Thanks everyone.
Today I went to a local store to try out my two main candidates:
- Darkglass Vintage Ultra: I hoped to keep Darkglass undisputed quality with a sound less harsh (to me) than the B7K Ultra that I own, but it didn't work out. Every note I play through Darkglass sounds like a shattered... glass (pretty much nailed the brand name
). I can really see why they became an industry standard (in genres where bass is barely audible but whatever), their quality is great, just definitely does not suit me.
- GK Plex: my greatest hope... partially disappointed. The clean section is GREAT, has GK tones and a powerful and useful eq, centered on IMHO the best choices of frequencies as GK always did, kudos to them for that. But sadly, the distortion to me is almost unusable. Sounded fake and like blowing a raspberry. I could have settled for a compromise since how much I liked the clean section, but the distortion was simply too much of a letdown.
I was walking away but I had some more spare time and the owner was really kind, so I asked to try another one, simply because it was there: an Ampeg SCR DI. I never owned an Ampeg amp, they didn't suit me (even if I recorded an album though a SVT Classic): for some reasons I like them when someone else plays them, but not when I do.
Well, it looks like I found my DI preamp.
I was lucky I could try it on a Fender Bassman, my main amp. First of all, the SCR DI doesn't sound transparent: it has its character and flavor even on flat. The clean tone is very good, even if the eq is not as great as GK: basses and highs sound very empty when pumped (also ultra lo and ultra hi buttons are unusable to me), but I was surprised by the mid response. They sound great, creamy and not nasal. Very pleasant surprise.
The overdrive section has, well, a flavor that just feels right. Sounds alive, not boxed. It's warm, it's aggressive when pumped, and with some mids cranked it bites just where it should.
I didn't take it home with me because I didn't have my B7K with me to trade in, but that is definitely my choice.
Today I went to a local store to try out my two main candidates:
- Darkglass Vintage Ultra: I hoped to keep Darkglass undisputed quality with a sound less harsh (to me) than the B7K Ultra that I own, but it didn't work out. Every note I play through Darkglass sounds like a shattered... glass (pretty much nailed the brand name
). I can really see why they became an industry standard (in genres where bass is barely audible but whatever), their quality is great, just definitely does not suit me.- GK Plex: my greatest hope... partially disappointed. The clean section is GREAT, has GK tones and a powerful and useful eq, centered on IMHO the best choices of frequencies as GK always did, kudos to them for that. But sadly, the distortion to me is almost unusable. Sounded fake and like blowing a raspberry. I could have settled for a compromise since how much I liked the clean section, but the distortion was simply too much of a letdown.
I was walking away but I had some more spare time and the owner was really kind, so I asked to try another one, simply because it was there: an Ampeg SCR DI. I never owned an Ampeg amp, they didn't suit me (even if I recorded an album though a SVT Classic): for some reasons I like them when someone else plays them, but not when I do.
Well, it looks like I found my DI preamp.
I was lucky I could try it on a Fender Bassman, my main amp. First of all, the SCR DI doesn't sound transparent: it has its character and flavor even on flat. The clean tone is very good, even if the eq is not as great as GK: basses and highs sound very empty when pumped (also ultra lo and ultra hi buttons are unusable to me), but I was surprised by the mid response. They sound great, creamy and not nasal. Very pleasant surprise.
The overdrive section has, well, a flavor that just feels right. Sounds alive, not boxed. It's warm, it's aggressive when pumped, and with some mids cranked it bites just where it should.
I didn't take it home with me because I didn't have my B7K with me to trade in, but that is definitely my choice.
I like to change and try new solutions.
