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Preamps!

N

Nils

Oct 9, 2006
459
0
Stockholm, Sweden
#1
What should I get? I "bought" (the silly amount of money i paid for
it doesn't really justify the word "bought") my guitarists Behringer
preamp/booster today and tried during rehearsal and really opened
up and added to my sound. So I thought to myself "If this is what
a cheap Behringer copy can do, then what would a 'good' (i.e.
expensive?) preamp do"?

Now I know only about three or so preamps and have tested none
of them. The EBS seems nice and I'll try it as soon as possible, any
comments on it? What about the Aphex Punch Factory? They have
no dealer in Sweden, so it might be hard to get a hold of. I won't
be able to try it before I buy in anyways. And the Sadowsky is the
last one I'm wondering about... Just post what you know/think
about these preamps and other's that you might recommend. ;)

Edit: Well I understand that I started kind of wide, but I've been
narrowing it down. This is the basic premisses I guess:

1. Stomp box. I haven't got the hang of rack stuff yet, and it
seems a bit "too pro" for me. I lke the simple stomp box-format.

2. Budget: I guess anything goes. Stomp box preamps seems to be
between $29 (the Behringer) to around $400-450, which for me is
quite fine. I feel that I've gotten to a point where I'm buying stuff
to keep it for the rest of my bass-playing life :p

3. Sound. This is the important stuff, but I guess most preamps
gives you quite a wide arrange to choose from. Like I've said, a bit
more bass, less mids, more treble, and something between
high-tech and tube-ish. (Hm... How easy is that to get?) :P
Think Tool when clean and Mastodon distorted!

4. My other gear. I've got two active basses, one a five-string,
and I play through a Trace 250AH and a Trace 4*10'' cab.

Now it's not wide anymore, is it? ;)
 
#2
Heya Nils,

Just for your information, the Punch Factory is not a preamp, it's a compressor (a very good one if you ask me)

I'm not aware of what genre you're playing and what bass(es) you have. But I tell ya, the fattest sound I've come across yet has been a setup with:

Passive Fender Jazz Bass -> Aphex Punch Factory -> Sadowsky outboard preamp/DI. Now and then, even now that I have an all-tube head, I still miss that tone.

That said, if you are playing rock you will want the mids (which the sadowsky don't have, sadly) and I will highly recommend you to have a look at the Ampeg SVP-CL preamp. With this preamp you should be able to dial in just the tone you want.

What will a good/expensive preamp do? Well, the SVP-CL (i.e.) offers you more tone-shaping options than i.e. the sadowsky. But my best advice is to try out as many preamps that you can. Each preamp has it's own character and it's hard to tell what sounds good to you and your bass(es) :)

If I didn't have my classic 400w tube amp and were still playing rock/hardrock, I'd go for the SVP-CL preamp instead. If anything else, I'd get a hold of a sadowsky outboard preamp/D.I again!

Hope this helps a bit.

/ Bo
 
#3
I really like the Sadowsky a lot! I used to have the box version of his preamp prior to me getting into his basses. I used it on a wide variety of basses with great results. Once I started using it, I could never turn it off. My bass without it sounded weak! His newer floor model would be a great thing to look into!!!
 
#4
What Cory said..

The sadowsky outbard really puts out a smooth tone. And if you really need the mids, you could get an EQ pedal in front of the sadowsky, so you'll still have the smooth tone, just with a little midrange added :)

Alternatively there's SansAmp BDDI which I've also had before. It's also a good preamp, but it sounded a bit too... sterile for my likes! It just didn't cut it compared to the sadowsky.

But still, Nils - if you don't want to look into the sadowsky (as you wrote) do yourself a favor to take a look at that SVP-CL :)
 
#7
Well, the Behringer BDI21 should rock! I use the bass version when I am travelling light, and it is a wonderful box. About $29 online. You will like it!
The SansAmp RBI is a rack-mounted preamp that is extremely flexible, and has a lot of options I/O-wise.
You will LOVE it!!
You gotta try 'em out though.
BBE's is sweet, and they even have a tube version for those who care. I don't ever wanna trip on tubes, so I'll pass.
Anyhow.....$29 for the Behringer BDI21 for now, and save up for the RBI. I got mine used for $175.
Good luck!!!

EDIT: I don't feel I am missing anything when I use the Behringer. It's just a bit different. Sometimes I also use the Behringer in front of the RBI to get really dirty, and the sound is really cool.
 
#8
Thanks for all the answers!

Re uly_: Oh, yeah, I meant the Aphex Bass Xciter! I forgot about
the rest of my gear... I play to different active Cort-basses, one of
them is a five-string and I have a Trace Elliot amp and 4*10'' cab.
The band I'm currently in play a sort of instrumental
Mastodon-/Tool-ish rock/metal, and there's only three of us, so I
need to be heard and I play a lot of melodies as well as really
heavy riffs.

Edit: Yeah, so I don't like sterile, I could use less mids and
more treble really, if that didn't go through with my last post. :)

The Sadowsky seems nice, but it's the same prob as with the
Aphex, no dealer in Sweden... :hmm: Might be able to find a used
one, though, but I doubt it. I tried some SansAmp thingie and
didn't like it much. Sterile is a good word to use. If feel that I
don't have the money to buy an SVP-CL and I'm thinking of a
floor pedal and not a rack just because it's what I like. :P

I'll probably try some preamps out next week when I'm testing
and hopefully buying the EBS UniChorus. :) Now I've got some
idea of what I should try at least. Thanks again to everyone!

