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My preamp journey

#645
In a few months this will be ready

BFBBE43C-8719-42DB-A71B-AD47B0F27678.jpeg
 
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#648
4Mal said:
@TonyP- The dry out is pre EQ? Will it have the Boost?
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The dry out out is a simple bass through like any DI would have...I wanted this so I could send a separate unaffected signal to my backline.
 
#649
moon-bass said:
I have been scoping this one out as well! What are the details?
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So this unit is has a specific tone stack, more modern then an Ampeg or the Alembix F1-X, yet still have ample amount of tube saturation. Its a fully 'active EQ' that uses a very tight sounding power supply (no sag to it) think Eich or GK punch. That is meant to set it apart from the other offerings

Its the first actives EQ that Sushi Box is offering.

It has its first tube (12AX7) in the gain stages of the EQ and its clean, just saturation. The boost channel can be used a few different ways and has a second stackable 12AX7. It can be used for clean boost, clean boost but more saturation, just more saturation or dirt with or without boost. Very flexible

It has Lighting Boy transformer DI, a amp sim of a fuller wider range 410 and have pass through (which so many of these preamps don't have and it blows me away that they don't).

This unit is planning on being direct competition to the Nobel, but at around half the price.

Its also my signature preamp...We spent almost a year and half on this and we neat the final stages of prototypes.
 
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#651
4Mal said:
@TonyP- I am so looking forward to putting a Venus through the ringer. I can always find myself in a popular backline choice... and currently own 3 of them. Venus might just be the one for me. Super stoked.
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That makes me stoked to hear :)
 
#652
Well, I have to say that I have been extremely happy with the results of this journey. On my main board the combination of the Alix and the FatDrive, along with the Noble ... I can't imagine this getting much better.

My MO tends to be that I buy a ton of stuff then slowly get rid of what doesn't suite me - I'm at the point now where I have nothing but difficult decisions ahead of me. I still plan on having a large board, a small board, and a Helix, but I'm rethinking the large board - dropping some of the "extra" pedals like the Bitcrusher and a few of the dirt pedals. Five is way too many for me :-) But, I put a bunch of stuff up for sale already and I'll be adding more.

I picked up a Demeter HBP-1 with an added Demeter 800 watt power amp - a 1U amp. I figured it would be nice to have it in an all in one amp, and this one is killer.

I'm also rethinking my small board - I still think the holy grail of tone for me is Fender TMB stack with extra EQ (parametric preferred). The AMT A Bass is the prefect preamp for the small board ...

I'm also (and some of you might think that this is blasphemy) re-thinking the Noble. It sounds killer but I'm not using the EQ, only the Di section. If only Noble made a simpler DI without the EQ ...
 
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#654
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#655
@moon-bass - I first asked you about it on page 2 of this thread, and after lurking here and in the Great Preamp Debate thread, I finally picked up a Valve Drive. I got lucky and found a minty one for a price too good to pass up, a quarter of the price of a Noble if you get it straight from them. Haven't had much time with it, but have to say: After all the years of building it up in my head and wanting to check one out... I'm not disappointed. I was worried I might not like it, or just be "meh" about it. But really dig the sound, and the "tube heft" that everyone talks about from fancy tube DIs.

It does hit the gain wall pretty quickly (about 8:00 on the Gain knob), so I'm going to tinker with some different tubes in it. I have a 12AT7 and 12AU7 around, and might see about a 12AY7 depending on how those fare.

So far, really digging it a lot. :thumbsup:

5sg.

EBS_ValveDriveDI.jpg
 
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#656
el murdoque said:
What are your favorite pedals to pair with the Fender tone stack to get more control over the mids?
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The ALiX is awesome, one thing that I really like is that it has a built in HPF. I also like the JHS Colourbox, it has the added "console" type sound. However, that's a bit overkill. To keep it simple and without adding an entire preamp, I really like the Sine Effects uPara - it's really versatile and takes up so little room, and it sounds great. I tried a few of the other mid-control pedals (think the EMC and JHS Haunting mids) but by far prefer the Sine Effect.

Hand-built guitar and bass pedals made to order

I should also mention the Broughton is nice as well, but also overkill.
 
#657
#658
fivestringgecko said:
@moon-bass - I first asked you about it on page 2 of this thread, and after lurking here and in the Great Preamp Debate thread, I finally picked up a Valve Drive. I got lucky and found a minty one for a price too good to pass up, a quarter of the price of a Noble if you get it straight from them. Haven't had much time with it, but have to say: After all the years of building it up in my head and wanting to check one out... I'm not disappointed. I was worried I might not like it, or just be "meh" about it. But really dig the sound, and the "tube heft" that everyone talks about from fancy tube DIs.

It does hit the gain wall pretty quickly (about 8:00 on the Gain knob), so I'm going to tinker with some different tubes in it. I have a 12AT7 and 12AU7 around, and might see about a 12AY7 depending on how those fare.

So far, really digging it a lot. :thumbsup:

5sg.

View attachment 4960878
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Awesome man, very glad to hear! It does respond very well to tube rolling - I can't remember exactly what I put in there at one point, but with a lower gain tube it gets really creamy and nice and the breaekup point is a lot later. I got to the point where the box was totally clean, but then when I engaged the "vintage" button the pedal kicked in a with a slight bit very sweet amount of dirt.
 
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