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Best Preamp/DI in the $500 Range?

#23
GrooveWarrior said:
it does have a good DI, but I’m looking for something separate so I’m not taking my head back and forth.
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Well, something gotta be taken back and forth. Heh. Or, the studio probably has what they prefer to use for bass guitar tracking already in house. I use my stage preamp as a recording interface, because know it so well and know how to get exactly what I want out of it. Saves a lot of time in the studio. And a lot of wonder. My Demeter preamp is my clean go to. But my SWR Interstellar Overdrive is a recording dream. Two XLR outs, one DI, one Line out, make it very easy to record two independent tracks at once. And both of these preamps cost me less than 500. I was just saying sometimes you already have what you need.
 
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#25
David McIntire said:
Well, something gotta be taken back and forth. Heh. Or, the studio probably has what they prefer to use for bass guitar tracking already in house. I use my stage preamp as a recording interface, because know it so well and know how to get exactly what I want out of it. Saves a lot of time in the studio. And a lot of wonder. My Demeter preamp is my clean go to. But my SWR Interstellar Overdrive is a recording dream. Two XLR outs, one DI, one Line out, make it very easy to record two independent tracks at once. And both of these preamps cost me less than 500. I was just saying sometimes you already have what you need.
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I was looking for something with a little more “color” than the EA. The EA can be pretty surgical, which is great, but I was wanting to try something a little different.
 
#26
Bonafide said:
Classic ad copy.

After 25 years, the U5 is well established for what it does or doesn't provide on record. It's a great DI and has a solid but not overly emphasized low end and nice clean signal which is perfect for bringing out the character of an instruments pickups or supporting line-level instruments, sometimes. It ‘adds’ very little color to your signal as it just wasn't designed to. It was designed to be clean and pristine.

The tone control is a passive filter, basically a series of cuts, similar to a varitone. That passive EQ curve can add 'sonic character' sort of. 25 years ago was a different environment in pro audio. The U5 was a new class. Not so much today.

Today, if you are looking for true colorization or ‘sonic character’ there are genuine alternatives if you really wanted a specific flavor. As noted by a few recomendation on this thread. And the quality for some of these are very impressive.

BTW - Avalon isn't too great about updating the site. The U5 page you linked to hasn't changed since 1999. The 'raving comments' 'my acoustic never sounded better' etc are over 20 years old. The 'my HDPOD sounds great' comment is over a decade old. Personally I take it all in stride.
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Wonderful. Thanks. That ad copy matches my experience. Ampeg SVT -> 8x10 is even older. So’s a vintage Fender. Neve strip? No problem at all.

Passive / cutting to reach a tone goal easily beats active circuits every time to my ears, and 20 years later I’ve yet to experience or hear “better”, simpler, beefy and punchy yet articulate, sits perfectly in the mix bass tone.

Many, and newer, ways to get there, but maybe 80% of basses, pedals and amps - no matter how new or technologically “advanced” - are all about chasing those same much older properties, sounds and feel.
 
#27
If you want it to be mostly clean but with a little color then just find a Neve 1073 or API 312 clone that doesn’t have an EQ or compressor built in. Those will be looked at favorably for bass by any competent engineer. The Neve is a little fatter down low, the API is a little more mid forward but you can’t go wrong with either.
 
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#28
StayLow said:
Wonderful. Thanks. That ad copy matches my experience. Ampeg SVT -> 8x10 is even older. So’s a vintage Fender. Neve strip? No problem at all.

Passive / cutting to reach a tone goal easily beats active circuits every time to my ears, and 20 years later I’ve yet to experience or hear “better”, simpler, beefy and punchy yet articulate, sits perfectly in the mix bass tone.

Many, and newer, ways to get there, but maybe 80% of basses, pedals and amps - no matter how new or technologically “advanced” - are all about chasing those same much older properties, sounds and feel.
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I think you misunderstood - it wasn't a slight on your preferences or experiences nor the U5. Like I have said multiple times, it's a very nice DI. I was speaking to matching the OPs request, not about vintage vs modern, or passive vs active. The OP had also asked for a mic pre which the U5 doesn't have. The classic 25 year old ad copy was a humorous observation, nothing more.

