Radial PIZ Pre

[Ric Vice]

I was looking for a blender and came across this unit from Radial. Is anyone using it as a Mic/Pizeo Blender? It seems to have all the bells and whistles except you don't have a seperate EQ, Notch, Lo Pass and Phase for both channels, so the two inputs would have the same settings.


Ric

[wilsonn]

Looking at that myself, but the price is close to the D-tar Solstice (that has all the bells and whistles) that I would probably go that way.
Neal

[balazs.horvath]

It's a great preamp, I like its sound. But there's no microphone input, and therefore no phantom-powered. It is for amplifying two piezos (without separate things listed earlier). That's why I didn't buy this thing.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by wilsonn

Looking at that myself, but the price is close to the D-tar Solstice (that has all the bells and whistles) that I would probably go that way.
Neal

Neal,
I did a little research and discovered that while the Duncan Turner Solstice is a nice blender it only had a phase switch to control feedback. The Radial has the phase switch, plus a Lo Cut Filter and a Notch Filter. The disadvantage of the PZ Pre is that is only has gain controls for the two devices. So the EQ and filtering would affect both channels. That's it's drawback.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by balazs.horvath

It's a great preamp, I like its sound. But there's no microphone input, and therefore no phantom-powered. It is for amplifying two piezos (without separate things listed earlier). That's why I didn't buy this thing.

That's a good point. The AMT mic I will be using has it's own line output and phantom power.The Radial owners manual indicates that you can use it to blend a mic and pickup. You can also defeat the 10 meg ohm buffer on the input where you place the mic. Unfortunately, the EQ you use will affect both channels.

Ric

[wilsonn]

The mic I'd use for this setup would probably be a Shure Beta 57 or maybe the SM58. I don't think they need phantom power like the AMT. After the long thread on these dynamic mics I thought in terms of bang for the buck I would prefer them over an AMT. The lack of individual EQ is a real deal breaker for me on the Radial.
Neal

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by wilsonn

The mic I'd use for this setup would probably be a Shure Beta 57 or maybe the SM58. I don't think they need phantom power like the AMT. After the long thread on these dynamic mics I thought in terms of bang for the buck I would prefer them over an AMT. The lack of individual EQ is a real deal breaker for me on the Radial.
Neal

Neal,
Yeah, that's the problem with the Radial. You really need two channels of EQ to mix a Piezo with the mic. Since I have a 5/8 Mirecourt Bass most of the dynamics are pretty large on my bass even with the H Clamp, believe me I've tried a few. The AMT fits nicely onto the tailpiece and you can move it around with the goose kneck. So, for now at least it's my send to the house mic. I can live with the sound of the Realist through my amp, it actually sounds very good.

Ric

[bolo]

Ric, I think all the posts I've read in this forum re: the PZ-Pre except maybe a couple have been positive.

I think hensonbass has made some good in-depth remarks about it in a couple of posts.

Would this post solve your dual channel EQ problem some?

[balazs.horvath]

Originally Posted by Ric Vice

That's a good point. The AMT mic I will be using has it's own line output and phantom power.The Radial owners manual indicates that you can use it to blend a mic and pickup. You can also defeat the 10 meg ohm buffer on the input where you place the mic. Unfortunately, the EQ you use will affect both channels.

Ric

That's all true. I have the simpler box with my AMT(w./the battery-powered phantom) so I wanted a preamp with phantom power, to avoid to carry so many units and cables. Finally I bought an amp wihch has all these features, the Schertler Unico.

[moles]

I really loved my Bassbone for dealing with a fretted and fretless slab on the road. I patiently waited for Radial to bring something like this out - and I knew that they would. The lack of separate eq is also a deal breaker for me too though. It's actually quite frustrating to me - that they came THIS close to perfect, and then blew one of the key elements that I'd need.
Oh well. I'm getting some good sounds out of my K+K pre. That little thing is working just fine.

[Ric Vice]

Originally Posted by moles

I really loved my Bassbone for dealing with a fretted and fretless slab on the road. I patiently waited for Radial to bring something like this out - and I knew that they would. The lack of separate eq is also a deal breaker for me too though. It's actually quite frustrating to me - that they came THIS close to perfect, and then blew one of the key elements that I'd need.
Oh well. I'm getting some good sounds out of my K+K pre. That little thing is working just fine.

Moles,
That's the rub. If I'm going to double on Acoustic and Electric Bass, then to use a mic, for me at least, I need to be able to control Lo Frequency Rumble, Mid Frequency Squeal, and Phase correction on two channels. A few more dials and they would have had it.

Ric

[Jason Hollar]

Although this thing has some very handy Blender features, I think it was primarily designed as a Switcher -- like the other Bassbone products.

