Let’s revive Bass preamps (rack mounted!)

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

I move that we revive the rackmount bass preamp! With powered speakers made by great companies like bag end, Wayne Jones and GR (now making super lightweight graphite cabinets) , all you need is a great preamp and you are good to go ….(remember the preamp is way lighter than an actual amp!).
After many years of collecting bass preamps these are my top choices :
For TUBE Vintage tones :
1. Kern ip-777 all tube bass preamp (rare !!)
2. Trace Elliot v-type (great one !!!)
3. Ampeg pro (10 tubes inside !!!)
4. Alembic (never forget those guys they really know their stuff !!)
5. Aguilar db 659 (if you like chocolate with beef !!)

ps. Never tried the Demeter (but I have a tube power amp made by them and it just glows !!).

For solid state :
1. Warwick Hellborg (good luck finding one ! This is as transparent as Donald Trump ! You may like it or not but what you see is what you get !)
2. Trace Elliot gp12x series 6; my mainstay …not too expensive and very clean and flexible ; you can go from slap to fingerstyle in the middle of the song without using your hands ; the foot switch allows you that privilege without committing a groove violation ! Yeah ! I truly Love this company!).
3. Glockenklang bass art classic (very transparent also but with plenty of seasonings !)
4. Epifani Quest ll bass (a rare one but what a bad boy) ; with two Channels you can have a different eq for another bass (yes fretless and slap require basically a totally different equalization). Very handy
5. Phil Jones p-1 ; it has 15 band eq. Almost impossible to find and expensive. A little move in an eq slider and your tone really transforms (so be careful with those eq sliders they are sensitive ).

The Pearce preamp that Billy Sheenan used also deserves an honorable mention for sure !

In the past I had the ebs-1 rack preamp made and discontinued in the 90's. A great preamp but very hard to use if you are not an engineer! So I actually had to take pictures of the exact settings that I liked.

So for Recording a good preamp is a must nowadays if you want to bring your your exact tone and eq to the studio; and for live performances these are actually very useful and highly recommended; remember they are all very light weight and combined with a high quality powered speaker you have a great new option.
Some of them are not cheap but they are cheaper than the same unit inside an amplifier or racked with a separate power amp .
I think the heavy weight of the power amp in the racked system (plus don't forget the rack case!) is what ultimately ended up directly punishing and almost killing the "great rackmount bass preamp" and making it a thing of the past . Big mistake! It does not have to be that way..

I know I'm reviving mine ! So glad I did not sell them. Thanks to my two new powered speaker cabinets (Wayne jones 2x10, and gr bass at 112H graphite cabinet).
Here a few pics of some (not all !)
I would love to hear your thoughts !
Have a great weekend
Lalo García

 

[2saddleslab]

Had a Kern 777 and Ampeg SVP Pro and loved them both. As you say while they are not heavy they still require a rack, power, tuner, etc. My rack mount days are in my past. Too many great pedal format preamps.

But here's a shot of what it used to look like.

 

[WayneP]

I'm a "racked" fan myself - don't plan on changing to anything that requires me to crawl around on my knees to adjust.

Yamaha made a highly-regarded bass preamp back in the day, as did Ashly. I have two Ashly models I've been using for decades.

All that said, it remains to be seen if active bass guitar speakers are going to become mainstream. It seems counter to the current "lightweightening" trend.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

Had a Kern 777 and Ampeg SVP Pro and loved them both. As you say while they are not heavy they still require a rack, power, tuner, etc. My rack mount days are in my past. Too many great pedal format preamps.

But here's a shot of what it used to look like.
View attachment 5437575

Lovely ! 2 great preamps for sure

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

I'm a "racked" fan myself - don't plan on changing to anything that requires me to crawl around on my knees to adjust.

Yamaha made a highly-regarded bass preamp back in the day, as did Ashly. I have two Ashly models I've been using for decades.

