Something like RMI Basswitch IQ DI preamp?

[hztjtao]

Lehle stuff is gorgeous and well built, and I'm sure the sound is phenomenal, but IMHO, the Basswitch's price is kind of obscene. (Plus, it's huge. It would take up two-thirds of my pedalboard before connectors).

I have the $200 Mesa boogie highwire buffet/booster and the basswitch iq too, I did a comparison between them and the clean bass through basswitch sounded more musical and natural, the Highwire buffer has brighter sound and somewhat stiffer string feel, similar to the buffer in my boss waza tu3w. If you asked me is it worth the price for a basswitch, the buffers, switch , preamp and di is worth the price. Of course the serial and parallel loops will save you money from getting another high quality looper like gigrig. As I wanted more fx loops , hence I bought a lehle d.loop just to preserve the signal rather than another chain of true bypass pedals in a single loop. The clean sound through the basswitch sounded better than straight through now, the lehle buffer has “more”.

 

[J.Wolf]

I second the "you get what you pay for" after having owned the Basswitch and the BassBone.

Not in the same class, and the difference in quality and tone is commensurate with the price difference. Its like a BMW vs a Hyundai. Both will get you there, with very different degrees of finesse and elegance. sorry but thats how it felt to me.