Ampeg SVT and 8-10 combo has a ton of color and character. I can see how the U5 would be a support to help preserve that. For the OP’s Euphonic amp, to add body or color, not the best choice no mic pre aside. Context is everything. It comes down to matching it with the right signal chain. Not sitting well in a mix or being too small (or choose your definition) is a common enough experience. Like all things, if anyone goes into the gear world believing anything is a silver bullet, it's possible their expectations won't be met.
 
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#31
Got mine in +-2009 : Tubey-ish , more on the side of clean , more Hi-Fi than colored, variable impedance super cool with passive bass.


I've posted some review

Lots of love on Talk Bass
 
#33
I now only have active bass , it's very good.
The variable impedance is less obvious on active but that doesn't matter for the overall sound
Very clean , WYSIWYG type , if source doesn't sound good , it will put it in your face , opposite too.
 
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#34
Variable impedance is mostly of value for using a single preamp with a variety of different microphone types. It was all the rage back in the 00s but seems to have fallen out of vogue with modern preamps. As a bass DI, particularly with active basses, I wouldn’t consider it a necessary feature but one that might offer some extremely subtle differences to the presentation in the upper frequencies.
 
#35
silky smoove said:
If you want it to be mostly clean but with a little color then just find a Neve 1073 or API 312 clone that doesn’t have an EQ or compressor built in. Those will be looked at favorably for bass by any competent engineer. The Neve is a little fatter down low, the API is a little more mid forward but you can’t go wrong with either.
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The more I look, the more the Warm WA12 MkII seems like a solid option. I can use it for bass or a mic, it has a 20db pad that seems like it would accommodate my active basses.
Any experience with that unit?
 
#36
GrooveWarrior said:
The more I look, the more the Warm WA12 MkII seems like a solid option. I can use it for bass or a mic, it has a 20db pad that seems like it would accommodate my active basses.
Any experience with that unit?
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Not that particular one as I won't buy any more Warm gear. They have serious QA/QC issues. The stuff they make that has good QA/QC is quite nice, but too much of it passes through with problems. I've bought multiple pieces from them and had a multitude of failures. You'll find similar stories all over the internet, but you'll also find lots of happy customers.

For a single channel 312 clone, this would be my choice: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#37
silky smoove said:
Not that particular one as I won't buy any more Warm gear. They have serious QA/QC issues. The stuff they make that has good QA/QC is quite nice, but too much of it passes through with problems. I've bought multiple pieces from them and had a multitude of failures. You'll find similar stories all over the internet, but you'll also find lots of happy customers.

For a single channel 312 clone, this would be my choice: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Oh man, thanks for the heads up.
 
#38
GrooveWarrior said:
t has a 20db pad that seems like it would accommodate my active basses.
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Regarding this earlier comment: With a 312 (or a 1073) type circuit, the pad can be used to knock down an overly hot signal, but more often than not you can simply turn down the gain sufficiently to achieve a signal that's not slamming into your converters too hard. The pad is generally there to allow you to drive more signal into the circuit and its transformer ahead of your converters so you can get more color from the circuit. Think of the pad as an artistic tool rather than a utilitarian one for these types of intentionally non-linear circuits.
 
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#40
GrooveWarrior said:
I’m looking at something like an Avalon U5 or a Focusrite ISA. Don’t really need EQ type of preamp. Really looking at more of a mic preamp setup.
What are your recommendations?
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I use the DI's on my ISA2's for some tracking. I add an 1176 to the chain going in and it always sounds great.

As for color, the ISA doesn't have a lot which I consider to be a good thing. The 1176's can add a lot or a little depending on how hard you push it. Color can be defined a lot of ways though. You can add amp sims etc to the clean DI track or you can record a "wet" track along with the clean track to capture OD, effects, pre's etc. GIves you options
 

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