Bass BB Preamp Vs H.B.E. Hematoma

[bassthunder100]

I'm unsure wich one to get
which one has a better tubey overdrive sound?
i want to get that grit/dirt sound

I play with my fingers

[Matt Dean]

I hesitate to respond to your question as I don't have a Hematoma... but I do have a Bass BB pre and a SFT. And I think the SFT has more of a tubey OD. I actually think the strength of the Bass BB is it's transparency. I play it through a very tubey sounding amp so, it does sound tubey. But the SFT adds more of it's own color and from what I've heard about the Hematoma, it may too.

[NikkiSixx]

Hematoma for sure. Xotic sounds too 'clean' to be deemed tubey. Hema can go into fuzz territory when cranked as well. I really recommend it

[rockstarbassist]

I have them both on my board.

The BB is what I use for OD and when I want some grind. It also is heard in the mix better and doesn't get as lost as the HBE.
The HBE is more in your face, and more a distortion/light fuzz. But like I said it gets a little more "lost" than the BB. I like it, but I have something being built that's gonna replace it. The Gain Boost is a cool feature tho.

But they're not even close to one another tonally to do an apples/apples comparison. They both get you different results.

[8strings0hair]

I have both. And they're definitely in the same realm to me.

Like rockstarbassist said, a little more oomph in the HBE.
The separate preamp/boost switch in the HBE is very cool, and to my ears it doesn't just add a boost but a little color. You can use it on its own (which I do quite a bit to "warm up" other pedals, and my amp as well, it's solid state).

Love them both. For the sake of harmony and to avoid redundancy, I keep 'em on separate boards.

[NikkiSixx]

Xotic bb sounds fizzier, while hematoma sounds warmer and more tubish.

Ive owned both pedals on my board, and i sold the xotic after hbe came into the house.

The xotic is more transparent though, but the hbe adds more mids which helps me cut through the mix easier. Also, more gain available on tap with the hematoma.

[Laurent]

I have owned both pedals and did not care for the Xotic bb. It's a fine pedal but it wasn't the tone I was after.

The Hematoma however is what I use and love. It also pairs really well with the Fulltone Bass Drive: have the Hematoma feed into the Bass Drive for some very serious distortion.
Note also that the boost side of the Hematoma offers a really nice amount of compression to the tone when cranked up. Each channel is inedendant which is nice.
That's different from the Fulltone where you need the distortion to be on for the boost channel to work.

Last thought, the Hematoma is similar to the Way Huge Pork Loin tonally. I have posted about this in the past.

Good luck with your quest.

[BrandonBass]

Am I the only one who is thinking of getting rid of his hematoma to get a bb pre? I personally feel that the hematoma is a great pedal and has a nice sound to it, but i wished it didnt color my tone that much.

I heard the xotic bb is one of the more transparent pedals there

[Laurent]

To my ears and with my equipment, the BB was more colored than the Hematoma. Some other people should provide their wisdom on this as well because I only owned the BB for a short amount of time.

[BrandonBass]

anyone who wans to trade their bb preamp for a hematoma, you know what to do!