I recently became interested in preamp/power amp combinations rather than standard bass amps. I'm looking for suggestions for a preamp as the market is huge and I'd like to narrow it down to a few options. I currently have a Genz Benz GBE750 on which I use the blended FET and tube pres and I usually have the eq set flat, sometimes with a little low mid boost. My budget is <$600. Looking for a fairly clean tone, with a little bit of tube warmth. I'm also not sure if I should be looking for bass-specific preamps or if a mic preamp would do the job. All of my basses are active and I do most of my eq'ing using my onboard preamp.
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Bass/Mic Preamp?
- Thread starter BoomHeadshot
- Start date
I'm looking for more power and this way, if I get gas and feel the urge to change my preamp, I can do that without having to get a whole new amp.
- Apr 15, 2009
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- Sales and electronic tech/piano tech: England Music Center - Clinton IA - now closed
Ampeg made 2 nice preamps (although the only way to find them now is used) - the SVP-BSP (Billy Sheehan) and the SVP-Pro. I at one time had the SVP-Pro. It was nice but I hated the crappy sounding distortion it had (other reviewers compared it to a crappy distortion pedal). I thought it made it sound very thin, with almost no low end. Clean though it was fantastic. Dont ask me why I parted off with it as I cant remember. Currently Ampeg isnt making just a straight preamp....
i do the same thing as you, my preamp is flat, all the eq is in the bass. thats a good thing, we do not have to rely on the preamp for our preferred tone. my goal for switching from bass heads to separates was for flexibility and a higher quality preamp and power amp with plenty of guts and headroom. i use avalon 737sp.'s with crown macro techs.
i used to have the svp-bsp, those were nice. i especially liked the balance control that let you dial in how much distorted channel vs clean channel. i think any popular bass preamp would suit you fine, or even a used presonus eureka preamp.
Thanks for the help so far. I'd prefer a new preamp, so that mean no ampeg, and the avalon is definitely out of my price range, but that helps give me an idea of where I should be looking.
Thanks, I'm thinking I may go with the ART and a carvin power amp as they can be bridged at 2, 4 or 8 ohms.
I am not aware of any amp that can be bridged at 2 Ohms.
My bad, I misread the specs, the Carvin HD series can be bridged at 4 or 8 ohms and can operate at 2 ohms per channel.
But from the specification info in that Sweetwater Ad, I read this:
"Perfect for processing guitar and bassART's Pro Channel II is also great for instruments. Plug your guitar or bass into its high-impedance input, and it instantly bypasses the mic pre. That gives you full access to Pro Channel's compressor and EQ sections without coloring your sound...."
Perhaps could be suitable for the OP needs,..but.. we don't get 'the tube (mic) preamp section' if we use it with the bass, do we?
a bit confused here.
No you do get the tube pre. What you bypass is the impedance control on the mic input.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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- 45,917
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- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Take a look at at the manual, the tube stage is post both the mic and instrument ones.
I've often wondered the same thing as you Boomheadshot. Do the preamps to be considered have to be bass specific pres, or will all preamps do the job? The used market is so full of preamps now but I have a hard time finding new bass pres.
Thanks, but I don't have it nor gonna buy it in near future, just read the sweetwater ad from the link attached at above posts. I think it's supposed to and it should work that way (we get the preamp),... only the info at sweetwater confusing me a bit.
Any preamp has their own characteristic, specification and etc,..but most of good mic pre should be good also for bass if they have the appropriate impedance input (if not, there is Direct Box or any impedance box/gear/tool for it)... CMIIW
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Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,049
- 45,917
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
That Google link gave me the the ART website first. The manual is right there, including a block diagram showing that the tube section is after the solid state mike and solid state instrument ones. Link Removed
I definitely don't need any more rack preamps (I have 5 ATM), but I'd still like to check out the ART one.
LOL perhaps I just clicked clicked in the google search without thinking much ...yeah it definitely worth to check.
Although personally for me, -I like tube, I use and love vt737sp- but IMHO, at that kind of price, I'd better looking for the same prices solid state mic pre.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,049
- 45,917
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Sweetwater is usually pretty good about tech descriptions, that one's just a little murky...
