aguilar agro vs. xotics bass bb preamp

evanpu02 · #1 04-15-2011, 03:11 PM

Looking for a good distortion, and I'm between these two now,
They sound really nice on youtube. But I can't find any comparison here yet.
I use a Stingray, and I also want it to work well with envelope filter.
anyone have owned both got comment??
every using experience with these two will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

christoph h. · #2 04-16-2011, 08:56 AM

In my experience they sound very different. The AGRO is a distortion that you can coax into a light overdrive, but to my ears, it will always sound much more aggressive and "non-tubey" than the BB preamp. The BB is more of a tube-overdrive sound. The higher the gain, the more obvious the tonal differences become. I own and really like both, but use them for very different applications.

evanpu02 · #3 04-16-2011, 09:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by christoph h.

In my experience they sound very different. The AGRO is a distortion that you can coax into a light overdrive, but to my ears, it will always sound much more aggressive and "non-tubey" than the BB preamp. The BB is more of a tube-overdrive sound. The higher the gain, the more obvious the tonal differences become. I own and really like both, but use them for very different applications.

Cool~thanks for the sharing.
I haven't got the chance to try them myself.
So I can only tell that they both sound nice on youtube
But it seems that BB preamp got higher popularity on TB to me.
Anybody else has some experience to share, or other recommendation??

evanpu02 · #4 04-17-2011, 06:47 AM

Come up with another question,
I know that the sound of overdrive are close related to what amp and bass are used.
So I supposed BB do better with tube amp and passive bass, and Agro with ss amp and active bass??

Smurf-o-Deth · #5 04-17-2011, 07:38 AM

Nope. The generally neutral tone and open response of the AGRO works well with pretty much any gear, presuming the crunchy character is to your liking. I've used it as a heavy distortion, medium overdrive, and dirty boost, with active basses, passive basses, and both solid-state and tube heads. One thing it won't do is darken up your tone on its own, so that's something to consider if you are looking for that. I've never tried a BB, because I despise Tubescreamers.

evanpu02 · #6 04-18-2011, 01:50 AM

But Agro is not true bypass ,right?
will that be a problem?

Smurf-o-Deth · #7 04-18-2011, 08:14 AM

Here's Dave Boonshoft's reply on the Gig-Saver bypass:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aguilar/Dave B.

"Gig Saver" means that if your battery dies you will still pass signal through the pedal.
It is a footswitch that switches the signal, connecting the input to the output in bypass mode. "partial true bypass" would be a reasonable description.

Dave

I can say from experience that the Aguilar bypasses sound fine, and they won't click or pop like a 3DPT switch can in a typical true bypass setup.

ergbass · #8 04-18-2011, 09:02 AM

i am so happy with my BB

blastjv · #9 04-18-2011, 11:43 AM

I have and use both regularly. I think they can get some of the same types of sounds, but there are also sounds that each get that the other doesn't. The only thing that one of them does that the other can't come close is the extreme gain that the Agro is capable of. The BB can get nasty, but can't scream like the Agro. I use the BB as the first pedal in my chain, always on, providing a little tone shaping, a little push, a little compression, and just general 'focus' to my sound. It can do a lot more than that, but that's it's purpose in my rig. The Agro is my 'over the top' distortion sound, and it is nasty as hell. It really screams and roars and depending on your settings can be really cutting and retains the low end well. The BB has more low end available.

I think I'd call the Agro more versatile. It can do a clean(ish) boost up to extremely high gain distortion. The BB stops around extremely overdriven sounds, but I never liked those particular sounds from this particular pedal I feel like it's OD sound is more 'grainy' where the Agro is smoother and more gradual as you turn up the gain.

-JV

evanpu02 · #10 04-20-2011, 10:02 AM

Yesterday I finally got a chance to try a BB,
well....I have to be honest, I didn't find the sound I like.
I tried it with a Stingray and Eden combo, and the sound is just not "mean" enough for me.
Maybe BB does sound better with the tube amp.
Unfortunately I can't find any Aguilar product here.
I guess I probably have to live with something like M80
(btw, I really like the distortion sound of M80, just want something else with no DI or two-channel something,
well, I like it simple)
OK then, once again, thanks all the information provided above, you guys have been really helpful!!