A preamp for the Realist?

[Danko]

Hi all,

I'm planning a tour with my swing trio (guitar, violin, double bass). Since we used up all the mic preamps on the PA mixer, I'll need a preamp to be able to plug my bass into the board's line channel.

We'll use a tiny PA system, and would probably play most our gigs on the street. We are happy with the sound of the PA and the volume so far. But, I'd need a preamp in order to use the "5th channel".

So far I've been using my smalish Vox T-60 amp, so I never plugged directly into the board. I want something small so I needn't lug the T-60 around. Which preamp do you think would be best sounding one with the Realist PU?

BTW: I like a modern jazz bass sound - Brian Bromberg kind of sound. Not trad boomy thing.

Danko

[wiro]

For me the Fishman Pro-eq platinum pre-amp/DI works great. Not only for all sorts of different sounds (5-band eq. plus 'depth') but also because of the fase-switch against feedback. There's a symmetrical XLR out on this one to go in the mixer.
http://www.urbbob.com/preamp-fishman.html

[Danko]

Originally Posted by wiro

For me the Fishman Pro-eq platinum pre-amp/DI works great. Not only for all sorts of different sounds (5-band eq. plus 'depth') but also because of the fase-switch against feedback. There's a symmetrical XLR out on this one to go in the mixer.
http://www.urbbob.com/preamp-fishman.html

You didn't get the part about the mixer. I said we used up all the mic preamps on the mixer. So, there isn't a XLR slot left for me to use. If there was, I wouldn't probably have started this thread. There is only a line channel "channel 5" with two 1/4” plug slots left.

Guess Fishman has that sort of output too?

Are you using it with Realist?

Danko

[wiro]

Originally Posted by Danko

You didn't get the part about the mixer. I said we used up all the mic preamps on the mixer. So, there isn't a XLR slot left for me to use. If there was, I wouldn't probably have started this thread. There is only a line channel "channel 5" with two 1/4” plug slots left.

Guess Fishman has that sort of output too?

Are you using it with Realist?

Danko

Jip, it has also a jack output that works very well. Just take care that the wires aren't too long then.
I'm using it with the realist and these combine very well.

[pmckinney4]

Originally Posted by Danko

You didn't get the part about the mixer. I said we used up all the mic preamps on the mixer. So, there isn't a XLR slot left for me to use. If there was, I wouldn't probably have started this thread. There is only a line channel "channel 5" with two 1/4” plug slots left.

Guess Fishman has that sort of output too?

Are you using it with Realist?

Danko

I use the SansAmp Bass Driver DI with my realist. It has both 1/4 in output and xlr, giving it some flexibility.

[Danko]

Originally Posted by pmckinney4

I use the SansAmp Bass Driver DI with my realist. It has both 1/4 in output and xlr, giving it some flexibility.

Umm, sold mine a year ago. Sounded crap with my bass guitar, and sounded even more crap with the DB. I guess our tastes differ alot because I really hated the way BDDI killed my dinamics and added that annoying synthetic plastic sound to the sound of my bass.

Hope Fishman is more transparent yet versatile?... because my short experience with BDDI was that it's a one-trick pony with a lousy trick.

Bear in mind that BDDI was only preamp I ever had, so I don't know much about preamps. Are preamps in general supposed to mutilate your sound, or it's just a BDDI?

Danko

[stockbass]

I never play without my Beh* ADI-21. Great with just any pu. Just be careful with what the blend knob does to the sound. On one of my basses equiped with the realist the blend is useful, but on another bass with the wilson pu it just adds distorsion.

/Thomas

[bolo]

Originally Posted by Danko

Bear in mind that BDDI was only preamp I ever had, so I don't know much about preamps. Are preamps in general supposed to mutilate your sound, or it's just a BDDI?

Danko

Danko, I think some preamps are designed in a way that is not supposed to color the sound (in principle anyway), while others are deliberately designed to do just that.

The SansAmp supposedly has a mid-range cut no matter how you set it, so I've read. But I don't find it to be particularly drastic, unless you engage the tube emulation function by turning the "Blend" knob up.

