Noble vs Tube Amp

[Jed Green]

Hi all first post here in talkbass. My apologies if this thread already exists.

At the moment I can only afford to get a Noble or a new amp rig (looking at making the switch to Aguilar from Markbass).

So my question is.
Is it worth getting a Noble or a new amp of some sort. Any amps that you think can do the Noble sound and more? Perhaps the Aguilar DB751?

I'd love the hear your thoughts.

 

[gtirard]

The Noble is far from being the only tube preamp-DI, there are many alternatives, that may be more affordable, and/or easier to order quickly, and/or suit your need better:
Tube Preamp/DI Sound Samples — Noble, Oracle, P-15, Super Stack, REDDI, Tonecraft, Jule...

All hybrid amps (=amps with tube preamps) can give you more or less the "tube warmth", it's up to you to decides it corresponds to "the Noble sound and more", or not. The most famous are the Mesa WD800 and TT800, but there are many more. I use Jad Freer Sisma, it's quite new and unknown, but I love it. I had tried to use tube preamp + class D amp before, it was nice but not exactly what I wanted. I'm much happier now with my hybrid amp.

The problem is that you should try before buying anything, because it's very personal preference and only you can tell. But it's often difficult to try these kind of gear before buying.

Good luck, have fun!

 

[Marko 1]

Hi all first post here in talkbass. My apologies if this thread already exists.

At the moment I can only afford to get a Noble or a new amp rig (looking at making the switch to Aguilar from Markbass).

So my question is.
Is it worth getting a Noble or a new amp of some sort. Any amps that you think can do the Noble sound and more? Perhaps the Aguilar DB751?

I'd love the hear your thoughts.

May I ask if this is for home/recording or live use?

 

[Jed Green]

The Noble is far from being the only tube preamp-DI, there are many alternatives, that may be more affordable, and/or easier to order quickly, and/or suit your need better:
Tube Preamp/DI Sound Samples — Noble, Oracle, P-15, Super Stack, REDDI, Tonecraft, Jule...

All hybrid amps (=amps with tube preamps) can give you more or less the "tube warmth", it's up to you to decides it corresponds to "the Noble sound and more", or not. The most famous are the Mesa WD800 and TT800, but there are many more. I use Jad Freer Sisma, it's quite new and unknown, but I love it. I had tried to use tube preamp + class D amp before, it was nice but not exactly what I wanted. I'm much happier now with my hybrid amp.

The problem is that you should try before buying anything, because it's very personal preference and only you can tell. But it's often difficult to try these kind of gear before buying.

Good luck, have fun!

Thanks for your help!

 

[Jed Green]

May I ask if this is for home/recording or live use?

It'd be for recording and live use at this stage. Mainly looking to decide between a new rig or a Noble.

 

[tb-player]

I’ve owned a Noble 2 different times. The average ear can’t tell the difference between it and MUCH less expensive preamps. Guys swear by the noble but sometimes, I wonder if it’s not more peer pressure than the ability to discern the slight differences in tone.

I vote get a good tube rig with a clean DI out. You’ll probably still have money left in your budget to buy a Khan or a Neve DI if you really want one.

 

[mikewalker]

If you have FOH support, I'd recommend this little amp... they sound awesome: YBA100 – Traynor Amps

 

[Infidelity]

I think the Noble is popular because it is very hard to get a bad tone from it. I agree with everyone, a decent tube rig with a clean DI would work great. Just gotta dial in what you like.

I came from rocking a Noble, but now that I don’t gig I use a SLO MKIIIs. It took some time to dial in my sound, but I’m a happy camper.

 

[Geri O]

Unless you play exclusively with in-ear monitors and/or always, always, always have good PA support, I’d say you need a good bass rig. After you’ve scored a bass rig, save your money and get a Noble if you still think you need it.

I would be happy using just my in-ear monitors, my Khan VTDI tube DI and my basses, but the groups I usually work with insist that I use a bass rig on their gigs. Fair enough.

 

[Kevan Campbell]

It'd be for recording and live use at this stage. Mainly looking to decide between a new rig or a Noble.

What kind of live shows are you playing? Are you driving yourself to shows or riding in a van/sprinter/bus with a trailer? Do the typical venues you play have the space and power allowances for a live amp or do you find yourself primarily going with IEMs and a “silent stage”?

Answering these will definitely help us out. That said, as much as I love my Noble I’d say to get a decent amp first and then get a Noble unless you’re absolutely certain you don’t need an amp in your near future.

The Noble is far from being the only tube preamp-DI, there are many alternatives, that may be more affordable, and/or easier to order quickly, and/or suit your need better:
Tube Preamp/DI Sound Samples — Noble, Oracle, P-15, Super Stack, REDDI, Tonecraft, Jule...

