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Need a Decent Preamp

Nu11nV01D

Guest
Jul 8, 2011
20
0
Hey folks. I've got a new Douglas 5 String from rondomusic.com, and it sounds better than a $180 bass should. Still, I'm looking for a preamp to model my sound more so it doesn't necessarily sound like a $180 bass.

I'm trying not to spend more than $200-$250, if possible. I'm looking for the ability to go a little gritty but also clean it up when I need to. Nothing spectacular, but something that'll boost my sound quality a bit.

Any suggestions?
 
I LOVE EFFECTS.
But I don't understand buying a $180 bass and then spending $250 on a preamp. For $430, if you searched high and low, you could have got something decent used.

Anyways, you could search for a Dave Hall Amplification VT series tube preamp. They have 2 channels, you could set one with some grit and one big and round sounding clean.
 
The Eden WTDI is good at $149.

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I LOVE EFFECTS.
But I don't understand buying a $180 bass and then spending $250 on a preamp. For $430, if you searched high and low, you could have got something decent used.

I hear ya. I got this bass as a gift, and I've got other basses. I figured, instead of spending $100-$200 on some nice pups I might as well get something I can use with all my instruments.

Thanks for the responses, folks. I will research every one of these.
 
I LOVE EFFECTS.
But I don't understand buying a $180 bass and then spending $250 on a preamp. For $430, if you searched high and low, you could have got something decent used.

Anyways, you could search for a Dave Hall Amplification VT series tube preamp. They have 2 channels, you could set one with some grit and one big and round sounding clean.

I guarantee you that for $430 you won't find a bass with a Sansamp or DHA built into it.
 
I might catch some crap for this, (and it looks like you might have made you're mind up already), but I actually snagged the Hartke VXL Bass Attack for super cheap a month or two ago (just to use as a quick plug in for recording demos at home), and it's turned out to be a pretty impressive Preamp/DI. A lot better than I expected, truthfully.

A lot of guys might shun it for its price point (you can find them for $100 and under) or just the Hartke name in general - but it's actually worked out really well for me. So well in fact that it actually usurped my usual recording setup (Aguilar Tone Hammer/VT Bass combo - also a second mention for the Tone Hammer as an excellent preamp as said above) for the latest side project I was working on.
 
So nobody has mentioned the Behringer V-TONE BASS DRIVER DI BDI21 yet? :hiding:

It's what, about ~$40? You could have 4 of them for the price of the SansAmp BDDI, if you are concerned about construction for some reason. (Or 4 of them, and get two of the power supplies for good measure.) But I have had one of them in my gig bag for a while, and it's fine.

Plus, I believe I personally like the tone more so than the SansAMP. I totally nail that Geddy tone, circa Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures.

For the money, pick it up, you might be surprised! :hyper:

-Sean