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Do you use a preamp pedal?
- Thread starter mbell75
- Start date
if you've never used them, how can you miss them?
To clarify the issue, after a show I never thought something like "Gee, I wish I had a preamp pedal" or "not having a preamp pedal ruined the show". So, I never miss them.
I never had the slightest desire for such things. I don't need that. Perhaps one day I'll change my mind. Perhaps not.
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No, I don't currently use a preamp pedal, but I have in the past.
When I first started playing bass back in 1981, my rig was a Sunn 200S head into a single 15" cab. I really wanted something with a little more control that its single volume control. I loved the way the rig sounded when it was almost cranked, but it lost something tonally at lower volumes. Hey, I was just 14-15 years old and knew nothing about "tube tone" and all that stuff. At the suggestion of one of the Bass Gurus at the now defunct Music City, I bought a simple one-knob 9v DOD preamp. It was an "always on" deal with no switch. It did the trick, though. I learned after a few hours that I needed to dial back the preamp as I increased the volume on the amp.
The only other preamp pedal I've ever used was an older SansAmp bass di. I don't know exactly what model. I picked it up from another local musician back around 2000 who needed some cash. It was okay and sounded good on recordings and thru a board, but wasn't anything I couldn't live without. I think one of my sons has it now.
When I first started playing bass back in 1981, my rig was a Sunn 200S head into a single 15" cab. I really wanted something with a little more control that its single volume control. I loved the way the rig sounded when it was almost cranked, but it lost something tonally at lower volumes. Hey, I was just 14-15 years old and knew nothing about "tube tone" and all that stuff. At the suggestion of one of the Bass Gurus at the now defunct Music City, I bought a simple one-knob 9v DOD preamp. It was an "always on" deal with no switch. It did the trick, though. I learned after a few hours that I needed to dial back the preamp as I increased the volume on the amp.
The only other preamp pedal I've ever used was an older SansAmp bass di. I don't know exactly what model. I picked it up from another local musician back around 2000 who needed some cash. It was okay and sounded good on recordings and thru a board, but wasn't anything I couldn't live without. I think one of my sons has it now.
I use an older sansamp programable bddi and have come to the realization that it is my favorite bass tone. I often just run it into the effects return, bypassing the bass amp's preamp. It is kind of cool knowing that I could get the same sound, no matter what amp I'm playing through.
Yes and no. If it's a gig with a backline, I take my trusty Line 6 Bass Pod XT Live. If not, I take my amp and let its preamp section do its thing.
I’ve used a few of them over the years. I Like to use cleaner sounding amps and these pedals to add grit. Sans amps for a good decade(BDDI, RBI), darkglass the last few years (b7k, A/O). Even if you don’t DI them the additional eq can be nice to fine tweak an
Overdrive sound. Plan on picking up the darkglass x7 or the tech 21 DP3x soon. Playing with a new band with two guitar players who are using nice high end gear want to see if the multi band type overdrive will help me cut through even better
Interesting, I don't see this pedal often on boards around here, how does it sound on bass ? I used the Oxford for a short time, but a little too agressive for my taste. I went back to the VT Bass, because of its grit. I don't see it as a preamp, so I answered no.
Always. I haven't plugged into the front of an amp in over a decade. For a while it was a modded VT Bass. Now it's the Rusty Box.
Sansamp bass driver Deluxe.
I use it as a preamp/OD/DI . Very usefull when you're doing gigs with rented backline and you don't have any idea about what you find on the venue. I send my signal from the Sansamp to FOH and I use the amp for stage volume
I use it as a preamp/OD/DI . Very usefull when you're doing gigs with rented backline and you don't have any idea about what you find on the venue. I send my signal from the Sansamp to FOH and I use the amp for stage volume
It convincingly replicates the tone stack of a Hiwatt DR103, which is Nirvana per my tastes.
I don't know why the Character Series pedals wouldn't be considered preamps as they're essentially SansAmps tweaked to emulate a pre section of a specific tube amplifier make.
I really dig the VT as well.
i use an ampeg "classic" preamp to adjust the character of the signal when other effects are used (slight volume bump and maybe a little more mids/treble). if i'm bypassing the efx = i'm going straight to the amp.
Same here, exactly. This allows me to eq the signal I send to FOH via the Sansamp from my pedalboard, and then separately EQ the backline amp on stage depending on what it is, where it is positioned, and the (usually bad) acoustics on stage.
