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- Jul 3, 2004
- 1,300
- 641
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Ernie Ball MusicMan Guitars
I play in a handful of different bands and currently haul a blackline V4B around with me to different practice spots & gigs. I can handle it for gigs but I'm growing tired of lugging it around to practices. I have extra bass cabs and power amps, so I'm looking into a SIMPLE preamp in a pedal format. (should this be in the amps forum?)
Budget is $150 max. Looking used obviously. Most of the options that have an output that can adequately drive a power amp are overkill for what I need -- DI, parallel outputs, pre-set banks, effects loops, etc. I don't want/need ANY of that. The only basic stompbox version I've found is the the VT-Bass, which has what the owner's manual calls:
1/4” UNIVERSAL OUTPUT: Unbalanced 1kOhm Low Z output.This output can be connected to High Z guitar amplifiers (or effects) as well as Low Z mixer and computer inputs. Output level is unity gain when pedal is in bypass mode. When activated, the output level can range from instrument level to line level depending on your settings.
My question -- are there any other preamp pedals that work in the same way? The VT-Bass would work for me, but I like optionsThere's a Mr. Black Bass Overdrive Preamp available locally, but I can't find info on the output. Going to drop an email to them.
If it matters, the power amps that I'm using both have balanced 1/4" inputs at 20k and unbalanced 1/4" inputs at 10k. One has an input sensitivity of 1.0v RMS and the other is .775v.
THAAAANK YOU.
Just curious...what did you end up getting?
I ended up finding a 2nd gen VT bass on the classifieds here. It had been modded by Putnam to add XLR out and a ground/lift. It's more full-featured than I needed but the price was less than most used VT's without the XLR so I went for it.
Very happy so far. Have used it at rehearsals (vt>power amp>bassman 215), recording demos (vt>DAw), and in front of my V4B for lower volume dirt in the studio.
I also picked up a joyo American for $20. I am running that into the EXT amp input on the back of my V4B to bypass the ampeg preamp tone stack entirely. With a strat or a tele, it makes my V4B sound pretty darn fenderish. Kind of a neat trick to get some different sounds thru an amp that KILLS for bass but for me has been only "ok" for guitars.
I was going to say, you may find you need a pedal which operates at higher than 9V to drive a clean sound into a low-impedance line-level power amp. But if you are finding the VT drives the PA loud and clean enough for you, then great! The VT Bass is a great pedal.
