Super Booster; Super Indeed

[MK1]

I'm wondering why more people don't recommend or use the Markbass Super Booster? I just bought one recently and have to say it's great. I've used the Sansamp Bass Driver and the MXR M-80, and in my opinion this DI is far better. You can get a great fat tone by dialing in the VPF a little and you can really warm things up by dialing VLE, not to mention tame an OD going to the board. Another great thing is I can boost my signal a little if need be and the booster is not so hot that it's unusable. Is the biggest drawback the 12v power or are there other reasons it's not mentioned more often?

 

[falconspatriots]

I do love mine. The boost is pretty clean. I love having the VLE and VPF. Kind of like having a EQ at the end of my pedal chain. I've got alot of digital sounding pedals, and with an active bass, the sound can get a little hot. Putting this at the end of my chain gives me alot of flexibility.

Haven't tried the D.I. at all but im sure its top notch like you've said.

 

[grue]

I use one to boost the signal on a bass with low output. Sometimes I use the cabinet emulator to roll off a little harshness on the top, but mostly I just use it for the boost. It's pretty transparent, has lots of headroom, and is built like a tank.

 

[bongomania]

I'm wondering why more people don't recommend or use the Markbass Super Booster?

It's in this kind of unique niche where it's got more going on than a plain DI box, but less going on than an amp emulator like the Sansamp line or even a "DI plus distortion" like the M80 or Tone Hammer. The closest thing to it are the Sadowsky outboard and a few similar "onboard preamp in a pedal shape" boxes by boutique bass brands like Fodera, Suhr, etc. And I think there are more people loyal to the concept of their favorite boutique bass brand name label than there are people open to the idea that Markbass has an equally good product at a lower price in a Tonka yellow box.

IOW it's a fine product but it hasn't found traction with customers yet because the niche is narrow and label-focused... at least that's my take on it.

 

[MK1]

IOW it's a fine product but it hasn't found traction with customers yet because the niche is narrow and label-focused... at least that's my take on it.

You have a good point there, I just thought it would be more popular here because of the popularity of Markbass here. But come to think of I guess a Markbass head isn't much harder to carry than a DI, and if someone loves the Markbass sound then it's probably because they already have a Markbass amp.

I prefer this over the sansamp and M-80 because I use it when I'm running in ears and the Markbass sounds so much more natural in my IEMs than the other two. I'm currently using the Compressore and the super booster and it just sounds incredible.

 

[chuck norriss]

I love the vle & vpf preamp controls. My favorite among all tweak functions in the history of tweak.
I played through a 102 but might have to go for the superbooster just for this preamp. Compressore + this would be perfect.