• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Shift Line Olympic Tube Preamp Pedal (and others)

theLibrarian

theLibrarian

Jul 20, 2010
246
64
Portland Oregon
#1
Does anybody have any experience with or information about Shift Line pedals? Looks like they have some interesting stuff. Most of it is guitar oriented, but this bass preamp pedal is interesting:

http://youtu.be/c6LTa2BTm6Y

...and unless I'm wildly incompetent I can't find much discussion of them on TB or anywhere on the Internet for that matter. Everything is in Russian.

I did find this site: Invalid Link Removed, but again, no hablo Russian. Google does, but the translations are spotty. There are a lot of videos of different pedals on YouTube. Some of them look pretty cool.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gavin220168 and g13nn
#3
Shift-Line is a small pedal company and a repair shop in St. Petersburg. They are known for their interesting self designed pedals and some very fine-made clones of world famous brands.
I've tried their Termofuzz and a Meskalito Muff. First one is a "fuzz for experimenters", it has some unique tones and works amasingly with bass. Meskalito is an another green big muff variation but it has some unique features. The "mid" switch has three positions: down - midboost, center - no boost, up - double midboost. The "boost" switch engages the boost of low mids and lows. This is an EXTREMELY bass-friendly pedal.
And, by the way, I'm from Russia (not St.Petersburg, unfortunately) and if you want any additional info - feel free to pm me, I'll do my best to help!

-V
 
  • Like
Reactions: davidprice and blindrabbit
#4
and if you want any additional info - feel free to pm me, I'll do my best to help!
Click to expand...
Thank you adasphodel - I may do that!

I emailed Kirill at info - at - shift-line.com and he got back to me right away. He is very nice and will do a custom build for USA power. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on an Olympic pre just for the sake of trying something cool and rare :cool:
 
#7
Invalid Link Removed

new version of Olympic with Aux In and Send/Return.

I've got one as a present.

some videos (not mine)

Shift Line OLYMPIC mkII + Music Man Stingray 5 Invalid Link Removed
Shift Line OLYMPIC mkII + Gibson Thunderbird Invalid Link Removed
Shift Line OLYMPIC mkII + Fender Precision Bass http://youtu.be/CaJlVtSFZxg
Shift Line OLYMPIC mkII + Fender Jazz Bass Invalid Link Removed
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rodrigo Silva
#13
The Darkglass having ended up on my pedalboard, I was looking for a (preferably tube) preamp to use at home - which means I didn't mind oversized boxes or unusual power requirements too much.

Looked at Carl Martin, EBS, AMT and so on... would have gone with the mean sounding Verellen if it wasn't for the price tag.

This one seemed to pack the most features for a reasonable price, and top jacks will mean a tidier desk. Clips sound great too, though I kinda wish it had a bit more gain on tap.
I'll let you guys know how I like it when it gets there.
 
#14
Ok, had a couple days to play with my Olympic MKII and this is the real deal.

The build quality is excellent - better than I anticipated.
The controls are not as wide as on most modern "boutique" gear, meaning you can't take it to crazyland. It works very well for classic clean to "clean-ish" sounds though (the samples are a very good representation).
The headphones amp is a welcome addition and sounds very good. I don't think I'll use the aux in or effects loop much but it's nice to have the option.

To me the only downside is the unusual 12 AC @ 700mA power requirement which makes it hard to integrate on a pedalboard (where the effects loop could have been put to good use).
And of course the lack of real dirty sounds for those days you want to crush the world... will have to use other gear for that.
 
#17
The Ryantist said:
Sorry I'm late to the game. I just found out about this pedal last night and I'm intrigued. Are any of you using it just as a DI with no amp?
Click to expand...
Olympic is great for using with no amp. You can use balanced output (DI) and sent it to your PA or recording interface. You can use it directly with headphones for quite training (and aux input gives you possibility to play together with your favorite song or metronome)
 
#19
eloann said:
To me the only downside is the unusual 12 AC @ 700mA power requirement
Click to expand...

Hallå. In fact that is the upside, since it means the circuit is giving "real" voltage to the plates (high voltage, which the original tube specs require). Also notable is the DC heater supply. Jule Amps uses that technique in the Monique preamp, which is quiet even with its two octal preamp tubes. I would like to play one of these pedals.
 
#20
The Shift Line Olympic is really a very interesting box with nice and warm tube sounds. If you are looking for more options and flexibitity you might also be interested in the GP Lightstone products which offer two channels, overdrive option, on/off-switches,... ...and of course really good tube sounds! Check out this one:



Btw: The head of GP Lightstone fullfills every wish and customizes the box down to the colour of every light. But it's a product "made in Germany" and comes up to about 450€. I will get mine by the end of this month...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gavin220168

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back