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Favorite mic preamp for DI bass?

#41
After ~40+ years of working as a pro on both sides of the glass -- i.e., as bassist and recording engineer -- I've come to the conclusion that I've never heard a mic preamp that genuinely sucked for DI bass. They're (almost) all just fine for that task.

Yes, if I'm in a totally kitted-out high end studio with a wide assortment of choices, I might gravitate towards an original blue Focusrite ISA110, or a D.W.Fearn VT-1, or a Jensen/Hardy 990 for the DI bass signal path...but frankly, those preamps are all overkill for DI bass.

So long as the DI is better-than-average, the preamp behind it will probably be Whatever's Left Over after all the other more critical sound sources have been connected to the best mic pres in the room.
 
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#42
Bob_Ross said:
After ~40+ years of working as a pro on both sides of the glass -- i.e., as bassist and recording engineer -- I've come to the conclusion that I've never heard a mic preamp that genuinely sucked for DI bass. They're (almost) all just fine for that task.

Yes, if I'm in a totally kitted-out high end studio with a wide assortment of choices, I might gravitate towards an original blue Focusrite ISA110, or a D.W.Fearn VT-1, or a Jensen/Hardy 990 for the DI bass signal path...but frankly, those preamps are all overkill for DI bass.

So long as the DI is better-than-average, the preamp behind it will probably be Whatever's Left Over after all the other more critical sound sources have been connected to the best mic pres in the room.
Click to expand...
To expand on that, I´d say the ears are more important than the gear, on both sides of the window. I have a favorite preamp with inbuilt DI (Gyraf G9) which I use for my recordings, but in other studios I play into whatever the engineer thinks is apropriate. The studios I play in occasionally use API512, Drawmer 1960, ADT Audio, Neve preamps with built in DIs. I never had complaints.
 
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#43
Lovep said:
The Black Lion B173 (Neve 1073 clone) has two great DIs.
Click to expand...

I know we've revived an oooollldd thread, but still. Old info, new eyes! And new info for that matter.

Evidently really cloning the 1073 involves making some odd layout decisions, and BLA went for a more conventional approach for the B173's front panel. No complaints here! I've had a 1st-gen B173 for a few years now, and prefer recording on it to any indie setup I've come across ever since. While the Hi-Z input is undeniably full and clean, it does skip the input stage that the mic input hits...so at a point I happened to have the itch and the scratch for a new DI, I got an RNDI, which gets me to the mic input on the B173 in style, letting me ride that sweet CineMag transformer like a sandworm.

Live, I've plugged into some really trashed-looking DI boxes, and have also run keyboards into someone having a stereo RNDI box, and even got plugged into a REDDI at a house event once. All sounded just fine, and far too similar to justify the $ differences.
 
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#44
I’m an audio engineer and own several different preamps and DIs, but lately my go-to has been a BAE 1073 DMP. I have a few other BAE preamps, but their DIs don’t hit the input transformer. The DMP has BAE’s “Bootsy Mod” which places a Jensen transformer in the DI path and makes a huge difference, imo. Maybe a little bit too big for a live DI, but portable enough to bring with me to sessions at other studios. Super easy to get a big, fat sound and easy to adjust gain and output to get different amounts of color. Would highly recommend.
 
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#45
Posted in another thread, but looks like people here might have some advice: I just found a great river pre on the street... someone was throwing it away. I plugged it in and it powers up. Haven't tested it for sound yet. Just reading about it now. What's the best use for it? Just playing at home? Try to use it for recording?
 
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#47
Other than the aforementioned U5 and REDDI, I sometimes enjoy using a Warm Audio WA12 (API 312 clone) with an "upgraded" opamp.

The original opamp works fine (a very vintage sounding Melcor 1731 style opamp), but it did not extend enough in the low range for my liking on bass (great for guitar though). I replaced it with a Neumann OA10 clone, which is a bit more hi-fi/wide range, and I'm very happy with the result: it gives me a great "transformer saturated" sound option in between the very hi-fi U5 and the very squishy tube sound of the REDDI.

Great to warm up distortion pedals or amp sim pedals (as I record mostly at home so I can't record a live amp) without coloring it as much as the REDDI would.
 
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#50
Hardly the best, but I use a lowly ART Tube MP Project Series, tube preamp and DI.

Doesn't have any EQ controls, just gain and master volume, except for a switchable LPF fixed at 40Hz.

Also the tube runs on starved plate voltage, I read somewhere someone measured it to 70V.

Now this isn't necessarily bad, but does give a somewhat differrent sound from the tube.

And actually results in more tube coloration not less, as the optimal plate voltage the tube was designed to run at optimally (about 200-300V) really means the plate voltage that results in minimal coloration and saturation/overdrive, given this was how the tubes as supposed to be used originally.

So beside breaking up easier at lower plate voltage, it also results is more odd harmonic content, as the subtle tube compression acts slightly differently as well.

The much beloved Edison tube preamp is a starved plate voltage design as well.

The ART is actually surprisingly quiet too, considering is is a cheapish tube device.

One thing though, if you get this, change the cheap stock Chinese tube out with a quality one, results in a much better tone, the stock one sounds thin and fizzy.

All in all with the stock tube changed for an EHX 12AX7 one I am really satisfied with my unit, as the last step of the signal chain in my ampless setup.

This is the little guy:

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Goes from perfectly clean and all the way up to high gain overdrive (of course a bit depending on the input signal's strength), and everything in between, and can easily drive a poweramp.

One negative thing though, beside the crappy stock tube, the build in switchable limiter sucks.
 
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