crazy to incorporate the Mesa into this setup? Do you think I will have even more punch using the Mesa power section? Or should I just be committed to an asylum? Is there a better cabinet match? I do not have the Carbine yet, waiting for UPS to deliver.

I would appreciate any experiences or feedback you may have experienced with this type of setup. Thanks.