All that said, it remains to be seen if active bass guitar speakers are going to become mainstream. It seems counter to the current "lightweightening" trend.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Pedulla Club #45 Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Basses
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
Pedulla Club #45

Wow what a nice setup !!! (Lovely Pedulla too !). I agree with you 100%
I hate adjusting an eq at floor level…
There a few active bass cabinets that are incredibly light even with the integrated power amp. The best examples are the GR
Graphite models . The 2x10 is 19.4 pounds
And the 1x12 is 16.3 pounds!!!
Amazing ! And they sound killer .

 

[Zooberwerx]

Still use a BBE BMax in my rehearsal rig but bought an integrated EBS amp (8 lbs) for live performance. I'm not ditching my passive enclosure and dropping coin on a powered cab.

Riis

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

I remember a couple of bbe preamps that came out like 20 years ago; one had a tube the other one was 100 % solid state
I had the solid state and it was a kick ass piece !!! I should not have sold it . The parametric mids made it easier to find your tone and Taylor it to the room .

 

[Zooberwerx]

I remember a couple of bbe preamps that came out like 20 years ago; one had a tube the other one was 100 % solid state
I had the solid state and it was a kick ass piece !!! I should not have sold it .
Have a good weekend

I've had both and kept the latter (SS). I really didn't hear much of a difference between the two. The more expensive stuff is lost on me but that's true of all gear.

Riis

 

[cataract]

I've got a SansAmp RBI racked up with my GK 400RB in a 3 space SKB slim roto rack unit- I rarely use it (the 400RB sounds amazing solo lol) but it's fun & easy to setup whenever the mood strikes. Classic 90s post punk tones for days!!

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

So do you plug the preamp to the gallien Krueger ? Or to a separate power amp ?

 

[cataract]

So do you plug the preamp to the gallien Krueger ? Or to a separate power amp ?

I sometimes run the RBI into either the effects return of the GK for a different flavor. Sometimes I go buck wild and run it straight into the GK's front input. The 400RB preamp is magical IMO so I tend to favor running all of my effects / preamps straight into the front input

 

[Killing Floor]

I ran a massive rig with Yamaha PB1 preamps. They were golden. Not so much a fan of powered cabs. Maybe I bought the wrong ones. I still have a few rack goodies and a couple rack cases in the attic.

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

Don't sell them yet …

 

[micguy]

Rack gear for guitars and basses came about because there wasn't enough space in a pedal to do good delays, reverbs, etc. in that era. Now that the circuitry can be put in a pedal and sound just fine, putting it in a rack seems an inconvenience to me.

Maybe you were young in the 80's, and just want to relive your mis-spent youth?

 

[PeaveyPlayer]

Rack gear for guitars and basses came about because there wasn't enough space in a pedal to do good delays, reverbs, etc. in that era. Now that the circuitry can be put in a pedal and sound just fine, putting it in a rack seems an inconvenience to me.

Maybe you were young in the 80's, and just want to relive your mis-spent youth?

Idk man I'm 23 and I love rack gear

 

[micguy]

Idk man I'm 23 and I love rack gear

You're re-living your Grampa's mis-spent youth. Grandma was a lot of fun back then. Try not to think about it.

 

[BassKees]

My SansAmp GED-2112. I made a few captures of it for my Quad Cortex today... I'm not sure I'm keeping it now.

 

[steelbed45]

Idk man I'm 23 and I love rack gear

Nothing wrong with that. Prices are all over the place right now but there's definitely bargains to be had.

 

[Dincrest]

I too prefer rackmount gear to pedals. I tend to be pretty active on stage and do not want to trip over or accidentally activate pedals when I'm jumping around. Plus, rack gear just feels more secure. Like beer is less likely to be spilled on rack gear raised up and positioned behind me. Pedals on the floor in front of me are very likely to get beer spilled on them, have drunk or moshing patrons fall on them, etc.

 

[micguy]

I too prefer rackmount gear to pedals. I tend to be pretty active on stage and do not want to trip over or accidentally activate pedals when I'm jumping around. Plus, rack gear just feels more secure. Like beer is less likely to be spilled on rack gear raised up and positioned behind me. Pedals on the floor in front of me are very likely to get beer spilled on them, have drunk or moshing patrons fall on them, etc.

I do ampless church gigs, so there's nothing to set the rack on, and the spillage potential is at most half an ounce of cranberry juice. Practical considerations....