I ended up putting my Cali on my guitar pedal board - that's where it really shines.
I also bought a Retrospec Squeeze Box. I like it as a stand alone. I find that I like playing the Noble live, but the Retrospec when recording.
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Noble Amps Preamp
- Thread starter IanMartinAllison
- Start date
I also bought a Retrospec Squeeze Box. I like it as a stand alone. I find that I like playing the Noble live, but the Retrospec when recording.
I wasn’t really impressed with the Cali into the Noble either. I highly recommend the Union Tube Lab Compressor. Based on the Teletronix LA-2A. Nice and phat, can do the bottomless low end thing. Has a ton of gain, too.
I’ve been using the Noble for years both studio and live, and have never had the need for any compressor, including the Cali. I eagerly tried the Cali, as per Talkbass Borg Mentality, but decided it is cool, but not really necessary. I use my Noble, my instrument setup, ears, and technique for compression.
You get natural tube compression, so what I found was that there was no value add in putting the compressor 1st except a slight degredation in sound. Putting it after, I found I could sometimes get a weird pumping thing going on...
I really only use it when playing live, keeps the octave pedal from blowing everything away.
Love it! I wish I had that little sign on your pick box when I first got the noble though. Second gig I think it was, I was troubleshooting a no power issue for a little longer than any man should, before finally remembering my shiny new expensive preamp had a power button!
I think I would like to try that Lab compressor. Looks really nice.
It's a great compressor and with just the 2 controls obviously very easy to use. Some may not like the lack of control over attack and release etc, but for me the less knobs the better, and I've found the magic of the thing is really in the gain (out) knob. When I first got the Lab I didn't have the Noble yet and ran the lab with the controls always equal. I wasn't entirely happy with that, felt a bit of an overall lack of attack and definition on the notes. I was almost going to switch back to the MXR comp. Then I got the Noble and I don't remember how, but got turned on to using the Lab's gain knob a bit more liberally and wow, it just opened everything up and really 'feeds' the Noble well. I'm not the best at putting sonic qualities into words, but cranking up that gain into the Noble and keeping the compression around 10 o'clock just gives it that extra 'oomph', and since you can't really overdrive the Noble it just makes everything more... Mmmmmm... !
Awesome! Thanks for the info. I ordered it. Looking forward to trying it out! My Noble is 9 months out, so I’ll use this with my Khan while I wait. Hopefully it sounds good with that as well.
I was reading a different Noble thread and the discussion there made me wonder: has anyone ever done a comparison of the XLR and 1/4" outs? Wondering if there's an appreciable difference in sound since one has an extra tube and one has an O/P transformer (or maybe they both have an O/P transformer? website says "Jensen/CineMag DI transformers").
For a future pedalboard setup, I wonder if it might be worth it to go 1/4" out to an RNDI underneath the board and tap XLR out and 1/4" thru to amp from that. Redundant, yes? But if I only have to set it up once and then it's just a matter of where I plug the XLR in, why not?
Plus, it would solve the one consistent issue I have with the Noble where the engineer asks for less level from me and I have to inform them that it's not possible without messing up my gain staging somewhere else.
For a future pedalboard setup, I wonder if it might be worth it to go 1/4" out to an RNDI underneath the board and tap XLR out and 1/4" thru to amp from that. Redundant, yes? But if I only have to set it up once and then it's just a matter of where I plug the XLR in, why not?
Plus, it would solve the one consistent issue I have with the Noble where the engineer asks for less level from me and I have to inform them that it's not possible without messing up my gain staging somewhere else.
Good questions. I run a Rob Allen bass through my Noble and the sound techs always comment on the very hot signal. But they are used to this now and know how to adjust their input gain, and it works very well.
Most good engineers can deal with it just fine, but I get the occasional one that doesn't know whether or not their board has a pad on the channel, or where it is, or what it is... And the occasional board where it's too old and janky and doesn't even have a pad or it's broken or something. For those situations, I wish I just had two volume controls, one for each output.
Another question, from the DB side. Is there a way to change the HPF cutoff frequency to 80 with a mod, and if so what would that process be?
Not sure about a mod; you'd have to ask Jack Roan about bumping it down from 90hz. I solved this problem by putting an Fdeck HPF Series 3 Mini in front of the Noble so it's a variable HPF for whatever is needed. Even 80hz won't be low enough for some scenarios.
I don't know the answer but I'd LOVE that mod as well. 80Hz is where my variable one sits the majority of the time and the stock one on the Noble cuts a little too high for my taste unless it's a really boomy room.
I do treat my gear with a lot of caution but not because I am anxious, I know most gear is well built and can take it. But I just take a lot of pleasure to see that my gear still looks brand new while I have intensively used it.
