Outboard EQ stomp boxes

matthewfoote · #1 05-21-2008, 02:55 AM

Hi

Here's a question, if you have a passive bass with little or no onboard eq that does 90% of the jobs you do very well, but sometimes you just need that little bit more and the bass cannot deliver.

Which outboard pre amp stomp box would you go for and why.

Lets have your thoughts.

Regards

Matthew

slaerts · #2 05-21-2008, 02:58 AM

I have owned the sansamp bddi, aguilar db9something or other, radial tonebone and sadowski pre-di and have used the boss bass eq. My fav wold be the sadowski by a long shot.

fishtx · #3 05-21-2008, 07:45 AM

When you say sometimes you need a little more than the Bass can deliver...do you mean volume or tone wise?

If it''s a volume issue you are trying to resolve, maybe a boost pedal of some kind would do the trick for you.

The Demeter is really a nice sounding stompbox preamp. I had one for a while and sold it. I wish it had an XLR out...

I had the Sadowsky as well, and found it was noisy (lots of hiss).

The Seymour Duncan Paranormal is a great sounding pre/DI...very clean sounding...but it doesn't have a volume control...which is the one thing about it that has always bugged me.

The MXR M80 is also a nice box...I am using it right now and liking it. It can be transparent in tone or can color your tone. It also has a distorion channel.

The Sansamp BDDI is OK too...I found that it always added a little darkness to my tone though...

The Radial Bassbone is a nice sounding, very flexible box as well. The one knock I had for the Bassbone was that it touted it had 18db of gain (I think), but I just didn't feel it was as loud as it should have been...Also, it's 15V....

matthewfoote · #4 05-21-2008, 10:57 AM

thanks for the replies guys

Sorry, I should have said, I was looking for eq not volume.

The Demeter sounds interesting, do you have a model number so I can research it and also was it a 2 or 3 band eq. I would prefer 3 if at all possible.

Please keep the replies coming.

Regards

Mattehw

fishtx · #5 05-21-2008, 11:22 AM

The Demeter and the Seymour Duncan Paranormal may work well for you...The Paranormal is about $135 new, and the Demeter PEQ-PB is a bit over $200 I think..

Both have Bass/Mid/Treb controls (no volume on the Paranormal).

Note the Paranormal has an XLR out on it as well, which might come in handy.

gillento · #6 05-21-2008, 11:41 AM

+ 1 on the Sadowsky

The Xotic RC is a good one too!

slaerts · #7 05-21-2008, 10:51 PM

I think my radial tonebone is actually fishtx's and it is quite transparent comared to other units.

I've never noticed a hiss in my sadowsky, but haven't had the opportunity to play it at particularly loud levels, yet.

Mr. Pickles · #8 05-22-2008, 06:59 AM

I have a Barber Linden EQ on the way from Pedalgeek.
From what I understand, it's similar to the tone stack from the venerable Ampeg fliptop. I used a B-15 (unsure of year) on my first serious recording and got excellent results, so I'm hoping to recapture some of that magic with this pedal. Should be here sometime this evening. I'll do a review and sound clips sometime this weekend -keep a look out for that post.

nastyn8c · #9 05-22-2008, 07:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slaerts

I think my radial tonebone is actually fishtx's and it is quite transparent comared to other units.

I've never noticed a hiss in my sadowsky, but haven't had the opportunity to play it at particularly loud levels, yet.

The Tonebone is awesome. The only problem you could possibly run into are that the level controls don't provide a ton of gain. I find that if I'm running channel 1 flat, running the level control at 8/10 is about unity gain.

fishtx · #10 05-22-2008, 07:41 AM

HI Slerts! yep, your Bassbone used to be mine. like I said, the Bassbone is a nice box...and as you say can be very transparent. Another thing I liked about the Bassbone was that the XLR is on the "right" side of the box (even though the 1/4 out is on it's left). This was good for me because I like to route all my cables off my pedalboard down the right side of it back to my rig and to the FOH snake.

IOW, I like all my Inputs and outputs on my pedalboard to be on the right side...just a thing for me...probably not a big deal to others.

Puru · #11 05-22-2008, 07:50 AM

I'm waiting for the Aguilar Tone Hammer:
http://www.aguilaramp.com/products_p...tonehammer.htm

EskimoBassist · #12 05-22-2008, 04:53 PM

BOSS GEB-7, 7 band EQ with a volume cut/boost. Great pedal and cheap as chips on evilbay!

RickenBoogie · #13 05-22-2008, 05:20 PM

I use the MXR M80, and a Sonic Stomp for my eq needs. I may not be a great bassist, but I do have great tone.

kevteop · #14 05-22-2008, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthewfoote

Here's a question, if you have a passive bass with little or no onboard eq that does 90% of the jobs you do very well, but sometimes you just need that little bit more and the bass cannot deliver.

Which outboard pre amp stomp box would you go for and why.

Are you mad? That's the perfect excuse to buy another bass!

mozarwasagenius · #15 05-22-2008, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthewfoote

Hi

Here's a question, if you have a passive bass with little or no onboard eq that does 90% of the jobs you do very well, but sometimes you just need that little bit more and the bass cannot deliver.

Which outboard pre amp stomp box would you go for and why.

Lets have your thoughts.

Regards

Matthew

I have used the sansamp bddi, pddi, pbddi, the radial bassbone and the Boss EQ7B (sp?).

My favorite was the boss. Lotsa tone control, extremely quiet, great bypassed tone. My only complaint is it has too much tone control - I wish it only had +/-10dB instead of +/-20dB of control per frequency as it can be a bit touchy. I love this thing with my passive pbass.

Next was the radial. Well built and quiet.

The sansamps I could never get to sound right with my high output basses. Plus they messed with my midrange too much (except for the pddi, but it just didn't have the sound I was looking for)

matthewfoote · #16 05-22-2008, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevteop

Are you mad? That's the perfect excuse to buy another bass!

I like your reasoning but I suspect my wife would not

Thanks for all the replies guys, lots of great suggestions for me to look at.

Can I throw two more into the mix and see what people's views are, the Fodera 2000 and the John East stomp box. Any views on these ones?

Regards

Matthew

Andy V. · #17 05-22-2008, 08:31 PM

I've used the M-80, SABBDI, Carl Martin Para Eq and the Sadowsky pre.

The M-80 is a very nice box.
Zero noise with a very effective eq section.
The dist side can be used as a clean second channel for slap.

The Carl Martin is also nice, but subtle, IMO.
It's always useful to have a greater control over the eq.
The DI was superb.

My Sadowsky unit was a little hissy and I only kept it for a couple of weeks.
Nice eq section but the lack of mid control was a big downer for me.

All these units were just nice but right now I'm playing with a Fishman Pre (pre+eq+comp) and a Xotic RC booster and it seems to suit my playing better, live and in the studio.