While in the studio, my rig was getting a very weird noise probably related to grounding issues or something. Anyway I plugged my passive pbass into an avalon vocal preamp and got the best preamp sound I've heard so far. Has anyone else witnessed the pure beauty of this preamp? And could it be the best bass preamp available? Just curious
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Avalon Preamp..best for bass?
- Thread starter mikedarctuesday
- Start date
Rick Auricchio
Registered Bass Offender
It's wonderful for studio tracks. In a live setting, it's probably overkill; there's so much other noise happening in a live band that nobody can hear the fine nuances.
Johnny A (Staindbass) is playing an AVALON 737 I do believe and he has said he swears by it on here.
When you start messing with MIC preamps they have different voicings than a bass preamp. I have a TL Audio 5051 here that is also a mic pre.. and I recently plugged it into my little bass rig. Its driving a pair of Peavey CS800S's.
The thing was sanitary, I couldn't get ANY distortion at all even with all the knobs cranked up. The other day I pulled the groove tubes out of one of my SVT-4PRO's and took the sovtek's out of the 5051... It really gave the warm and mello's to the svt.
I then took the GROOVES and plugged them into the 5051... I now have distortion in the upper gain stages. I dont know if I like the effect, but it goes from clean to distored in just a 1/4 turn. Very interesting.
SO with a preamp like these, they are built to be sanitary. So if you are looking for grunge and overdrive dont expect them to do it without screwing with them.
Staindbass is the master of those things.
BOB
When you start messing with MIC preamps they have different voicings than a bass preamp. I have a TL Audio 5051 here that is also a mic pre.. and I recently plugged it into my little bass rig. Its driving a pair of Peavey CS800S's.
The thing was sanitary, I couldn't get ANY distortion at all even with all the knobs cranked up. The other day I pulled the groove tubes out of one of my SVT-4PRO's and took the sovtek's out of the 5051... It really gave the warm and mello's to the svt.
I then took the GROOVES and plugged them into the 5051... I now have distortion in the upper gain stages. I dont know if I like the effect, but it goes from clean to distored in just a 1/4 turn. Very interesting.
SO with a preamp like these, they are built to be sanitary. So if you are looking for grunge and overdrive dont expect them to do it without screwing with them.
Staindbass is the master of those things.
BOB
Which Avalon model where you using? The U5 is actually a DI, not a mic pre. The M5 would be the comparable unit in a mic pre. These are both solid-state and have a bit of a different character, IMO, from Avalon's tube gear. Not better or worse, just different. That said, I have plugged in to both, and was rather underwhelmed with the M5 using it as a DI. Not that I wouldn't love to have one, I just didn't find 3x the utility in it over the U5 while being 3x the price. The U5 is probably my single favorite piece of gear that I don't own.
The Avalon 737 is their channel strip. Preamp, EQ, and Compressor in one unit. I used to use one of these in my live rig, and it was stellar. If I ever go back to using my large, heavy rack to gig with, it will probably go back in the rack. As was already said, you're looking at some of the cleanest tones you can get using this type of pre. If that's what you're looking for, there are some options out there at all price points, but with a lot of them, you get what you pay for.
The U5 is nice. I didn't care for the 747. I had 2 of them for a while. I love the sound of the Chandler Limited TG2. Some times the low b gets a little muddy through it. although not so much w/ the U5. The a-design Pacifica is nice too. . .
I'd love to try a reddi!
I'd love to try a reddi!
bongomania
Commercial User
The REDDI is like sex with a woman who's got more bounce to the ounce. 
The OP should know there is no "best" though, because (a) we all have different tastes and purposes, and (b) there are so many really, really good preamps on the market. You just have to look above the common offerings found in the bass section of Guitar Center.
The OP should know there is no "best" though, because (a) we all have different tastes and purposes, and (b) there are so many really, really good preamps on the market. You just have to look above the common offerings found in the bass section of Guitar Center.Avalon AD2022 was the setup in the studio I used. It was a treat, it had absolutely perfect transparency. What a price tag though, makes it impossible to attempt to gig with it. It's a real studio monster.
- Jun 24, 2006
- 2,560
- 91
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD basses and strings; Bergantino Amps & Cabs
there's plenty that are more suited to bass. I recently did a LOT of preamp reviews while searching for one to go with my IP system; click on my profile and check some of them out.
And BTW which Avalon? I've used three different ones. The 747 I found had a surprizingly cheezy compressor for such an expensive unit; there are certainly batter ones for bass. Search the reviews.
Cheers,
Cameron
So check out the M5. Its essentially the one-channel version of the 2022, though there are some minor differences between it and the individual channels of the 2022.
I had one of these in the studio for a while. didn't really dig it much. it was clean for sure . . . maybe that's what I hated the most about it. no vibe. the compressor on the other hand (2044) I used once and really liked it a lot. VERY smooth and musical . . .
