Tube-pre's for DB player.

[hensonbass]

I borrowed a SIB Fatdrive pedal from a friend for an experiment. I tried my German 3/4 bass and Eminence bass (Realist pickup on both) through this pedal and my sound has really gone up a notch. I just ordered one today 'cause when I go back to hearing myself without it I don't like what I hear as much. This pedal takes away that 'honky' aspect of the piezo pickup without messing with the overall eq. I can run my AI Focus amp completely flat and can get as much volume as I need without feedback.

I know electric bass players swear by these pedals and it worked great with all of mine as well. I don't hear much about DB players using tube-pre's. Considering the sonic aspects of many piezo pickups I would think it would be beneficial to use one. I would be interested to hear what other players think of this.

[Francois Blais]

I use a TubeWorks 4001 DI.
It improved the tone of the piezo signal a lot.
I increased its input impedance from 1 Megohms to 3.3 Megohms to get even better results.
Most of the time, weak piezo tone results from impedance mismatch.