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Double Bass Sushi Box tube preamp pedals (DB thread)

I got sucked down this rabbit hole again, went pretty deep, and finally managed to get out.

Here’s where I settled.
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This is my “loud-rig”. Since I don’t hardly use my high fifth string unless playing solo (gets in other people’s “territory”), and I don’t play loud on solo gigs, that means it’ll be primary driven by my ‘55 King Mortone. Even with the same pickups, different basses respond so different that the quest was overwhelming with too many variables. Keep it simple, stupid.

Anyway, here’s my final late submission for locked in 2026 (and beyond!) MBOL gig rig

Mortone (fifths, gut) -> Yamahiko M8 4.6 cap’d -> Redeye (treble down, boost up) -> Elementary -> TD2 50/50 input/wavemap blend with feedback reduction and spaciousness to taste -> Ditto looper - > AI head-> barefaced SMT

The Slampegg -> ditto leads the solo gig rig for the five string with my 10” cabs.

My favorite is dialing in the Sushibox pedals to right at the edge of breakup so when I really dig in I
get a little hoarse rasp that means I really mean business and ‘dammit drummer, I’m taking a solo, quit trying to push a f’n funk back-beat on this ballad and just play colors, m’f’r!’

That Cioks power supply was clutch, btw - thanks again for solving that piece of the puzzle for me.
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I’m grateful to be out of that all consuming obsessive trial/error hunt and now intend to very much shut off that part of my brain and get back to just making music. My future selves will hopefully be grateful for the effort, lol.
Oh man, you even snagged one of the cool VHS Sol's! I'm digging that setup.
 
M’dudes,
Welp! I’m at it again. I’m leaning into more arco playing, so I needed to figure out why I couldn’t amplify my carved bass as well as my plywood axes - it’s been driving me nuts!

Things learnt:
-Carved bass prefers double element Yamahiko for feedback reduction. But it neuters the bass response.
-Redeye does not like dual element Yamahiko (in pursuit of MBOL, at least - it starts to sound like an electric bass.)

Ergo, I replaced the Redeye in the front of my signal chain with the Slampegg Bee Pre with the bass boost switch engaged to restore those neutered lows. Keep it at 10 o’clock, on the gain and vol, just like the B-15 likes. That attack envelope is addictive…

Subsequently, the Elementary set flat at noon scoops the mids and cleans up any residual string noise highs.

that signal goes 50/50 into the TD2 blended with 100% spaciousness and feedback reduction to taste.

Then the Finally just adds as much “I don’t know what” oonami flavor as you want to dial in.

It’s lovely. I’ve never had such a pleasant response from an amp.

It’s fascinating to be able to bypass the individual parts and isolate how they contribute to the whole tonal stew.

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