Amp or preamp to avoid D.I sound in live ?

[Spooky_Shop]

Hi guys,
I'm singing in a French band (sorry for my english if there are mistakes!), and now i'm playing bass too.
Almost all French sound engineers use directly bass toD.I., and I hate it ! I use many effects like chorus or fuzz, then I'd like to have a amp sounding, without using microphones.
Should I use a head ? (but I'm scared there won't always be cab on stage) Maybe with a loadboax ?
Or just a preamp (Tech 21 VT rack ?) ?

Thanks for helping me !

 

[jimfist]

You need some sort of DI device placed between your pedals and amp head that provides speaker cabinet emulation or drastic EQ filtering that will tame the sounds coming off of your effects.

If you are in France, there is a company that specializes in cabinet emulation called Two Notes:

Is there such a thing as an analog bass cabinet simulator DI box?

they have a bass pedal that is a very nice preamp that includes a cab simulated output. Otherwise, some very popular names that can provide speaker simulated DI outputs are Tech 21 SansAmp, ZOOM B3 (multi-effect, amp preamp with cab sims).

Depends on your budget. Here is another TalkBass thread that discusses this question:

Is there such a thing as an analog bass cabinet simulator DI box?