opinions welcom

[On The DL]

my place of work is looking to buy two new preamps in the next couple of months and my opinion will matter in deciding what in what to get

so, the cap is $1500, preferable tubed, must have eq controls

any suggestions?

 

[bongomania]

$1500 for the pair, or each? High fidelity, extra fat, drive/grit-oriented, or what kind of "tube" flavor? For EQ, is a Fender-type tone stack sufficient, or even a Baxandall, or does it need to have more focused control like a parametric or graphic EQ? Does the rack height, weight, or ruggedness of the unit matter? Will it only be used for bass, or if not then what other types of signals should it suit?

 

[On The DL]

good questions, there is $1500 budgeted for each, though I'd say we get a comfortable$1000 for each. my situation is particular in that for one, the preamp will be played 24/7, and two, it will be played by 20 different people with 20 different basses- active and passive. I don't know how often this means we'll be changing tubes, but I've heard that the tubes in a preamp, as opposed to a tubed head powering a cab, will last longer because they don't get as hot?

we won't be getting a cab cause there's no room for stage volume (right now we're using a pod). it won't be moved, but stationary in a rack, no matter the weight, and as far as the eq, a graphic would be nice, but not necessary- just something for the passive basses to work with, so the tubed di boxes are probably out- at least from the few I've seen had no eq's.

 

[bongomania]

Hmmm... Sounds like ruggedness (resistance to boneheads, beer, and smoke) will be a priority. For that I'd almost recommend something like a Peavey Maxx preamp. Putting aside ruggedness for a moment, since it will be a stationary installation I would think a REDDI tube DI combined with a Speck ASC EQ would sound fabulous and come in well under $1500.

 

[On The DL]

it will actually be well taken care of- as good as any piece of equipment played by 20 people non-stop can be, however, it won't have the effects of smoke or drink to worry about.

I've heard goot things about both th REDDI DI and also the GT Brick. Out of curiosity, why would suggest a DI and seperate eq, rather than one tubed unit with eq?

 

[1954bassman]

Eden Navigator (WP100)

 

[bongomania]

Out of curiosity, why would suggest a DI and seperate eq, rather than one tubed unit with eq?

Versatility- so you can pick which sort of tube voicing you want and what sort of EQ functionality you want. Very often IME all-in-one units will satisfy with one or two of their functions, but be unsatisfying with one or two other functions.

But of course there are plenty of all-in-one units that are well-liked, so it's up to personal taste mostly.