Bass Preamp Pedal Problem

[Steven Lavigne]

I got 3 pedals on my board so far, I'm a newbie to bass pedals.
My order is
1. Empress Compressor mk2
2. Darkglass B3k v2
3. Trickfish Minnow

Here's my problem :
I had asked my bass teacher about whether I should send my signal out to FOH or not.
(DI out from Trickfish preamp directly)
And my teacher said that signal was simple back to the old days, just bass plug into the amplifier's input.( Bass → Preamp → Poweramp → Cab ......that's all)
He said if I DI out my bass signal to FOH, the sound will be too dry for gig cuz i lack a "PowerAmp"
And I used to input the amplifier, so in my signal flow, it would appear "TWO" Preamp in my signal flow that he said it would be weird.

Then he taught me that i can skip the stage's amplifier's preamp ( Bass → FX pedals → My preamp → Amplifier's Power Amp → FOH)
So the sound would be better in this method, or make it more simple, buy a IR pedal LOL. I thought the concept of this way is pretty good and clear for me.

But I found some bassist would have lots of FX pedals and a preamp on their board and they STILL directly inject into "Amplifier's Input", so it would be "TWO Preamp" on their flow. Would it be weird? It just confused me a lot recently, and i got some gigs in February. I want to solve my confusion before my gigs lolll.

BTW, and I found some bassist would directly send their sound out (DI Out) from their board directly to the FOH, so the sound didn't go through the poweramp, would it be too dry??

 

[Derek Williams]

I got 3 pedals on my board so far, I'm a newbie to bass pedals.
My order is
1. Empress Compressor mk2
2. Darkglass B3k v2
3. Trickfish Minnow

Here's my problem :
I had asked my bass teacher about whether I should send my signal out to FOH or not.
(DI out from Trickfish preamp directly)
And my teacher said that signal was simple back to the old days, just bass plug into the amplifier's input.( Bass → Preamp → Poweramp → Cab ......that's all)
He said if I DI out my bass signal to FOH, the sound will be too dry for gig cuz i lack a "PowerAmp"
And I used to input the amplifier, so in my signal flow, it would appear "TWO" Preamp in my signal flow that he said it would be weird.

Then he taught me that i can skip the stage's amplifier's preamp ( Bass → FX pedals → My preamp → Amplifier's Power Amp → FOH)
So the sound would be better in this method, or make it more simple, buy a IR pedal LOL. I thought the concept of this way is pretty good and clear for me.

But I found some bassist would have lots of FX pedals and a preamp on their board and they STILL directly inject into "Amplifier's Input", so it would be "TWO Preamp" on their flow. Would it be weird? It just confused me a lot recently, and i got some gigs in February. I want to solve my confusion before my gigs lolll.

BTW, and I found some bassist would directly send their sound out (DI Out) from their board directly to the FOH, so the sound didn't go through the poweramp, would it be too dry??

Power amps are for driving speakers, not a DI. Any DI in an amp is before the power amp. So either your teacher is a bit confused, or you misunderstood something. Probably the former

Taking the DI from your Trickfish preamp is just as valid as taking the DI from your amp.

 

[Steven Lavigne]

Power amps are for driving speakers, not a DI. Any DI in an amp is before the power amp. So either your teacher is a bit confused, or you misunderstood something. Probably the former

Taking the DI from your Trickfish preamp is just as valid as taking the DI from your amp.

Ok! I got it. Thank you very much!
BTW i wanna know how would you do with your board setting in the gig?

 

[Real Soon]

There's a lot of personal preference in this. No hard and fast rule!

For example, I played a gig recently where I ran thru a preamp (Trickfish Trilobite), but had a few pedals in the FX loop, including another preamp (Sushi Box Particle Accelerator). Then I ran DI from the Trilobite, including FX and EQ and all, to the FOH. But I also ran to my amplifier head (Quilter Bass Block 800), which has its preamp and power amp, then to my cabinet. We didn't have FOH board space to put a mic on my cab, but if we did, we would have.

I'd say the really ideal end result is: a DI sent to FOH, and also a mic on your cabinet to get its natural character.

A lot of players do like to use their pedal preamp as THE tone shaping tool, and bypass the amplifier head's preamp. My BB800 is fairly neutral if I want, or can shape the end result a bit, so in a way, I have three preamps in my chain. And if you have an active bass, its electronics are another preamp.

That CAN be weird if you dial really heavily in one stage but then try to dial very differently in another stage.... but it doesn't have to be at all. Some preamps have a certain character they add even if you don't use the knobs, thanks to things like transformers (or tubes!) in the circuit, and that's why I love having the Trilobite with the Particle Accelerator paired, and running it to the main input of the Quilter BB800 amplifier.

Before I got the Trickfish Trilobite, I would run my DI from the Quilter BB800. Sounded great too!

Also: even if you DI your bass straight to FOH, if the engineer knows what to do, they'll make you sound good in the house PA.

 

[Steven Lavigne]

There's a lot of personal preference in this. No hard and fast rule!

For example, I played a gig recently where I ran thru a preamp (Trickfish Trilobite), but had a few pedals in the FX loop, including another preamp (Sushi Box Particle Accelerator). Then I ran DI from the Trilobite, including FX and EQ and all, to the FOH. But I also ran to my amplifier head (Quilter Bass Block 800), which has its preamp and power amp, then to my cabinet. We didn't have FOH board space to put a mic on my cab, but if we did, we would have.

I'd say the really ideal end result is: a DI sent to FOH, and also a mic on your cabinet to get its natural character.

A lot of players do like to use their pedal preamp as THE tone shaping tool, and bypass the amplifier head's preamp. My BB800 is fairly neutral if I want, or can shape the end result a bit, so in a way, I have three preamps in my chain. And if you have an active bass, its electronics are another preamp.

That CAN be weird if you dial really heavily in one stage but then try to dial very differently in another stage.... but it doesn't have to be at all. Some preamps have a certain character they add even if you don't use the knobs, thanks to things like transformers (or tubes!) in the circuit, and that's why I love having the Trilobite with the Particle Accelerator paired, and running it to the main input of the Quilter BB800 amplifier.

Before I got the Trickfish Trilobite, I would run my DI from the Quilter BB800. Sounded great too!

Also: even if you DI your bass straight to FOH, if the engineer knows what to do, they'll make you sound good in the house PA.

I really appreciate your reply!!
I've seen many players do your ideal result : DI sent to FOH from board, and still go thru amp on stage.
I originally thought too many preamps would be too confusing and influence the bass tone lolll.
In short, Thanks a lot for your answering!! I'd try in next gig.