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I need a preamp

MichiBass

MichiBass

Nov 2, 2005
840
46
40
Timișoara, Romania
mihaimoldoveanu.ro
#1
Hey guys,

I have a HWY1 Jazz and a Hughes&Kettner Basskick 100 W Combo and I like the tone, but I miss some punch, clarity and tone... My Bass sounds good, the amp also, but I want something that should cut through easily any band.

I was thinking of a better quality preamp. My combo's preamp is good for thew money I paid for (350 EUROs) but I want something better. I guess you know the feeling.

I was thinking for an outboard preamp, because I don't want to start drilling holes in my bass for battery and stuff... I want to use the preamp especially at live gigs like this : Bass to preamp, from preamp one to the mixer and one to the combo. The main goal is that the audience should hear the Bass+preamp tone, while I hear the Bass tone in the combo, just for monitoring.

So the choices are :

- Tech21 SansAmp (the first one, I've heard that the programmable one doesn't sound as good) - about 200 Euro
- Sadowsky Outboard Preamp - about 250 Euro
- Aguilar Outboard Preamp - about 180 $
- Ampeg multi-tube preamp - much more, maybe $ 500?

So, I have a few questions:

1. Should I buy one of the first three? If Yes, which? Why? If No, Why not?
2. Should I save more money and go for Ampeg multi-tube preamps? If No, why? If Yes, Which one? How much?
3. Is the tone improvement with the Fet Outboard preamps much better then the sound of the bass plugged in the amp? I mean, I can buy a 250 $ Sadowsky or else preamp and notice that the improvement is very little...
4. Any other reccomandations for preamps?

I am looking to buy one of these preamps used, so, if you have an offer for me, please PM me.

On the other hand, at many festivals here in Romania, there are a lot of good bass amps. Here in Romania, bass players don't use to carry their amps at festivals, because they know there is a good am there waiting for them. For example, I've seen Messa 400+ and Ampeg SVT 2,3,4 and other top of the line tube amps with one 8x10" or 4x10"+1x15".

5. Wouldn't it be a waste of money buying a Sadowsky Fet Outboard preamp and noticing that the SVT in their back sounds much better without it?

So, final question :

6. What should I buy/do?

Thank you.
 
#3
I USE THE SANSAMP RBI RACKMOUNTED (NOT PROGRAMMABLE) IT IS VERY POPULAR, I KNOW THAT ALOT OF BASS PLAYERS USE ONE OF THESE. THE PEPUTATION IS VERY GOOD AND I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THE SOUND. I HAVE A SMALL CRATE 225 WATT COMBO THAT I USE FOR PRACTICE AND SOME RECORDING. WHEN I GOT IT IT WAS "OK" SINCE THEN I BOUGHT A SANSAMP FOR MY BIG RIG BUT THE OTHER DAY SOME MEMBERS OF AN OLD BAND OF MINE CAME OVER , WE ENDED UP JAMMINIG OF COURSE. I HOOKED UP THE SANSAMP TO MY PRACTICE AMP BEFORE THEY GOT HERE. THEY ALL MADE COMMENTS ON WHAT A GREAT SOUND AND WHAT GREAT PUNCH MY LITTLE AMP HAD. THEY WERE ALL OVER IT CHECKING IT OUT, LOOKING BEHIND IT AND IN IT TRYING TO SEE WHAT MADE THE BIG SOUND OUT OF A LITTLE AMP.....IT IS THE SANSAMP, BELIEVE ME BASS BROTHER!:cool:
 
#4
I have to check the BBE products, a friend of mine had a Sonic Maximizer (rack), and sold it, he didn't liked it so much, but I have to do some research about the one with tube.
Regarding the SansAmp, many people use it, right, but I think it sounds artifficial. In my town are few players that use it, but none of them sound like I want to sound, but that may be from THEIR settings...
 
#7
MichiBass said:
Hey guys,

So the choices are :

- Tech21 SansAmp (the first one, I've heard that the programmable one doesn't sound as good) - about 200 Euro
- Sadowsky Outboard Preamp - about 250 Euro
- Aguilar Outboard Preamp - about 180 $
- Ampeg multi-tube preamp - much more, maybe $ 500?
Click to expand...

You can beat that price on a used Ampeg preamp. I've picked up an SVP-BSP for 200 bucks (although the guy didn't know what he had... stupid guitar player :D). I've seen SVP-CL's in the 300-350 range. IMO, I would go with the Ampeg. So are you setting up a pre/power situation?
 
#9
Ok then. You don't have this stuff locally? Are Ampegs rare in Europe? Well here's what I'd suggest, and you can have a lot of fun doing this. Get a good power amp. Carvin, QSC, whatever (I'm actually running a Carver 2.0i wired to be mono at 1000W @ 4ohms). Once you've got that set up, just buy different pre's until your happy. For me, swapping at a new pre is never more than 300 bucks and you get a totally different sound. I bet you can dial in a pre that's available locally... used and cheap... to something that you're happy with.
 
#10
I've got one of the orig. sansamps I've used for guitar (it's the silver anniversary one), I'll have to mess around with it for bass. I often use a tech 21 bassdriverDI, that's a good pedal preamp too.
My current fave is my old Groove Tubes 2 space preamp, -it looks just like an SWR. The tone is pretty old school, but it sounds great to me.
 
#11
I don't know if the SansAmp is the best choice. There are a lot of people who love them, so if you're interested try to get one from a place that will let you return it. Guitar Center here in the 'States will let you do that in (I think) 30 days. When you say punch, clarity and a tone that will cut thru a band, I don't think SansAmp. Same thing with sonic maximizers - they sound great when you're playing by yourself or with a DJ rig, but not what I'm looking for in a bass amp.

FWIW, I've played the regular SansAmp a few times and owned the programmable. A few years had lapsed between playing with the original SansAmp (which I liked at least for recording) and buying the programmable which I never really cared for. Thought it was my tastes that changed, plus I was using it live instead of for recording.

Ampeg would probably do it, but adding another piece of gear with tubes in it probably won't help with the clarity - at least what I'm thinking of with that term. If it were me, I'd look at a rack mount parametric equalizer with frequency, level and bandwidth (a.k.a. "Q") controls - not to be confused with a semi-parametric without bandwidth. The old Furman PQ3 is great but hasn't been made in many years, but there are others including the newer (but possibly also discontinued) PQ4, some by Rane...
 
#12
While a preamp might change your sound somewhat and make it "cut through" better, I think your real problem is you need a better amp with more power and more speakers. Hughes and Kettner amps sound good, at least, the ones I've tried" but 100 watts isn't very much with a loud band.

A Sansamp is nice to carry along to use as a direct box and to alter the tone some.
 
#13
62bass said:
While a preamp might change your sound somewhat and make it "cut through" better, I think your real problem is you need a better amp with more power and more speakers. Hughes and Kettner amps sound good, at least, the ones I've tried" but 100 watts isn't very much with a loud band.

A Sansamp is nice to carry along to use as a direct box and to alter the tone some.
Click to expand...

Oh man... I didn't realize he was dealing with 100W. :eek: I had to go back and reread. Yeah. You need more watts buddie. Buy as many watts as you can afford, then start looking at pre's.
 

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