Sadowsky pre vs. Aguilar DB924 (OBP-1)

at basstasters.com you can listen to both for yourself

 

IMO, both are excellent preamps and I own basses with both preamps.

The Sadowsky preamp. to me, is clearer. When you boost the bass it's clear & the treble is crystal.

The OBP-1 is alittle boomier, especially on the bass.

 

Nino, thanks for the info.

Looking at the basses you've built, I was curious why you had used an OPB-1 on some, and Sadowsky on the others.

 

i haven't had any experience with the Sad. but I have the Ag. I'm not sure if it b/c I have Dimarzio Ultra Jazz p/u's (with a really high output), but when I plug in my Ag Pre (with Mike Lull Vintage Passive 4) the sound and volume actually gets almost compressed. I lose my dynamics and high end. I crank the volume on it to 3 'o clock, treble up about the same, and IMO my passive bass sounds like it has more dynamics and room to play without it! Bummer... maybe someone could fill me in, otherwise it's going to Ebay...

 

I just got a DB-924 and I really like it alot. I never thought I would dig a two band pre again, but the treble knob sounds so good (boosting the upper mids a bit too) that I don't miss the mid band. It really gives you a nice punch if your bass lacks that for one reason or another. It's very musical and is IMO useful even if you're running another onboard pre.

I would think it could do alot for thin sounding boutique basses, but does an excellent job with passive fender styles as well. It's voiced really well.

I don't have much experience with the Sadowsky preamp, but if I recall it may be a hair brighter without quite as much punch.

Will

 

I really couldn't tell you the answer to that question. LOL.

It pretty much depended on what mood I was in at that particular moment. If that makes any sense. LOL

 

i had the sadowsky, the db924 and the fishman model b

the only one i currently own is the fishman... i prefered the fishman to the sadowsky and it was also less noisy (in addition to costing less than half as much)... i liked it so much i resold my db-924 before i even tried it... i wrote a comparison review a while back, do a search and it will pop up

 

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=101758

theres the thread