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Anyone own ISP beta bass preamp pedal

Seanbassplayer

Seanbassplayer

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Oct 14, 2016
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#1
This is my first post and been playing bass for a few years and looking to get into going straight to foh or into a full range powered speaker like a EV zlx12p.I am interested in this preamp and been reading allot about them.My question is does the decimater noise reduction act as a lpf or does the preamp have a cab sim as I've read some of these preamp pedals have cab sims built in to control the harshness of the distortion when running through pa speakers. Thanks and looking forward to being part of the group.
 
#2
I just received mine today and have been putting it through it's paces for at least 6 hours or more.


To answer a couple of your questions, the ISP Beta Bass has no cabinet simulations.

But apart from being an outstanding sounding preamp, the Decimator (to my ears and as I understand it) is a noise reduction/gate circuit. I'll add that it is a fantastic sounding one at that. It kills noise without clamping/squashing down on notes unless you are pushing it's upper limits around 3/4 of the way up or higher. But it can kill TONS of hiss & noise way before that. I seriously doubt you'd ever need to approach the 3/4 or higher settings, ever.

I have not ran this pedal just yet to a FOH, but will soon in a worship service at my church. I have ran it into my GK-MB500 effect Return to bypass the GK preamp and it sounds incredible into a 2×10 cab with Eminence Delta Lite speakers and Selenium D220Ti Titanium horn. Basically a good representation of a stage monitor - and the tone is killer. I'm thinking it will translate very nicely to a larger FOH system.

In general, the pedal is superbly built and sounds absolutely amazing. Each section of this preamp delivers - big time. Highly recommended!
 
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#3
stingray69 said:
I just received mine today and have been putting it through it's paces for at least 6 hours or more.


To answer a couple of your questions, the ISP Beta Bass has no cabinet simulations.

But apart from being an outstanding sounding preamp, the Decimator (to my ears and as I understand it) is a noise reduction/gate circuit. I'll add that it is a fantastic sounding one at that. It kills noise without clamping/squashing down on notes unless you are pushing it's upper limits around 3/4 of the way up or higher.

I have not ran this pedal just yet to a FOH, but will soon in a worship service at my church. I have ran it into my GK-MB500 effect Return to bypass the GK preamp and it sounds incredible into a 2×10 cab with Eminence Delta Lite speakers and Selenium D220Ti Titanium horn. Basically a good representation of a stage monitor - and the tone is killer. I'm thinking it will translate very nicely to a larger FOH system.

In general, the pedal is superbly built and sounds absolutely amazing. Each section of this preamp delivers - big time. Highly recommended!
Click to expand...


Thanks for your reply and your thoughts on the pedal. I have ordered one myself and have spoken with ISP directly and there is an analog circuit that eliminates the harshness you get running overdrive/distortion through full range speakers. The pedal is made specifically for this feature. Upon my order I also had ISP put a separate volume pot to the distortion circuit so I can unity gain between clean and distortion almost like a 2 channel but shares the eq adjustments. Kinda like a b7k. I should be receiving my beta bass pedal this week and will give a review as well as a really nice video demo as there's not allot out there right now and think this pedal needs more love and exposure. Cheers!!
 
#4
Seanbassplayer said:
Thanks for your reply and your thoughts on the pedal. I have ordered one myself and have spoken with ISP directly and there is an analog circuit that eliminates the harshness you get running overdrive/distortion through full range speakers. The pedal is made specifically for this feature. Upon my order I also had ISP put a separate volume pot to the distortion circuit so I can unity gain between clean and distortion almost like a 2 channel but shares the eq adjustments. Kinda like a b7k. I should be receiving my beta bass pedal this week and will give a review as well as a really nice video demo as there's not allot out there right now and think this pedal needs more love and exposure. Cheers!!
Click to expand...

Awesome - thanks for the info regarding the specific design to sound good in a full range FOH environment. I was not aware of that. I know it sounds fantastic through my stage monitor type of cab. Looking forward all the more now to running it FOH when I get a chance!

Also, how cool that ISP is building you a customized version of the pedal. I had no idea they'd be willing to do this. I bought mine online and assumed that was the set-in-stone market offering. Pretty awesome they'd do this kind of work for you upon request. FWIW, I'm finding it does a really good job at staying very volume balanced between clean/light overdrive when you engage the switch.

Extreme gain/distortion settings start to show bigger volume jumps of course. This is where your custom Vol will pay off I'm sure. Looking forward to your demo/thoughts/review. There isn't a whole lot of info on TB right now on the Beta Bass. I am extremely impressed with it!!
 
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#5
Exactly that's why I wanted the volume pot to switch mid songs and not have to use my volume pedal as the music were doing is quite dirty with clean parts mid songs etc. ISP tech support is top notch and responded same day with all the questions I had and answered in detail. I can't wait till mine arrives!!
 
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#6
image.jpg

I LOVE MY ISP!
 
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#8
Thanks. 600 pure watts of juice! Slightly overkill for the bedroom:)

I love single coils so the decimator is heaven- and the compressor is so transparent, it's like it's not even there-but it is. The most musical one-knob compressor I've heard up to this point.

