Blind Preamp/DI Shootout

[gotfunk21]

Ok. Please go easy on me. I'm one of those people who are guilty of "listening with my eyes" a bit too often. I wanted to pick up a quality preamp or 2 for recording bass, looking into the 500 series pres. It's tough to find good a consistent sample to compare. During my search, I came across the good people at Sound Pure (no affiliation) and spoke to Chuck who was very helpful in providing me some information and even allowing me to demo a few pre's for this shootout.

My goal was to play a simple baseline, back to back to back with each pre to compare as many as I could handle. This isn't a "which one is best for metal" kind of discussion. There are so many variables that come into a players sound and we all know that. The bass, strings, pickups, woods, cables and definitely the player.

So please listen and I hope you enjoy. Hopefully you'll be able to compare some of these units and they'll help you find a sound that you like, or one you don't like. This is about helping other players (and mostly myself) who are wondering which pre may be best, to hear for themselves and make a choice for themselves. For some bassists, a $100 pre is the right sound ... others want Tubes ... some want mids, some want extended frequencies. Yada yada.

There are 6 preamps, 2 basses, and 2 basslines for this shootout. The basses are both US Laklands. A 44-60 Ash/Maple with Aero Type 1 pickups and roundwound strings. The other is a 44-64 Alder/Rosewood with a Lollar 10% overwound pickup and flatwound strings. I'm recording into an M-Audio Fastrack and Logic. And using Logic Drummer for some backing.

Now, to unveil the contestants..... in no particular order. One track is direct into the M-Audio, there is also a REDDI, Vintech 573, A Designs EM Gold 500, Great River MP-500 NV and a line direct from my Mesa Walkabout DI (all EQ flat)

 

[gotfunk21]

Eventually, I'll reveal the results here in the thread. For now, if you have a favorite and want to know which pre it is, PM me and I'll let you know. If you'd like the individual bass files soloed, I can send you a link to dropbox to download them.

 

[P-oddz]

Thanks for doing the clips!
Obviously, the range of tones and "best tool for the job" would probably depend on what specific tone you might be searching for, but this was a cool way to do a blind test and I definitely had a preference in all of the clips that was common across all of them.
To me, D sounded consistently solid with a nice warmth, and E had a nice deep fundamental that worked well with some applications. I would say D for first preference and E as a second preference.

I'll be curious to hear which one is which!

 

[gotfunk21]

Thanks for listening!

The results are posted here. I figure this will be easier. I urge anyone interested to listen first, before reviewing the results.... spoilers ahead.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EqA5tke2jZzW6PpksqFXIBnneEa3C3U70GchJ6vNNoU

 

[P-oddz]

Very interesting indeed!

 

[Jeff Bonny]

Overall I liked #2 and #6 but some definitely worked better with different basses. For example I liked #5 a lot better on Bounce 64 than I did on Bounce 60. Interesting....


edit.
No real surprises with the ones I liked most. I did like the Mesa Di better than I might have thought and the Vintech not as much as I would have thought though. Blind is good. Thanks man!

 

[fokof]

I voted for the only one which had top end.
Probably the sound man in me
You always can remove frequencies in a mix but you cannot create them once printed.

Good idea , I've always said that most people listen with their eyes. (Or their credit cards)

I too, was surprised by the results

 

[sadowskyguy]

I liked A, B ,and E. The vintech 73 sounded much darker than the Great River, which surprised me since they are similar units. I thought the Mesa Walkabout had a 40 hz notch in there.

THANK YOU for doing this! This might be my favorite TB post ever.

 

[matt11]

Love A and D--that vintech is so smooth and rich. Thanks for doing this.

 

[GMSweet]

Thanks for running the test. I liked the Great River and M-Audio for different reasons with the M-Audio getting the slight nod; REDDI was a close third place finisher for me. So I guess I have cheap and expensive taste!

For my listening, I concentrated on the 44-60 signals. The A-Designs and the Vintech did not sound like "A 44-60 Ash/Maple with Aero Type 1 pickups and roundwound strings". I was expecting a bright sound and both seemed veiled on the top end; lacking edge and articulation. They may have been the most accurate to the actual sound, but I had some expectation bias based on your description of the bass; M-Audio track most fit my bias. On 44-60 Line 2 with the high end rolled off it became more challenging for me to pick a "winner". The Mesa DI was at the bottom of my list; it seemed like the low were artificially boosted.

All told, I could get along with just about any of them.

Matt