Hey everyone Im on the market for a preamp.I use Rickenbacker 4003 .I want the preamp to reveal growly aggressive mids of a rick. What are your suggestions ? I am in between of tech 21 vt bass di ,TWO NOTES LE BASS,Hartke Bass attack and GK Gallien Krueger PLEX . Im not satisfied with GEB-7. Im thinking of selling it and getting a Source Audio EQ2. What are your thoughts on that ?
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Preamp and EQ for Rickenbacker 4003
- Thread starter BigAb
- Start date
Tech 21 YYZ and XB Driver might be worth trying. YYZ would probably get there more quickly, while the XB has a lot of variables to dial in... with surgical precision, like being able to boost the midrange before the drive stage, plus crossover/mix mode.
XB driver and Tech 21 YYZ is not available where I live. YYZ shape shifter pedal is available here tho . Is there much difference between them ?
Using the eq2 with the rick-o-sound is cool. You can eq each pickup differently and mix it together in the eq2 going a singel channel out from it.
Same basic pedal, with a bit extra, boost switch. Suggest checking out some video reviews to see if it gets into the ballpark.
On a side note, I prefer the growly Rickenbacker midrange voice over the Jazz bass. Dialing one of the pickups back slightly can help fine tune where it sits. The YYZ can add a bit of drive to that, adding some aggression to the sound.
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Nice board! Love the A/O. I need to get it back one of these days. But I couldn't recommend the SA EQ2 enough. I love SA and I used to have the EQ1 for a while. Really effective and powerful EQ's. The Boss is no slouch but may not be enough for what you're after. I also can't recommend the Whirlwind Bass X 10 band EQ. I use that and its wonderful. Could even take the role as a preamp for how powerful it is. But of the preamps you've named, I'd pair the VT bass with it if you want some growl. Or as some have said, the YYZ pre. Any of the named pre's will get you some growl, but they will all be flavored with that brands character. A powerful EQ could get you more. May not get you any "dirty" sounds though.
It's gonna depend on what you're trying to achieve.
Personally, over the last 10 years I've used my Rick 4003 wearing T.I. Jazz Flats thru a VT Bass (I also run a pedalboard). My goal was hard rock, a little overdrive, mid boost and a treble cut to "round-off" my stock tone due to my heavy action. This was mainly to send a post-EQ tone I was happy with to FOH, whether I had a mic'd cab or just a DI.
I would only ever run one pickup at a time via the pickup selector, in order to get two different sounds or volumes, song dependant.
With that setup, I would EQ my VT bass to the Bridge Pickup, due to how aggressive it is on my Ricky and given I use it much more. The Neck pickup I would change up the tone or volume depending on what the song needed.
Personally, over the last 10 years I've used my Rick 4003 wearing T.I. Jazz Flats thru a VT Bass (I also run a pedalboard). My goal was hard rock, a little overdrive, mid boost and a treble cut to "round-off" my stock tone due to my heavy action. This was mainly to send a post-EQ tone I was happy with to FOH, whether I had a mic'd cab or just a DI.
I would only ever run one pickup at a time via the pickup selector, in order to get two different sounds or volumes, song dependant.
With that setup, I would EQ my VT bass to the Bridge Pickup, due to how aggressive it is on my Ricky and given I use it much more. The Neck pickup I would change up the tone or volume depending on what the song needed.
While I mentioned the XB and YYZ, the VT Bass may also be able to get into the ballpark. Some variable frequency midrange boost can be dialed-in with the character knob past 1:00 or so, and I think it is pre-drive stage, so it affects the general character of the distortion... which can be sculpted post-drive with the bass/mid/treble controls. Sometimes I boost with the character knob and cut with the mid EQ.
Dual input may help with such a stereo bass. I've used a DSM Simplifier and an Ampero II Stomp that work well.
There's the EBS Microbass 3... It has two channels you can run serially - so you actually get two Midrange controls - that lets you control the midrange similar to how a Pultec MEQ works... One midrange control on the clean side, and the other on the drive side. If you run the drive side "Clean" you can kind of do that same left/right side curve bend a Pultec can do.
Kind of interesting if that's your thing.
Kind of interesting if that's your thing.
I heard about it too but its mad expensive where I live its 1200 dollars here.
Ah. Looking at your pedalboard it seems you might be pushing too much 500 Hz. Both on the Darkglass and Boss EQ. Too much here and the mids start to sound too honky or boxy, reducing that can clean things up while retaining the aggression. Boost 800 Hz on Boss EQ. This is the “Ric snarl” range. Pushing this makes the bass more aggressive and helps it cut. Turn on the bite switch on the DG and add some 4.5k on the Boss EQ. This adds attack and clank, great for a pick or aggressive fingerstyle playing.
A slogan I like to repeat to myself and to friends: “EQ with your ears, not with your eyes”
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