+1 on ISP technical support
 
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#9
image.jpeg
Just got mine on Friday and can't believe how busy the weekend was and was only able to get a couple hours today but I can tell you I'm very very happy! I'm running it through an EV ZLX12P and sounds mint! I still need more time to see its potential but seems limitless
 
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#10
Seanbassplayer said:
View attachment 1002704 Just got mine on Friday and can't believe how busy the weekend was and was only able to get a couple hours today but I can tell you I'm very very happy! I'm running it through an EV ZLX12P and sounds mint! I still need more time to see its potential but seems limitless
Click to expand...

I see the custom Vol knob - I was wondering where they might put that. Nice!

Looking forward to your thoughts/review.
 
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#12
Got to play more last night and I'm super impressed with the tones I dialled in. Bass and treble a little goes a long way and really love the massive mid sweep section. Compression is really good especially one knob. Decimator is top notch but knew this already. As for the exciter i like it most with the dirt as it makes it kinda saturate. I know it is going to sound even better when I decide what I'm going to plug it in to for gigs. Maybe a gk212 mbp would be the ideal ticket. Can't afford the ISP powered cabs otherwise that would make a complete setup. Maybe I'll win the lottery lol I will be doing a demo video soon on the pedal and will post a link when done. Cheers!!!
 
#14
I have the Theta for guitar and was definitely impressed by it. I can get certain types of tight high gain tones that would otherwise cost me much more expensive and specialized equipment.

Is the Beta Bass good for modern distorted bass tones?
 
#16
NOVAX said:
That looks tight!
Distortion! I don't use it very often but what a great feature.
Congrats and enjoy. I'm still just scratching the surface of my ISP rig.
Click to expand...

With the blend knob you can add a slight bit of dirt too and is very dynamic. If I play hard you can hear more breakup and if I play soft less breakup. With having the volume on distortion side I can also make it work like a clean boost.. I love it!!
 
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#17
Just chiming in to say that I was chatting with ISP the last couple of days via e-mail.

They dropped a tidbit of information that bass geeks like me love to hear - it was mentioned that David Ellefson (MegaDeth bassist) happens to be an active user of this ISP Beta Bass Preamp pedal and I understand he absolutely loves it!

Cool beans - nice Pro endorsement!
 
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#18
Q for you cats who are using this pedal:

Is this a special power adapter to run it?

Reason for asking is that I just bought one of these off of eBay. Seller won it via GC raffle. It arrived today, but has no power cable. I foolishly tried hooking up my existing 9VDC adapters with no luck, because the center pin is too large. Then called ISP, and their tech folks set me straight. Then searching for 9V AC pedals on Amazon etc, I found out the adapter for my ART Mic Pre is 9V AC. But, tried that one, and the center pin is still too large.

So, what's the deal? Is this a special connector? ISP told me that the Rocktron cables work. i just don't have one of those in my bag of tricks.

Thanks.

Never realized these pedals had such variations. How does this work on a pedal board? I thought the power bus had been standardized? To me, if this is a special cable, it would be painful on a pedal board. I don't use one of those; so, if the preamp performs well, then no big deal to me. Just surprised at the power cable variation.
 
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#19
The power supply is a 9V AC 2000mA power adaptor, but I don't know the exact "mm" measurement of the connector tip - perhaps ISP tech support can tell you. That's the only missing element you'd need to know before hunting down a suitable replacement power supply.

ISP told me they sell replacement power supplies for like $30 dollars, but if they say some or most Rocktron power supplies will work (for tip size and AC output ratings), then you might be able to find something on Amazon for a little less. There are other non-ISP power supplies that are the same rating, just gotta know the right size (2.1mm, 2.5mm, whatever, etc) tip and you're all set. Not sure if using a non-ISP power supply will void the warranty or not, but ISP can tell you that.

For me, yes it is a little bit of an inconvenience to have a lone pedal on my board that requires its own AC power supply, while all the others are daisy chain on a DC strand, but given the tone of this amazing little box - I can manage. :)
 
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#20
bucephylus said:
Q for you cats who are using this pedal:

Is this a special power adapter to run it?

Reason for asking is that I just bought one of these off of eBay. Seller won it via GC raffle. It arrived today, but has no power cable. I foolishly tried hooking up my existing 9VDC adapters with no luck, because the center pin is too large. Then called ISP, and their tech folks set me straight. Then searching for 9V AC pedals on Amazon etc, I found out the adapter for my ART Mic Pre is 9V AC. But, tried that one, and the center pin is still too large.

So, what's the deal? Is this a special connector? ISP told me that the Rocktron cables work. i just don't have one of those in my bag of tricks.

Thanks.

Never realized these pedals had such variations. How does this work on a pedal board? I thought the power bus had been standardized? To me, if this is a special cable, it would be painful on a pedal board. I don't use one of those; so, if the preamp performs well, then no big deal to me. Just surprised at the power cable variation.
Click to expand...

Keep us posted on your status on your power supply and I can guarantee you will not be disappointed in performance from this preamp pedal. You can literally get any tone from it. ISP customer support is top notch too.I had them install a separate volume pot for distortion channel to unity gain with clean channel or can dial it in as a clean boost. Not to mention it also has compression and exciter to even everything out. Perfect for what I need and can't see myself ever selling it.
 
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