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Double Bass Preamp advice

Ike Harris

Ike Harris

May 16, 2001
857
13
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Nashville TN
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#1
I'm in a concert situation where I need to make quick switches between upright and electric. I'm using a rented bass amp wherever the gig is and would benefit from a stereo/2 channel preamp or some sort of rig I can plug both basses in the amp and would like to have 2 DI's coming out. One DI would work if that's not possible. I don't like having to rely on a monitor guy to mute my upright while making the switch, it just doesn't work the majority of the time. A preamp with a good EQ that's not too ridiculous to figure would be nice. How about a small acoustic amp like a Clarus, would that work as a doubling preamp?
 
#2
You might want to check out the Raven Labs PMB II Mixer/Blender. I have one and it sounds good as far as a neutral solid state preamp is concerned. I usually like tubes for electric, but you can't have everything.

It has two independent channels - one opitmized for piezos and the other for magnetic pickups or microphones and it can supply phantom power too if you need that sort of thing.

As far as working as a DI it has one balanced XLR out that is a mix of both channels (each has seperate EQ and gain controls). It does however have independent 1/4" line outs for each channel that you could run into a standard DIs then straight to the board.

It also has a mute button so that takes care of your bass switching problem right there.
 
#5
schneidy said:
You might want to check out the Raven Labs PMB II Mixer/Blender. I have one and it sounds good as far as a neutral solid state preamp is concerned. I usually like tubes for electric, but you can't have everything.

It has two independent channels - one opitmized for piezos and the other for magnetic pickups or microphones and it can supply phantom power too if you need that sort of thing.

As far as working as a DI it has one balanced XLR out that is a mix of both channels (each has seperate EQ and gain controls). It does however have independent 1/4" line outs for each channel that you could run into a standard DIs then straight to the board.

It also has a mute button so that takes care of your bass switching problem right there.
Click to expand...

The problem is, on that model, the mute switch affects BOTH channels and would be pretty useless for doubling, or am I wrong?

I already have a great DI for upright, the Sansamp Acoustic. Is there a way to use that and patch it in to a single amp input with the electric?
 
#7
Ike,

Just mut the switch while your are actually switching the basses. Then unmute it when you're ready to play again. Otherwise, turn the gain all the way down on the preamp channell you're not using.
 
#8
Hi,
I use my Raven Labs Blendeer when doubling on both electric and double bass. Here is what I do. Run the double bass pickup(Fishman Full Circle) and mini condenser mic into channel 1 & 2. The electric bass goes into the master effect return jack. When I switch to electric I just turn the effect knob fully clockwise and the db is muted completely. Very convenient, it doesn't affect your settings on either.
It works very well with my active Trace Elliot T-Bass, I have not tried it with my passive P-bass.

regards Oystein
 
#9
oystein said:
Hi,
I use my Raven Labs Blendeer when doubling on both electric and double bass. Here is what I do. Run the double bass pickup(Fishman Full Circle) and mini condenser mic into channel 1 & 2. The electric bass goes into the master effect return jack. When I switch to electric I just turn the effect knob fully clockwise and the db is muted completely. Very convenient, it doesn't affect your settings on either.
It works very well with my active Trace Elliot T-Bass, I have not tried it with my passive P-bass.

regards Oystein
Click to expand...

Oystein-

Thanks for sending your experiences to me. The problem is, both signals have to be sent to the main board via DI and I hardly ever have the same amp at any given show. I need to have something I can take with me completely self-contained that will allow me to do this switch without any other external means. It shouldn't be that hard to cook something up like that, but I don't seem to see anything on the market that achieves that end. What I could do, is in some small effects case, put in my Acoustic DI, the Bass Driver, an A/B box and hook them all together, but there ought to be some smaller unit that will do the same thing that I don't have to carry separately on the plane or check below. Raven seems to have a new rackmount stereo Preamp that looks like it might fill the bill and Alembic has had one out for years, but those are still larger units that would take a separate case. In the meantime, I'm just playing stickbass into the Sansamp/amp and it's working fine until I find what I need.
 

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