Compressor & Preamp

[DaRQsiDe]

I am looking for a compressor and a preamp for my newly forming rack equipment, an addition to my SVT3-Pro.

What i was thinking to buy is a dbx 160a for compressor and a Tect 21 SansAmp RBI (I want to have a PSI but i dont have the budget). I own a Modulus Quantum Q6, a Godin Freeway 5 and a Cort 3535 fretless. I dont have any preamp problem with the modulus but the other ones definitely need a little push (godin is passive and i dont like the electronics and Mighty Mite magnetics of the Cort).

So what i would like to ask is whether my selection is good or something better you can tell me.

[bongomania]

Depends what you want from it. "Better" is generally meaningless except relative to your tastes and what you're trying to achieve.

So- what genre(s) do you play, are you talking about live or in studio or both, what's your budget, what are you trying to achieve with the compressor, how you intend to switch or adjust the preamp(s) when swapping from one bass to another, whether you need the preamp to drive the power section of your Ampeg or if you're just using it for a little boost and tone shaping, etc. etc.?

[DaRQsiDe]

Genres - I am playing from 50's swing to technical death metal

Where - Both

Budget - I am not in a rush but around $500

Bass to bass - Pre recorded setting (Tech 21 has it i suppose) or a 2 channel & footswitch

Purpose - Little tweaks in tone and stuff,

[bongomania]

Not much to go on there, but if the preamp is just for tweaks in tone then I would def. get a pedal pre instead of a rack unit. Only a few rack pre's have easy switching or programmable settings. With a pedal pre it's much easier to stomp different voicing on (or remove from the chain), and the signal level is more compatible with your existing amp head. If you're set on a rack then maybe an ADA or Rocktron programmable unit would suit you- and I think they both contain compressors. And IIRC there were one or two in the TB classifieds recently. But again I would strongly recommend pedals instead, e.g. for giving a bit of tone tweak/boost to just one of your basses.

[343 Salty Beans]

Woo, a fellow Godin Freeway user!

[DaRQsiDe]

The fact is i dont like pedals, and the racks give more options than simple pedals. And i was thinking about a separate compressor and a preamp to gain efficiency.

[DaRQsiDe]

Originally Posted by 343 Salty Beans

Woo, a fellow Godin Freeway user!

Quality guitar for less money :-D I got mine back in Turkey for $850 brand new. Used for 5 years. Waiting for my friend to bring it to US.

[DaRQsiDe]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Not much to go on there, but if the preamp is just for tweaks in tone then I would def. get a pedal pre instead of a rack unit. Only a few rack pre's have easy switching or programmable settings. With a pedal pre it's much easier to stomp different voicing on (or remove from the chain), and the signal level is more compatible with your existing amp head. If you're set on a rack then maybe an ADA or Rocktron programmable unit would suit you- and I think they both contain compressors. And IIRC there were one or two in the TB classifieds recently. But again I would strongly recommend pedals instead, e.g. for giving a bit of tone tweak/boost to just one of your basses.

Actually i recognized now that you have a compressor review page and i am now going over it. Cool job :-D

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by DaRQsiDe

The fact is i dont like pedals, and the racks give more options than simple pedals.

Hey, if you just don't like pedals that's cool, but I will say that IMO racks give fewer options than pedals, if you look at the big picture. For example you might choose a two-channel footswitchable rack pre by GK or Ampeg:
both channels will have the basic voicing of that brand;
you are limited to whatever EQ or tone shaping controls they provided per channel;
you still have a footswitch in a stompbox on the floor, with a switcher cable running to the rig in addition to your instrument cable.

With pedals you can have as many completely different voicings as you have separate units;
You are not limited to any one design's EQ controls, as you can get a different unit with different controls as desired;
If it's only one of your basses that needs the boost/tweak, you don't have to run your other basses through a second channel of the same processor;
You still only have two cables to the rig, your instrument cable and the power cable for the pedal(s).

Anyway though, I understand if you just don't want pedals, no sense in me arguing that. So you'll want to go over to the Amps forum and look up the Rocktron and ADA pre's I mentioned, as well as the Ampeg SVP-BSP and SVP-Pro, and the GK two-channel rack pre, and I think the Eden Navigator and the Ashdown rack pre's might have footswitchable control of some kind... Maybe worth posting a thread to ask which rack pre's have two or more footswitchable channels, or even searching to see if there's already been a thread about that.

Oh, and feel free to ask for more info if any of my comp reviews raise questions. Good luck!

[343 Salty Beans]

Originally Posted by DaRQsiDe

Quality guitar for less money :-D I got mine back in Turkey for $850 brand new. Used for 5 years. Waiting for my friend to bring it to US.

Got my Freeway 4 for $500, cuz it had a tiny ding as a demo model. She's my one and only...I call her Lilah.

But on topic...

If you're going rack, how are you going to change your settings? Are you talking tone tweaks mid-song (as in going from a smooth jazz groove sound to a thumpy, twangy rock-driven sound)? Or are you talking about between songs, or even between gigs? Are you going to get a foot controller for that or what?

I'm not messing with your idea, I'm just purely curious.

[DaRQsiDe]

What i used to do with my old pedal set is just to tweak the sound for the genre and just go with it for the compressor. Preamp kicks in when i would be soloing or so. I used to use preamp as a quasiprocessor.

[Planet Boulder]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Hey, if you just don't like pedals that's cool, but I will say that IMO racks give fewer options than pedals, if you look at the big picture. For example you might choose a two-channel footswitchable rack pre by GK or Ampeg:
both channels will have the basic voicing of that brand;
you are limited to whatever EQ or tone shaping controls they provided per channel;
you still have a footswitch in a stompbox on the floor, with a switcher cable running to the rig in addition to your instrument cable.

With pedals you can have as many completely different voicings as you have separate units;
You are not limited to any one design's EQ controls, as you can get a different unit with different controls as desired;
If it's only one of your basses that needs the boost/tweak, you don't have to run your other basses through a second channel of the same processor;
You still only have two cables to the rig, your instrument cable and the power cable for the pedal(s).

Anyway though, I understand if you just don't want pedals, no sense in me arguing that. So you'll want to go over to the Amps forum and look up the Rocktron and ADA pre's I mentioned, as well as the Ampeg SVP-BSP and SVP-Pro, and the GK two-channel rack pre, and I think the Eden Navigator and the Ashdown rack pre's might have footswitchable control of some kind... Maybe worth posting a thread to ask which rack pre's have two or more footswitchable channels, or even searching to see if there's already been a thread about that.

Oh, and feel free to ask for more info if any of my comp reviews raise questions. Good luck!

I have to give a +1 to bongo in this particular case, even though you stated that you don't like pedals.

I would recommend the Sansamp BDDI + either the Aphex Punch Factory or the BBE Opto Stomp (I have all three, so I speak from experience).

Again, I know that you stated that you don't like pedals, but I would strongly urge you to consider the points that Bongo laid out above. In the end, you can get what you are looking for, but at a fraction of the price and with the benefits that bongo outlined.