With all the features of the 800+.......and all the outputs of the current DI.
After all, it is the Holiday season. We can always hope...
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Mesa Subway Bass DI-Preamp
- Thread starter bucephylus
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- mesa mesa subway subway
With all the features of the 800+.......and all the outputs of the current DI.
After all, it is the Holiday season. We can always hope...
I was planning to wait and see what they put in their next bass DI (given @agedhorse's request for feedback in this thread), but I ended up fiddling about with it for an hour or so at the shop, eventually deciding that it's simply too good to pass on.
Extremely impressed with the amount of different but great voices this pedal can produce. Wasn't expecting this good of a pre-amp at its price point, even after seeing all the videos and reading all the testimonies.
Massive kudos to MESA/Boogie.
Extremely impressed with the amount of different but great voices this pedal can produce. Wasn't expecting this good of a pre-amp at its price point, even after seeing all the videos and reading all the testimonies.
Massive kudos to MESA/Boogie.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,035
- 5
- 220,956
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Lowendtech
Happily trending in my own peculiar direction.
Even a pair of laser pointers that can be positioned towards their heads, and activated by a foot switch. It might take a couple minutes of on time, but they'll get the point. Had a kid get me in the eye while I was driving down the street. Called the cops on him and they came PDQ.
Hmmmmm - something that says : "your 120 bar leadbreak is a pointless exhibition of 'Lookame and how fast I can play' with little or no actual lyrical, melodic content that ties it to what we're playing, and I'm
bored sh*^tle#ss over here peddling so you can wa#k" sort of thing?
Oh yeah, I'd be up for that!!
Maurie.
bored sh*^tle#ss over here peddling so you can wa#k" sort of thing?
Oh yeah, I'd be up for that!!
Maurie.
Andy, my only suggestion is to move the blue power on LED to the top or side. It tends to obscure the controls on a dark stage.
I currently use a Darkglass Alpha/Omega for coloring and overdrive / distort my tone (coming from a 5 String tuned to B or A) - and man... this little thing is the greatest pedal of all time: It has the ballsiest, gruntiest and growliest tone on its own and without any other pedals / units in the signal chain. But since i'm not running an dedicated amp-head but am a big fan of racks (my pedals live on an extendable rack-drawer since i do not fiddle with my sound while playing) the signal goes from the darkglass a/o directly to the input of my poweramp (synq digit). And here is the problem: The darkglass has no master-volume control (the level control only controls the level of the distorted signal. the blended in dry signal always remains at the level that comes from the input) and since the output and the direct output are at instrument level (so not line level) i have to turn up the poweramp really wide to get at volume levels that are useful for rehearsals and gigs and can't control the volume of the "pre-stage" (speaking in terms of dedicated amp heads).
So I considered to buy (another) preamp that has a master control and use this pedal only to slightly boost some frequencies (e.g. nice mid-heavy grunty shiny tone from the darkglass and than boost the lows / low-mids a bit to add some punch). I looked into getting the Mesa Boogie Subway Bass DI Preamp since it has plenty of output options - for every situation that could be coming there is an extra output - and a 4-band eq (lows, low-mids, high-mids, highs) and A MASTER VOLUME CONTROL
I also really like the idea of having an Preamp Out (line-level) that is affected by the master volume and a direct out (line-level) that is NOT affected by the master volume - so you wont scare the mixing guy when increasing / decreasing your on-stage volume.
Has anyone of you used the Mesa Boogie Subway Bass DI Preamp with a darkglass a/o or any other overdrive pedals in front? Does the Mesa color the tone much or is it neutral if the controls are all set to the middle (voicing to the left). Or can you recommend me any other preamp pedals / rack units that are more suitable for this purpose? I don't want to loose all of the tone from the darkglass, since i love its sound, be able to adjust my on-stage sound by slightly eq-ing, have a master volume and the output possibilities the mesa has.
So I considered to buy (another) preamp that has a master control and use this pedal only to slightly boost some frequencies (e.g. nice mid-heavy grunty shiny tone from the darkglass and than boost the lows / low-mids a bit to add some punch). I looked into getting the Mesa Boogie Subway Bass DI Preamp since it has plenty of output options - for every situation that could be coming there is an extra output - and a 4-band eq (lows, low-mids, high-mids, highs) and A MASTER VOLUME CONTROL
I also really like the idea of having an Preamp Out (line-level) that is affected by the master volume and a direct out (line-level) that is NOT affected by the master volume - so you wont scare the mixing guy when increasing / decreasing your on-stage volume.Has anyone of you used the Mesa Boogie Subway Bass DI Preamp with a darkglass a/o or any other overdrive pedals in front? Does the Mesa color the tone much or is it neutral if the controls are all set to the middle (voicing to the left). Or can you recommend me any other preamp pedals / rack units that are more suitable for this purpose? I don't want to loose all of the tone from the darkglass, since i love its sound, be able to adjust my on-stage sound by slightly eq-ing, have a master volume and the output possibilities the mesa has.
I run the Subway D800 DI out at a venue with silent stage and IEMs. I have a Darkglass Vintage Deluxe, only used as an overdrive. The Subway DI has phenomenal preamp, with the EQs flat and Voicing knob all the way down, it's a very clean/true/neutral and good sounding clean DI. Coloring-wise, it leans towards clean/neutral than most other preamps, with a sprinkle of Mesa (a very favorable thing). The EQs are also extremely musical. Aside from overdrive/distorted tones that it doesn't quite reach, there is an amazing variety of clean tone possibilities from the combination of the DEEP switch, Voicing knob, and EQ.