Edit: :mad: BBE doesn't have a dealer in Sweden neither!! Grargh!!
 
#9
@Nils:

As said before, if you dislike the sterile/modern bass-sound, the sansAmp won't cut it for you (at least in my oppinion)

Another option may be the tube-pedal preamp from GP-Lightstone, although you cannot try it out before buying it as Gunnar lives in Germany.

Check him out: http://www.gp-lightstone.de (the Tube-Bass pedal)

A small review:

It's got 2 gain channels and 1 master volume. I used to use the second channel as a boost :)

The COLOUR knob acts just like a midrange knob, the more you dial in, the warmer tone you get.

The BASS and TREBLE knob speaks for themselves. I find the treble knob to control the amount og fret/string noise, which I find rather cool :) The bass knob is very, very, VERY sensitive! Especially when you've got a lot of midrange (COLOUR) dialed in.
I found that I could get *really¨* close to Tim Commerfords tone on the tune: Be Yourself (from Out of Exile) with the colour knob at about 8 (from 1 - 10), the treble knob maxed (for max string/fret noise) and the bass knob adjusted for tube-growl (without getting boomy)

Also, if you're using this pedal without a compressor in front of it, the Bass knob can help you get some real tube-growl (overdrive) in the lower register, which to me sounds really good!

I'd say that this pedal comes really close to sounding better than my previous setup with the sadowsky pre :)

It costs about the same as a SansAmp Programmable D.I.
 
#10
Do a search on a MXR M-80 Bass D.I. +

Great preamp with mid adjust, can be set up with clean/dirt channel, clean/slap channel, nice frequency centers on the EQ. Color switch adds a very nice EQ curve. IMO, I found the low-end notes (low E and below) to be cleaner/tighter/punchier on the MXR when compared to the Sansamp BDDI - YMMV

Bottom line?
Fat, inexpensive, flexible...and built like a brick s#!t house.
It's worth a look.
 
#11
Oh, that's a nice tube preamp! Too bad he's german though... I
feel I have to try stuff out before buying...

When I think about my sound it's quite weird... I usually adjust my
clean sound by slapping/popping, as I've found it works great even
though I never actually slaps in any of our songs, but when it
comes to distortion I need that really gritty/fuzzy/tube-noise. :smug:

And I forgot about MXR! I've always liked they're pedals and as
Juan Alderte from Mars Volta and Les Claypool (Primus, duh :p)
uses their pedals they should sound nice. I'll check it out, plus the
SansAmp and the EBS. No comments on the EBS from any one?
 
#13
this is a pretty wide subject.are we talking about stomp box pre's or rack mount.what kind of tone are you going for.and what kind of budget do you have.some pre's are quite expensive.

if you want to go rack mount and have the cash there are numerous options.

stomp box wise there arent as many options.i prefer the sadowsky.very simple but and sounds great.good DI and i like the mute switch.i didnt really dig the sans amp-never really got the hang of it.you might try the tonebone as well.ive heard good things about them.
 
#15
now we're talkin :D

i still recommend the sadowsky.funny,i heard someone say once that when they started using one they thought it was pretty nice.it wasnt until they turned it off that they really missed it.thats how i now feel.i forgot to mention the tuner out in my other post.i use mine on every gig.oh,if you like more bass,less mids,more highs,this is it.simple two band eq.

someone else mentioned the mxr m-80.i plan on trying that one soon.ive heard good things about that one as well.
 
#16
I feel that the Sadowsky is a bit too simple for me. I've been
reading reviews of the EBS Microbass II and it seems just the one
for me. I use a Boss BD-2 for distortion and using that in the
Microbass' effect send-return and blending it 50/50 should give me
just about the little bit of bottom end that the BD-2 takes away.

I'm actually going into town today to try preamps! Got money
yesterday for selling a P.A.-system, though it's not enough to buy
the EBS yet... I'm gonna try the EBS, the SansAmp and the MXR,
and I'll report back to you later. Wish me good luck! :hyper:
 
#17
good luck.let me know what you think of the ebs.i almost bought one some time ago.may be just what you are looking for.you should also be able to get one quite a bit cheaper over there.:)
 
#18
Well, I got home just half an hour ago after about three hours
looking in three different stores trying about ten pedals. :bassist:

Unfortunately none of them had the MXR or the SansAmp, so I
ended up trying out EBS' whole line of pedals as well as DigiTechs'
whole bass line, plus the EHX Mini Q-Tron. :smug:

But I did find what I was looking for! The MicroBass II didn't give
me what I was hoping for, but another EBS pedal did, namely
the MultiComp! It really opens up and tightens my sound! I tried
it by a coincidence as I was looking for a flanger to replace my
George Dennis stereo-flanger and ended up trying Boss' through
EBS' whole line of pedals, and there it was! Has any one else
tried the MultiComp? I really really like and hope it'll sound just
as good through my own amp.

The flanger sounds great too and I think I've found it used
for about $80 which is a great deal I think. Hopefully I'll find the
MultiComp $135 used too, which is about $65 below the what the
store takes.
 
#20
Hm, my reply disappeared... :ninja: Well, I'd say go for the EHX or find
another pedal. The EBS is too mild and it's barely noticeable. The
EHX has much fatter sound, but check out Digitech Synthwah too.
You might not like it, but I think it sounds quite cool. It can give
you alot of different sounds.
 

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