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Benefits of Using a Pre-Amp Pedal

Brandon Berry

Brandon Berry

Guest
Nov 24, 2014
24
2
Los Angeles, CA
#1
I preface this post with an apology as I am somewhat new to the realm of basses and amps. Anyways, what are the benefits of using a pre-amp pedal like the Tech 21 SansAmp? I currently run a passive bass through a few pedals and into a Fender Rumble 500w. I know the basics of what it does in terms of shaping EQ, but am curious about how much of a difference it can actually make. Thanks in advance for any tips or advice you may have!
 
#2
It can add some character or totally change the way your amp sounds(and add overdrive). I mean, your amp's character will be there, but some pedals drastically change the sound, and they don't even have to be typical preamps. I did use a slew of different Tech21 pedals a few years back. The Oxford was my favorite.

Here is my Gallien Krueger with nothing but a mic out front.
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9936073

And here it is with my Darkglass B3K and the same mic. You can hear it sounds smoother and crunchier up top
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12778930

Even though it's only an overdrive pedal, there still is an eq change that obviously occurred to change the sound with the B3K.

And here's the B3K with a parametric EQ after it, boosting high mids a little more
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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#5
For me, a preamp in pedal form or otherwise is a tone shaper/boost (if needed)/DI (if there is one in there which in a lot of preamp pedals there is nowadays)/possibly to dirty up your tone a bit/and various other things depending on the preamp.

I remember when I saw the Tech 21 BDDI in a Musicians Friend catalogue the first year I was playing. I thought it was a dist pedal the way they described it. I wish I had found TB back then. I got one and was sorely disappointed because it wasnt a dist pedal. It was a preamp. It took me a few months to figure out just exactly what it did. For what it is, its a great pedal IMO. Its a little limited on the tones you can get out of it IMO, but it does what it does very well.

A preamp to me is just another tool to help you shape your tone or try and get closer to the tone you hear in your head. I got a Darkglass B7K almost two years ago and I absolutely love it. I will most likely never sell that pedal. To me having a preamp(s) on my board is a critical part to my setup. I have, technically, 4 of them on my board, the B7K, Rusty Box, DOD Preamp/OD 250 reissue and the John K Submarine. They all serve their own purpose and they all work together in unison to accomplish one thing, my wanted tone. Ive owned the BDDI and the VT. While those are great pedals they were not the sound I was going for. Preamps can also emulate certain amp models. Like the VT/BDDI is to Ampeg, the Tech 21 Blondie is to Fender (I think), the Leeds is to Vox (I think), the Rusty Box is to Traynor..... So in most cases if you cant afford to buy a whole ampeg/fender/traynor amp, you can get pretty close with one of these preamps. Its pretty cool actually. Im a total preamp whore if you couldn't see that by now ;) I love preamps and I wouldnt play without them at this point in my bass playing career. They allow for more brushes to paint your canvas with.
 
#7
I don't currently use a pedal version. I use the rack mount sans amp RBI. For me its about being able to control my front of house sound and my rig in different ways. Using low f#-c tuning on my 7 string i was having a lot of issues hearing myself on stage. I could definetly "feel" it but there was too much low end on stage. I was constantly told to turn down but i wasn't able to clearly hear myself. It was a matter of clarity not volume. So i just tried different things till i found what worked for me. I send signal to the pa using the xlr on my sans amp so the pa is getting a bigger frequency range than any production cab on the market. But at the same time I'm able to control my low end onstage by using sealed (non ported) ampeg classic cabs (410he or 810e). It keeps the bass tight onstage so i can turn up without getting boomy and muddy but at the same time the pa is getting the full frequency range(including the fundemental frequencies of those super low notes) I've found at most of the places i play i don't lose anything by doing this as i can hear/feel the low frequencies my cab doesn't put out from the pa subs.

I got the idea from opening for national touring artist and just paying attention to their rigs. You can really get an idea what pros use and the difference in their front of house sound if your in the club early when they soundcheck and stand out front and hear their tone in the pa then walk up and get an idea of what they are hearing onstage.
 
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#8
I use my preamp for home practice. I run the preamp into a headphone amp through the XLR cable and then I run my computer soundcard or an mp3 player into the headphone amp where I can mix my bass and the audio together to play along too. I don't even have a bass amp or cabinet, I just have a small pedal board I can play at home with or plug in at a studio into the PA.
 
#9
So if I was gonna run a pre-amp on my pedalboard like the SansAmp, would I put it after all of my other effects pedals or before? Or is this just preference? Also, do you guys bypass your amps internal pre-amp when you use one in a pedal form? Like I said before, I use a Fender Rumble 500w Combo if that makes any difference.
 
#11
I had a SansAmp BDDI (programmable) a few years ago when I used a "no-name" P-Bass knock off. It made all the difference in the world to get a good tone out of that thing. It attracted me because I needed the DI and some tone help. I wasnt even sure what a "preamp" was at the time.

Anyway - I sold it as part of my goal to get a USA Fender Jazz. I liked the tone right off the Jazz, so I didnt give a pedal preamp a second thought until recently having opportunity to get back into a real studio and again needed a DI solution. SO I hooked up a spare ART Studio Tube mic preamp to use as a temporary DI. EYES OPENED. It makes my Ampeg 1x12 combo boom! So much volume in sound that wasnt there before. With minimal tone modification (at least there isnt any tone control knobs, etc as in most pedal DI/Preamps you see), this is just acting as a preamp. It just brings the passive J to life.

fwiw - its last in the chain. Tuner->Comp->Pre. Thats it for the studio rig.
 
#12
Brandon Berry said:
So if I was gonna run a pre-amp on my pedalboard like the SansAmp, would I put it after all of my other effects pedals or before? Or is this just preference? Also, do you guys bypass your amps internal pre-amp when you use one in a pedal form? Like I said before, I use a Fender Rumble 500w Combo if that makes any difference.
Click to expand...

If you are just using it as another sound/effect, then it's preference. Typically, as with the comments here, most people put them at the end, which has advantages like making your pedal board a standalone unit you can take anywhere and play through any rig (or direct to the FOH board). Sansamps are designed to do just that, but again you can use it just as a tone shaper or overdrive and put it anywhere in the chain.

I hardly ever bypass my amp's preamp...that's why I bought that amp! However, I will do that when playing through someone else's backline equipment if it's an amp that's not my style/flavor or if they don't want their EQ touched.
 
#13
I run a Joyo American at the end of my effects chain, right before the amp. I keep it at "that one setting I liked best" through my own amp running clean. The idea is that I can carry my preferred tone with me on the pedal board and use any provided backline bass amp -- just set it to clean and adjust EQ to taste. I like not having to cart my 4x10-with-heavy-head around, and I can feed the sound guy a signal I like through a DI -- miking the cab is completely optional.
 

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