A bassist friend of mine at the same venue uses a Darkglass B3K and gets phenomenal overdrive tone as well. We both have success setting up a punchy balanced clean tone with the Subway, and put drives before it. And all the drive pedals we've thrown at it all sounded great.
Yo, guys! I play mostly blues/blues rock/soul and I want to know - how does this preamp works for "vintagy" sound? I have a terrifying GAS about it, it will be around 270$ for me (with shipment to Russia) - can't decide between Mesa and EBS Microbass II
Lowendtech
Happily trending in my own peculiar direction.
Pulled a trigger and placed an oder on Ebay - gonna get it till the end of February, I believe. Mesa, what r u doing with my wallet?!
how will you use it? I only wonder if you are going to plug the Mesa out to effect return of the Genz Benz Streamliner, the Mesa preamp is superb, but I think the preamp of GB is great as well...
I will use both
Bass to preamp to input on Streamliner - just for fun, but mostly it's necessary for situations when I can't take my rig with me, so I can avoid that awful felling of "SHEIT MARKBASS LITTLE MARK NO GOD PLZ NOOoo". And for recording. And for those days when I'm tired of Streamliners sound - so I can't change it in Mesa-ish way)P.S.: No offense, Markbass users
Hi all. Does anyone have any experience of the Mesa Subway Bass DI versus any of the Sansamp DI boxes?
Yes, I have a BDDI v1, VT DI, and used to have both deluxe versions and a VT Bass. I searched for that certain tone I had in my head and was convinced the Tech 21 stuff would deliver it. No doubt, they are good boxes and some players love them. As for me, I've moved away from them because at this point I can really say they are generally not for me.
The Mesa blows them all out of the water. To my ears the BDDI is the best of the lot, it's earned its reputation for sure. But the Mesa is way more versatile. I have not been able to get a BDDI tone out of the Mesa but, that's not what it's for. If you want the BDDI tone, use a BDDI!
I still have the BDDI and have a VT DI and will likely hang on to them. But, they are not on either of my boards. My main rig is a D-800 with a Mesa Diesel 4x10 from the 90's. I have a board that has a couple of pedals. The chain looks like this: MXR Bass Compressor -> MXR Carbon Copy -> MXR Analog Chorus -> HOF Reverb -> Sub 'n Up -> Darkglass VMT -> Mesa Flux Five -> Ampeg SCR-DI
To my ears the combination of the SCR-DI into the D-800 is money! I use this setup for my main band which is a Casting Crowns tribute band. What I have in this setup is a ton of options. I strive for a warm tube like sound that is just under when the amp starts to overdrive. I have that in spades with this setup. I can use any of the the three dirt boxes alone or in combination to color a slightly distorted tone. The three options are: scrambler, Flux Five, and VMT. I love the sound of low gain distortion and can get that very easily by tweaking a couple of knobs.
I also play at Church and use IEMs with a small board and no amp. I have the following signal chain:
MXR Bass Compressor -> Corona Corus -> Subway DI.
When I had to decide on a preamp to use in the latter application, I could have chosen one of the Tech 21 boxes but, that really was never a consideration. I went straight for the Subway DI when we wen to IEMs. For this situation, I play a 5 string Fender Jazz with Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats. The strings are almost 2 years old and the Mesa is silky smooth with this setup.
So the point is that I can go from hard driving rock, to ballads and anthems, to mellow music all with the Mesa subway preamp. I don't really need much more than that!
I find that the Tech 21 boxes, while good, are not great. I do like the BDDI but, it's kind of a one trick pony. If you are looking for a scooped sound, it's a winner. Even the V2 with the mid control is still a BDDI at its core. If you like the sound of it then it's a winner but, I find you won't get much variety out of any of them really.
Now, the VT related boxes, I find them flexible to a certain degree but, the Mesa and Ampeg preamps are much more musical. I've played them side by side and find the Tech 21 stuff just does not measure up to either the Ampeg or Mesa. Comparing the VT boxes to the SCR-DI... no comparison. The latter has the "Ampeg tone" in spades. The VT while good I would not say nails the Ampeg tone.
With all this said, it really is subjective. I'm sure there are players out there who would come to a completely differnt conclusion. Hope this helps. If you have a follow up question, I'm happy to weigh in with my opinion. BTW, yes I gigged with all of these pieces and gave them the benefit of time. This has been a 2+ year endeavor to try to get to where I wanted to be from a tone perspective. I'm finally there, and unfortunately spent a little coin in the process.
Hey thanks so much for such a thorough reply! I really appreciate all the extra info you added. Particularly relevant as a big chunk of my playing is in church too.
Just one question: which pedal are you referring too as 'scrambler'?
Just one question: which pedal are you referring too as 'scrambler'?
Sorry! I took for granted you were familiar with the SCR-DI. That "pedal" is like two pedals in one. One side is the Ampeg tone stack and you can enable/disable it with a footswitch. The second side of the pedal is the Ampeg Scrambler distortion that you see on their amps. You can control that independent of the tone stack with a second foot switch. So there are really like 4 modes you can use the pedal in based on the combination of on/off between the two switches.
Here's a really good video by Sweetwater and Ampeg...
..and this is worth a listen, it's the Flux Five and the Subway DI combined...
Boom!