I'm looking for a way to switch between DB & slab on certain gigs and this thing has been on my watch-list.

However, I think I'll be going with something cheaper and simpler like the Radial I/O or maybe even a Boss LS-2 or Whirlwind A/B.

This PZ-Pre is a very cool box though. The idea of having a switcher for certain gigs -- and a blender for others is very appealing.

The manual states that you can use your other preamps in front of this thing if you need more EQ, etc. for certain pickups or mics.

Of course, the Boost button is what really has my attention!

[shwashwa]

i have this thing and at first i was disappointed that there was only one channel of eq for blending, but now i'm used to it. actually i think it's not a bad idea. you plug in both input sources, set the volumes and eq the overall sound. you can get the tone you want pretty quickly like this. i think it's actually better than having 2 eq channels because there's much less tweaking time. when i used the raven labs i felt i was turning knobs the whole gig. as a channel switcher is where i'd think you'd miss the dual eq, when you have 2 separate instruments going that are completely different.

[moles]

I still agree that it's a cool little box - but I'd honestly not be able to handle the lack of seperate eq for each pickup/mic.
Another option they could have gone with is a simplified control - say, some preset curves like they have on the Bassbone, or a balancer control like I've got on my little Eden Nemesis combo. It's one knob dual shelving - turn it to the left, and it boosts bass and cuts treble, go the other way and it does the opposite. Pretty brilliant, I think.

[deadsled]

Originally Posted by shwashwa

i have this thing and at first i was disappointed that there was only one channel of eq for blending, but now i'm used to it. actually i think it's not a bad idea. you plug in both input sources, set the volumes and eq the overall sound. you can get the tone you want pretty quickly like this. i think it's actually better than having 2 eq channels because there's much less tweaking time. when i used the raven labs i felt i was turning knobs the whole gig. as a channel switcher is where i'd think you'd miss the dual eq, when you have 2 separate instruments going that are completely different.

I have to agree...at first I wasn't too sure about the lack of separate eq controls but I have gotten used to it and it works great. I play rockabilly bass and have used the K&K rockabilly setup for a while now and was so tired of the K&K pre amp always failing and having to change batteries all the time. Now I just plug in my Pz Pre to the outlet on the back of my SVT4Pro and I am ready to go. The box gives me all the adjustment I need and has been great so far.

I am still trying to talk the owner of Radial (Peter Janis) into making a rack mounted version with separate eq controls. Maybe someday someone will answer the upright bass call and tap into this market! ~~Come on Radial!!~~

[Bonemeister]

Hi Guys;
When we spoke with various players before building the Radial Tonebone PZ-Pre, some of the main desires we got were: make it compact for fly ins (from double bass players!), ability to combine two sources, and better sound than what is out there. In a perfect world, we would have added a second set of EQs and notches plus mic input and phantom power... the problem is that you would no longer have a compact pedal, it would be a larger box - mixer style or rack mount. So we had to make choices...

Best sound is the most important element. Next low noise. Then functionality for stage use with lots of output options. What we have found is that no matter what we build, we will not address everyones needs. I can tell you that as far as simplicity and functionality, the PZ-Pre seems to be very well received.

We will eventually develop other products like the PZ-Pre... for now, if you choose to get one and want extra EQ, simply insert it before the PZ-Pre or use the effects loop. Not perfect, but a work-around solution that can help.

Have fun!

Peter 'Bonemeister' Janis

[Jazzdogg]

I play DB and five-string electric. I've been looking at devices like the PZ-Pre, Bassbone, EBS Microbass, and DTAR Solstice to use as the heart of a compact "pedal board" I can take to every gig, irrespective of the instrument(s), amplification, or cabinet(s) I'm using.

The PZ-Pre comes closer than the others to meeting my needs, but it falls short in a few areas. If the following three changes were made, I'd order one tomorrow:

1. Since there is only one set of tone controls, add a stomp-switch to bypass the on-board tone controls entirely.

2. Add a separate stomp switch to control boost and effects loop independently.

3. To better accommodate five-string bass, change the three-position high-pass filter's default setting to 30Hz instead of full-range; better yet, make the HPF variable.

If Radial were to add only the EQ bypass stomp switch, that would be a huge improvement; the other two improvements are somewhat less important to me. If these changes resulted in a slightly larger box, I'd still buy it.

[Jason Hollar]

Hey I wanted to follow up on this thread. Hoping to hear back from those currently using this bad boy...

I recently added a magnetic pickup and am now looking for a blender. I also like the fact that this is a switcher so I could use it on slab doubling gigs.

A buddy of mine bought one of these for his acoustic guitar and it sounds great through the pa system. He's gonna let me borrow it in a few weeks so in the meantime I'm doing some more research...

Opinions???