All hybrid amps (=amps with tube preamps) can give you more or less the "tube warmth", it's up to you to decides it corresponds to "the Noble sound and more", or not. The most famous are the Mesa WD800 and TT800, but there are many more. I use Jad Freer Sisma, it's quite new and unknown, but I love it. I had tried to use tube preamp + class D amp before, it was nice but not exactly what I wanted. I'm much happier now with my hybrid amp.

The problem is that you should try before buying anything, because it's very personal preference and only you can tell. But it's often difficult to try these kind of gear before buying.

Good luck, have fun!

This x1000. The Noble sounds great at pretty much any setting but there’s other solid options out there, and that potential pool of tube DI’s opens up even more if you don’t need a preamp in the same unit as your DI.

I’ve stuck with my Noble because I really like how it adds just enough tube coloration to my tone without overwhelming it, and for my ears it doesn’t get any better running a Noble into the front end of my Bergantino B Amps. That said, I’ve played others that were great for my needs at the time such as the REDDI (which I’d recommend if you don’t need a preamp onboard and don’t mind that it sort of takes over your sound).

 

[Coot]

If you have FOH support, I'd recommend this little amp... they sound awesome: YBA100 – Traynor Amps

yep.. Traynor YBA 100 = great sound , It's my keeper tube amp. It's only 100 watts but fantastic sounding head that has a lot of punch. I run it into my Mesa Subway15 and it rocks! (It's big brother.. the YBA 300 is a mean machine as well).

 

[Jed Green]

Unless you play exclusively with in-ear monitors and/or always, always, always have good PA support, I’d say you need a good bass rig. After you’ve scored a bass rig, save your money and get a Noble if you still think you need it.

I would be happy using just my in-ear monitors, my Khan VTDI tube DI and my basses, but the groups I usually work with insist that I use a bass rig on their gigs. Fair enough.

Thanks for the info and help. Any Bass rig recomendations?

 

[Jed Green]

What kind of live shows are you playing? Are you driving yourself to shows or riding in a van/sprinter/bus with a trailer? Do the typical venues you play have the space and power allowances for a live amp or do you find yourself primarily going with IEMs and a “silent stage”?

Answering these will definitely help us out. That said, as much as I love my Noble I’d say to get a decent amp first and then get a Noble unless you’re absolutely certain you don’t need an amp in your near future.




This x1000. The Noble sounds great at pretty much any setting but there’s other solid options out there, and that potential pool of tube DI’s opens up even more if you don’t need a preamp in the same unit as your DI.

I’ve stuck with my Noble because I really like how it adds just enough tube coloration to my tone without overwhelming it, and for my ears it doesn’t get any better running a Noble into the front end of my Bergantino B Amps. That said, I’ve played others that were great for my needs at the time such as the REDDI (which I’d recommend if you don’t need a preamp onboard and don’t mind that it sort of takes over your sound).

Shows range from small to medium and sometimes decently large. All have space for decent size cabinet and amp. Never use IEM's at this stage, though I should look into them.

 

[Jed Green]

I have the option to buy a DB750 for quite a decent price here in Australia. Anyone have any experience with these? Better off with a DB751 or another amp?

 

[gtirard]

I have the option to buy a DB750 for quite a decent price here in Australia. Anyone have any experience with these? Better off with a DB751 or another amp?

@Wasnex has made interesting comments about his DB751, he's got many other tube amps, so he knows what he's speaking about:

 

[DJ Bebop]

Thanks for the info and help. Any Bass rig recomendations?

I haven't tried the Noble or any of the other cool kids preamps

I do have a Mesa WD 800 head with a Subway 115. The WD head has a tube preamp and the power amp section has variable damping and enhanced dynamic management that adds a tube flavor to the class D power amp section. The power output runs from 300 watts up to 800 watts.

I like it!

 

[gtirard]

I haven't tried the Noble or any of the other cool kid preamps

I do have a Mesa WD 800 head with a Subway 115. The WD head has a tube preamp and the power amp section has variable damping and enhanced dynamic management that adds a tube flavor to the class D power amp section. The power output runs from 300 watts up to 800 watts.

I like it!

I would have bought the WD 800 or the TT 800 if they were available in Europe, but they're not (Agedhorse said they're coming in Europe in 2024 though). I don't know if they are (or will be) available in Australia either.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I would have bought the WD 800 or the TT 800 if they were available in Europe, but they're not (Agedhorse said they're coming in Europe in 2024 though). I don't know if they are (or will be) available in Australia either.

Sorry, I didn't see you are on the west island.

