pre amp questions

bass phan · #1 08-30-2006, 09:09 PM

hey ive been playing upright bass for about 4 years, and have been playing primarily classical music. i am starting to play more jazz/improv and have an amp setup (small swr through a small cab i got from a neighbor) and it sounds ok.. i guess, but i think a pre amp would improve the sound of my bass.

any recomendations on some good pre amps that arent too expensive?

DaBassman · #2 09-01-2006, 12:53 PM

Sans Amp

greitzer · #3 09-01-2006, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bass phan

hey ive been playing upright bass for about 4 years . . . and have an amp setup (small swr through a small cab i got from a neighbor) and it sounds ok.. i guess, but i think a pre amp would improve the sound of my bass.

any recomendations on some good pre amps that arent too expensive?

My experience with a small SWR (Workingman's 10) is that it was very, very trebly. The Fishman Platinum Plus Pro EQ preamp can dial out a lot of that and get you a pretty good sound. I use this Fishman pre with a Gallien-Krueger MB150 (small combo amp) and it does fine.

barkin barney · #4 09-03-2006, 04:09 PM

i also use the fishman pro-plat with my behringer 450 watt head and 4x10 cabinet. it sounds great. i also use it with my ampeg rb-100 with my slab . (music man stingray ) and it works well. i love the fishman pre amp. and have used it by itself in practices too. barn.

PB+J · #5 09-03-2006, 07:26 PM

Well the SWR has a preamp--what's it not doing that you'd like it to do? What kind of pickup are you using?

The sansamp, in my experience, has a mid cut that's really hard to get rid of, and the controls are odd--they don't work in a very straightforward way. There's a lot too like in a sansamp--i used one for years--but it's not good at getting you a flat sound

The Fishman pro platinum is really well designed for bass. The EQ sliders are voiced well, the compressor can be useful, the depth control is very effective at masking boominess, and the phase reverse switch is a good idea. It's portable and convenient. It's a great preamp for double bass, although i don't use mine that much because I like my much more expensive avalon u5 a lot more--it just has a richer overall tone.

shwashwa · #6 09-04-2006, 02:42 PM

what pickup are you using? the main thing is that you get impedance matching. a preamp like the fishman (either the platinum or the BII), the sans amp para driver or any other high impedance input should improve your tone vs. no preamp at all. after that it's a matter of taste. pb+j loves his avalon. i dont love mine as much as he likes his. i actually prefer the fishman, but now we're getting down to splitting hairs. either will give you a very useable tone. one option is to just get an impedance matching box that does nothing else at all, and use the tone controls on your amp... i'm seriously considering this as simplicity is becoming more appealing to me lately. ( i like a 10meg ohm input, but that is a matter of some debate, and personal taste, and bass and pickup combinations as you will see once you start digging into the archives)