Do I NEED a pre-amp pedal?

[joel the bass player]

Unless I'm playing a show, the other 90% of my playing does not involve an amp. All practice/rehearsal/church is just me and an XLR cable, so I've used a preamp/DI of some sort for years. Pedalboard has grown and shrunk and grown through the years, but I'm always going to have some sort of control over what I'm sending to FOH.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

At $1300, I don't need it whatsoever.

Yes, there is that. I bought mine seven years ago for around $800, and might hesitate at $1300. On the other hand, it's one of those rare pieces of gear that I've used for many years and cannot stand having it out of the chain -- especially for recording. Bass players spend money on different kinds of gear. I own just two basses and I bet many readers on TB have 3, 4, 5, and more. Some have multiple amps and cabs. I have one each. So load balancing the budget is what happens for everyone.

 

[Wade Craver]

Check out the Tech21 VT Bass deluxe preamp. 2 inputs, DI, parallel out, effects loop and 6 programmable channels. Set your tones and take it everywhere to get your sound through any amp.

 

[shirojiro]

I started using a Sansamp BDDI the most when we started doing quiet practice with headphones using a mixer and headphone amp. The direct tone I get through the mixer is super clean, but I’d rather have a bit of coloration and distortion in my tone. I also had few options from the Control Strip on the mixer for tone shaping.

If you have an amp or setup that sounds good to you, then you don’t need one.

We all love to obsess about preamps, and I have to admit that I have several. I also like using them for recording so I don’t have to set up an amplifier or microphone.

 

[monsterthompson]

Do you need additional gain? That’s the primary purpose of a preamp.

Do you need additional sound coloration? Some preamps offer that. Others are transparent. Some provide distortion. Others do not.

Do you need additional EQ control? EQ is not offered on all preamps but it is a feature on many.

Do you need a DI output? Many preamps offer a DI out which is handy for various needs. Not all DIs are preamps and not all preamps are DIs.

I play direct into a mixer and monitors at home. I like having preamps in my collection for changing up my sound. The Nordy Starlifter is probably the one I use the most. It’s not perfect but it is very good.

 

[socialleper]

NEED? No. They are nice if you want some additional tone shaping options, or want a DI with some EQ.
I like my B7K Ultra to add a little dirt, give me an additional EQ, and a DI out on my board for gigs or recording.

 

[SoCal80s]

Reasons to get a preamp:
1. You don't use an amp and you don't have a dedicated sound guy - this is a must, in my experience. A plain DI sounds stale to me, but a good preamp can warm it up nicely
2. You use an amp, but you prefer the tone of your preamp - set the amp to flat and make adjustments at your preamp
3. Sometimes you're in sutuation 1, and sometimes in situation 2 - always good to have options.

 

[logdrum]

In this sub-forum, the answer will always be yes

 

[Sugarbear08]

The answer to this question has everything to do with your needs as a player.

First off, no amount of pedals is going to completely cover up the flaws of a sub par amplifier.

Beyond that, we're back to my initial comment and that leads to a number of questions that have already been posed in this thread:

- Wanna go ampless? If yes, then you need a preamp.
- Want a different flavor for your sound? If yes, preamps cover a lot of ground these days and it's much cheaper to go with a stomp box preamp than trying to track down and pay for vintage equipment (e.g., B-15, SVT, Fender bassman, etc.). Off hand, I'll say that Sushi Box FX and Broughton Audio offer some awesome emulations of classic gear in a stomp box format.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

One cool thing that might make the price point more acceptable is that a preamp pedal can be like buying a new amp - or three or four or an almost infinite amount - without actually buying a new amp. For instance, my GK preamp pedal has 5 distinct GK amp voicings available. The cost of all those amps would have been way more than the Plex.

 

[pbass2]

I use one because I pretty much always use backline and I want to know exactly what I'm sending to FOH - therefore I prefer using my own pre/DI as opposed to using the DI out on whatever backline amp I'm faced with. I use passive basses and a passive JDI so the pre pedal gives me a little EQ and extra "umph" to send FOH. Obviously I'm dialed for amp-less gigs this way too. If you're happy with your tone coming out of the Cali, then all you need is a passive DI and you're accomplishing the same thing.

 

[Bass Ape]

Need, no. I played professionally for many years with running from my spector into my Mesa Boogie head and it was all i ever needed. That was then.

Want, yes! in todays world and with the basses and amp I have, I'm just starting to dig into pedals and ordered my very first preamp, A JHS Coluor Box V2. For me, it's an exercise because I use to be an audio engineer and I do love me some Neve preamp. I'm also interewsted in trying a Darkglass Microtubes Infinity and the Caveman BP1. Of course a Noble, but I can't justify the price.

I would suggest, finding a store in your area that has some of the pre's you might be interested in and taking your bass there and playing thru a few. You can always look for buying some with a return policy. I'm sure you'll find there's not definitive answer to your question.

 

[mikeswals]

If your amp has eq knobs, you dont need a preamp pedal.

Now, some preamp pedals contain a drive effect for a more gruntier tone. If that's what you're looking for, then sure.

 

[Bass Ape]

If your amp has eq knobs, you dont need and preamp pedal.

Now, some preamp pedals contain a drive effect for a more gruntier tone. If that's what you're looking for, then sure.

That opens a whole new can of worms, finding the amp with the right EQ knobs. I run a small (borrowed) Ampeg BA-110 and I'm not a fan of the EQ and certainly not a fan of the scrambler.

Not all EQs are Equal.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

 

[lermgalieu]

You absolutely do not need a preamp pedal. The fact that you don't know if you need one alone indicates you don't.

 

[Abington]

I'd say that I do "need" a pre-amp pedal in order to have the flexibility to go ampless. I basically use it as an active DI with some eq control. Most pre-amp pedals on the market will do that for you, with each having their own baked in or tweakable sonic footprint.

If you already have a DI or never play ampless, no need unless you are looking for something specific.

 

[Boundary Effect]

It is handy to have one in the bag of tricks. Keys are my first instrument. Sometimes I participate in a jam on bass and bringing one QSC K12 works well, especially because I can plug a mic in to sing. But to do that I had to get my passive bass up to line level. I grabbed an Eden WTDI for $60 off of CL. The sound is Eden. I don't love it or hate it, but with it the job gets done very nicely. And now it's another color I have at my disposal in the studio as a front end.

 

[TTPbass1]

I play 80% of the time ampless with in ears or with a reference amp in low volume stages, and my signal go direct to FOH, so yes, I do need a preamp. Mine is always on on my "Gigging" board.

Other 20% of the time I play at church with my active Jazz, I don't really need a preamp there, but I really do need an Cabsim to send a nice feed to FOH.

 

[bherman]

This is quite helpful. I play an Eden head that offers a solid foundation tone and use a Darkglass VMT to tweak the EQ/gain when I want a different tone.

So the use case in mind for a pre-amp isn't "tone sweetneing" but eq and gain shifting?

I think that you've answered your own question here. If you are happy with your Eden tone and the Darkglass gives you what you need when you need eq/gain adjustments, then I would say the answer is no. I use one, but only because I double on upright and electric bass and need mine to adjust gain levels, switch between basses, and give me the input impedance that my upright impedance needs. But I can make any eq adjustments needed using my amp's built-in preamp.