(from NZ)

 

[Geri O]

Thanks for the info and help. Any Bass rig recomendations?

Ohhhh, yeah!….

I’m a big fan of the Mesa Subway line of amplifiers and speakers. I own a Mesa WD800 and a pair of the Subway 115 speakers.

Lots of good stuff out there, new and used.

 

[S.F.Sorrow]

It'd be for recording and live use at this stage. Mainly looking to decide between a new rig or a Noble.

For live use:

I'm sure the Noble will sound great for recording but it's a bit overkill for playing gigs IMO. It's hideously expensive, especially if you can't wait almost a year and pay the extra fee for faster delivery. It's also a small item that can easily get stolen at gigs. If you're using a great sounding amp I wouldn't personally even send a preamp pedal to the amp (unless you're just using a power amp of course). I've never seen the point of using a preamp in front of another preamp, in fact I find it detrimental to the tone in most cases. I normally use tube amps for gigs, combined with a 100% clean DI (pre-pedalboard) to FOH. Sometimes the amp is mic'ed, sometimes it's not, depending on the engineer, the venue and the setting (like if there's a short changeover with no soundcheck). I own a nice collection of DI boxes but I never bother bringing any of them to gigs. I just use whatever the venue provides, which typically means a Countryman or a BSS. They get the job done and I doubt if ANYONE in the audience would notice the difference if I had used a more expensive tube DI. As for sending preamp pedals with tone control/eq direct to FOH... in my experience it's usually best to send an unprocessed CLEAN DI signal to FOH. No surprises for the engineer = happy engineer = a great gig! I'm a total gear nut but sometimes it's best to keep things simple. Just a decent quality, simple DI box will do just nicely for gigs, at least for MY needs. I would want an active DI box for gigs though. There can be quite a bit of signal loss with passive DI boxes and the long cable runs you typically get on gigs, at least with passive basses.

For recording:

The Noble makes a lot more sense for recording but there are many other significantly less expensive, superb DI boxes out there. I've got a nice selection of analog rack gear (as well as plugins) so I don't really need a preamp with tone controls for recording direct. I prefer using a top quality, pure DI box. The ZOD ID DI is probably my allround favourite for recording bass. This is a tube DI (I think it's more or less a REDDI clone). It's also around half the price of a Noble, or even less if you add Noble's extra fee for faster delivery. The ZOD is a pure DI so there are no tone controls but it can provide enough gain to be inserted straight into a line level input (without a micpre), if needed.

I also like other, even less expensive DIs for recording bass. The Radial J48 can be great. The Radial JDI is AMAZING but passive (which I tend to avoid with passive instruments, although this isn't normally a problem for recording, as long as you keep the cable runs reasonably short and have good quality micpres).


As for you amp options, I've never played that Aguilar model so I can't really comment on it except that this isn't really a proper tube amp. I'm sure it's a great amp but it's a hybrid amp with tubes only in the preamp section. Like I said, I have never played this amp but I have yet to hear a hybrid amp that truly has the tone/dynamics and "feel" of a real tube amp, if that's what you want. I've played some Class D/hybrid amps where the TONE gets close but not the dynamics and the general "heft" of a tube amp. I'm not saying this is good or bad, but there's definitely a difference IMO. Personally I think much of the tone/feel we think of as a "tube amp tone" comes from the output transformers used in real tube amps. With studio gear (like micpres) I can get a very "tube-like" tone from some transformer based equipment with no tubes (like Neve), but tube gear without transformers just doesn't do it for me. At least none that I've tried.


I think my advice would be the following:

-If this is mainly for playing live my priorities would be the amp. However, I don't think you mentioned which specific Markbass amp you currently use. Markbass amps are generally very nice amps. You might like the Aguilar better of course, but you won't really know until you try one which you ideally should before spending this much money. If the general voicing is anything like the less expensive Aguilar Tone Hammer amps it will certainly be VERY different from anything Markbass has ever made!

-If this is mainly for recording the Noble will a great choice but VERY expensive for what you're getting. I would perhaps consider other options too. Maybe just a top quality DI box. If you don't specifically need a preamp/DI with tone controls there are many superb DI boxes, including tube DIs, that are significantly less expensive than the Noble. At the price of a Noble w/fast delivery you can even get a really nice tube channel strip like the UA LA-610. These are great for recording bass (but not something I would bring to a gig).

If you don't necessarily need that specific Aguilar amp you might even find a used tube amp and be able to afford both a great tube amp AND a superb DI box.

I guess it depends on whether you really need an amp (hybrid or tube), a preamp/DI or maybe just a top quality DI box. My advice is based on MY needs. Yours might be different of course.