What are some of your favorite preamps of days gone by?

[armybass]

I am building that Big Gig Rig that I have always wanted...now that I am too old to move Anyway I have an 810 SWR Working Tower and am trying to build a rack to go with it. For the core and power I have an Ampeg B4R head. But I am thinking about throwing in a few older pre amps for some tonal variety. At first I was thinking like maybe an old SWR Grand Pris or Alembic F1X...but then I remembered the Ashley's and the Pearce pre's. There are so many great ones. So if you had to pick say 2 or 3 to have in a rack what would they be? Pictures of what you have would be most welcome and serve as a great inspiration!

[Jim C]

Ampeg SVP-CL
Yamaha PB-1

[chunkstyle]

I believe it was you that sold me my SWR Interstellar Overdrive... back in the Dudepit days, right? I'm still very romantically involved with that piece of gear and I wholeheartedly recommend it every chance I get.

[pbass2go]

Pearce BC-1
Two great sounding channels... weather Distortion was your thing or not
You could set up two different basses or two diferent sounds.

Love mine... you will have to pry it from my cold dead hands...

Rick

[Zooberwerx]

Originally Posted by Jim C

Ampeg SVP-CL
Yamaha PB-1

Ditto on both, plus...

Ashley BP-41
SWR IOD or Grand Prix

Riis

[Jazz Ad]

The preamp from the Ampeg B1 is the best I ever heard.
Luckily it's only a 1U 19" head so you can ignore the power section and use it as a plain preamp.
They can be found for very little money (roughly 200) and are well worth a try.

[armybass]

Originally Posted by chunkstyle

I believe it was you that sold me my SWR Interstellar Overdrive... back in the Dudepit days, right? I'm still very romantically involved with that piece of gear and I wholeheartedly recommend it every chance I get.

Wow, I forgot all about that. I do not think I had it long enough to even fully know what it was capable. GAS is a beotch sometimes. Will keep an eye out for it for sure.

[armybass]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

The preamp from the Ampeg B1 is the best I ever heard.
Luckily it's only a 1U 19" head so you can ignore the power section and use it as a plain preamp.
They can be found for very little money (roughly 200) and are well worth a try.

Very cool, I am unfamiliar with that one and will see what I can find on it. Cheap is good.

[tsunami1052]

I have had:

TubeWorks RT904
Ashly BP-41
Peavey Max
Aguilar ToneHammer
Sadowsky Outboard
Tech21 Bass Driver
Hartke VXL
Alembic F-1X
Eden WTDI
and others.

I Just purchase a Fender TBP-1 from TB. It is now in the #1 spot in my rack! The TBP-1 and the VT Bass are great together (VT in the effects loop). The TBP-1 has a foot switch. It has the Alembic vibe with more control (Vari-Q and Room Control) and the Overdrive of the RT-904 and with the VT Bass -Ampeg flavor that can be activated via footswitch.
I am seriously thinking of getting rid of the RT-904 and the Alembic F-1X now that I have played with the TBP-1.

[armybass]

Originally Posted by tsunami1052

I have had:

TubeWorks RT904
Ashly BP-41
Peavey Max
Aguilar ToneHammer
Sadowsky Outboard
Tech21 Bass Driver
Hartke VXL
Alembic F-1X
Eden WTDI
and others.

I Just purchase a Fender TBP-1 from TB. It is now in the #1 spot in my rack! The TBP-1 and the VT Bass are great together (VT in the effects loop). The TBP-1 has a foot switch. It has the Alembic vibe with more control (Vari-Q and Room Control) and the Overdrive of the RT-904 and with the VT Bass -Ampeg flavor that can be activated via footswitch.
I am seriously thinking of getting rid of the RT-904 and the Alembic F-1X now that I have played with the TBP-1.

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BartmanPDX]

I still have the Brunetti and the PJ Bass Buddy.

The Read was fabulous but I sold it when GAS for something else struck.

[tsunami1052]

The Peavey Max and Ashly are good sounding preamps. The Yamaha PB-1 gets some good reviews.

[bThumper38]

I love the Kern, need to get one of those again. Currently using and ampeg svp-pro, after rolling the tubes, it sounds great.

[tsunami1052]

BartmanPDX - how do you like the PJ Bass Buddy?

P.S. I see the KERN IP-777 (Nice!!) On my GAS list.

[tsunami1052]

Preamps

[BartmanPDX]

Originally Posted by tsunami1052

BartmanPDX - how do you like the PJ Bass Buddy?

P.S. I see the KERN IP-777 (Nice!!) On my GAS list.

It's fairly neutral sonically, and a useful piece of gear. I still use it, though primarily as a headphone amp for practice and learning new songs. It doesn't sound "tubey," but doesn't sound sterile or harsh either. The EQ is useful for dialing in your tone as well.

Now I mainly use the Brunetti or the Summit TD-100 with my IP310. Love the Summit especially on outdoor gigs, as it makes for an awesome DI into the FOH.

[armybass]

Originally Posted by tsunami1052

Preamps

That is awesome..... thanks!

[pedulla1]

Aguilar DB680! Still have mine even though I now use an Ampeg SVT7 Pro. Aggie is warm and big sounding.

[steveksux]

Used a furman PQ-3 parametric EQ for a preamp for many years, very good sounding, very nice even though solid state. Finally replaced it with an ADA MB-1, and eventually replaced that with an Eden Navigator.

Tried the Art Nightbass, that didn't survive the 30 day return period. Useless, no tone at all. Play with it forever, then plug in the ADA instead, ADA sounds better. Go back to the ART and tweak forever, switch to ADA, it still sounds better.

Navigator was the best of the bunch though.

Randy

[armybass]

Yeah I had the Navigator and it was excellent. Best tone I ever had.