I happen to like the BDDI with my electric bass, but I am looking for an old school 60's type sound. I tried the BDDI with DB a few times, but I didn't stick with it long enough to dial in a sound I liked.

I also tried the L.R. Baggs Gigpro about a year ago with my upright, but to my ears it had a steep mid-range cut, and it smoothed out the initial hit on each note in a way that I did not care for.

So some preamps really do shape the sound even when set "flat".

On the other hand, with my DB I've used preamps from K&K in the past, and now I use a D-TAR Solstice. With the EQ set flat, IMO they primarily just boost the signal and do not color the sound much at all.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, send an email or PM to fdeck and check out his preamp design.

[B String]

Another vote for the Fishman bass pro platinum eq. They
make a bass or regular version. Get the bass version.
The D-tar is also very versatile but more expensive.
For what you are doing, I like the Fishman pro plat eq.
Lots of eq shaping options (notch filter, etc) 1/4 in out
or xlr. Runs on 9 volts, dependable. I feel the same as
you about the BDDI for upright. Not a good fit for me either.

[wiro]

Originally Posted by Danko

Umm, sold mine a year ago. Sounded crap with my bass guitar, and sounded even more crap with the DB. I guess our tastes differ alot because I really hated the way BDDI killed my dinamics and added that annoying synthetic plastic sound to the sound of my bass.

Hope Fishman is more transparent yet versatile?... because my short experience with BDDI was that it's a one-trick pony with a lousy trick.

Bear in mind that BDDI was only preamp I ever had, so I don't know much about preamps. Are preamps in general supposed to mutilate your sound, or it's just a BDDI?

Danko

I'm totally with you. The only difference is that I'm very happy with my BDDI for BG because I need this crappy sound to play dirty rock.
I tried it with my upright but couldn't get anything usefull out of it. To me the BDDI is not so much a pre-amp but I use it as an overdrive pedal. And it's doing a great job in this.

The Fishman is also coloured, but more to the warm side. Thanks to all the options and buttons you can get almost any kind of sound out of it. It's extremely versatile and everything is optimized for DB.
The killing of harmonics is something to keep in mind. For this aspect I use the Aphex 204 Aural Exciter to enhance the acoustic touch.

Any moment now I expect my Clevinger pickup to replace the Realist. Hope to get more harmonics and less feedback with this one.

[Marc Piane]

I love my Sansamp. It did take me a while to find the sound I wanted. The controls are very sensitive. Now I use it more as an eq. No drive, blend at 12 o'clock. Then I eq based on the room. I feel like the tube emulator does a nice job fattening up the sound too.

[Danko]

Thanks all who took time to reply.

My preamp problem has been solved in a most unexpected way.

See, I had this small Alesis Nanocompressor unit for sale for months. Nobody cared even to try it, much less to buy it.

So, yesterday, testing all my gear I plugged that little box to try with my DB. What a power boost! I needed to max the gain on my mixer + almost max the fader on the DB channel BEFORE. And now with the DB through Nanocompressor, I can have both fader and gain on 12 o'clock to have the same result at the mixer output with much less hiss from the mixer channel preamp. Resulting in overal less noise.

Woohoo! Seems I've bought a preamp from myself. LOL! I may want an EQ afterwards perhaps. But this thing solved the 90% of my problem - amplification without hiss.

Danko

[wiro]

Congratulations! Live can be sweet.

This kind of improvement partly has to do with impedance values that match.

A good sound makes a huge difference in how you play and the fun that comes with it. At least to me it does.

Have fun.

[lowendforlife]

Just thought i'd add to this thread. Just received my D-Tar Solstice from Bob G. today. Wow!! Great little toy. I'm putting it through the paces now--using it to blend the signal from my Realist with a number of different mics (dynamics and condensers) and everything sounds wonderful so far. It really adds some headroom to my series I AI Contra and Contra EX without distorting the signal. Looking forward to taking it on the gig on Friday and Saturday. I'll report back then for my final verdict, but so far I'm a happy camper!