tech 21 q-strip vs aguilar tone xamer

[sisos]

Hello, I would like to have your opinion on two preαmp, I play electric bass cort a4 only rhythmic accompaniment, I am between these two preamp, I play without a amp, and I connect directly through the xlr di out in PA system. Which of the two preamp i choose?

 

[Wfrance3]

Both are pretty different from one another, but share the common XLR out. They are both very well constructed. I have owned a Tone Hammer. I have not owned a Q-Strip, but have owned 2 other pieces from Tech 21; the VT Bass DI and the Para DI.

Not having owned the Q-Strip, I do note the HPF and LPF buttons. That seems very useful to me. For example, if you were to play a 5-string, you might find the high pass filter helpful in eliminating super low frequencies that most amps can't produce. In this example it would improve the efficiency of the sound equipment by filtering out the low frequencies the amp cant represent very well. I have an "air" and "rumble" button on my Para DI, (I know you didn't ask about that one) and feel that (more guess that) they have similar functionality. I do admire the variable center adjustment for 2 different mid frequencies on the Q-Strip. I have one on my Para DI and feel that it is in the top 3 of the most useful knobs on that DI. I don't know this about the Q-Strip, but feel that it colors your tone less that the Para DI would. Both of my Tech 21 DIs were skewed towards their own "baked in" sound which tends to be more scooped.

The Aguilar is also a specific sound. Not un-colored. It's essentially their OBP-3 on-board preamp in a box. If you are familiar with the tonal characteristic of the OBP-3, that's it, but also has an active gain control circuit that can be quite useful. It's capable of giving you very lightly over-driven sound if you like. I would tend to use mine with the slightest tinge of OD, so that my playing sounded clean, but would see the beginnings of breakup if I dug in. The AGC is defeatable with it's own separate foot switch, so there is that as well. I did find it to be a bit noisy. I play a lot of church stuff, so most situations I'm in require my rig to be dead silent. That was the only deal breaker for me. It is also not well documented, but the Tone Hammer will give you around an 11 dB boost out of the XLR jack. One TB member contacted Aguilar about that and it turns out that the extra hot DI is to assure solid signal to the mixing desk if the cable run is long. The Tone Hammer is a very musical preamp and it's easy to dial up a nice tone without a lot of tinkering. The Tone Hammer is built like a tank, so no worries about durability. There is one other annoying thing about the TH is that there is a little lip or shroud of metal where you plug in. that might be a little different to negotiate with some pedalboard arrangements. I made it work, but thought that was worth pointing out.

I don't think you could go wrong either way but am imagining that the Q-Strip will be more of a clean EMG type sound, and the Tone Hammer will be more of it's own baked in signature tone. Someone who actually owns a Q-Strip please chime in and confirm that please...

FWIW, I prefer the Sansamp Para DI, with an Ampeg SCR-DI coming up as a close second. I do prefer that Ampeg/Vintage tone, so that's probably a clue... Hope this helps!!

 

[sisos]

Both are pretty different from one another, but share the common XLR out. They are both very well constructed. I have owned a Tone Hammer. I have not owned a Q-Strip, but have owned 2 other pieces from Tech 21; the VT Bass DI and the Para DI.

Not having owned the Q-Strip, I do note the HPF and LPF buttons. That seems very useful to me. For example, if you were to play a 5-string, you might find the high pass filter helpful in eliminating super low frequencies that most amps can't produce. In this example it would improve the efficiency of the sound equipment by filtering out the low frequencies the amp cant represent very well. I have an "air" and "rumble" button on my Para DI, (I know you didn't ask about that one) and feel that (more guess that) they have similar functionality. I do admire the variable center adjustment for 2 different mid frequencies on the Q-Strip. I have one on my Para DI and feel that it is in the top 3 of the most useful knobs on that DI. I don't know this about the Q-Strip, but feel that it colors your tone less that the Para DI would. Both of my Tech 21 DIs were skewed towards their own "baked in" sound which tends to be more scooped.

The Aguilar is also a specific sound. Not un-colored. It's essentially their OBP-3 on-board preamp in a box. If you are familiar with the tonal characteristic of the OBP-3, that's it, but also has an active gain control circuit that can be quite useful. It's capable of giving you very lightly over-driven sound if you like. I would tend to use mine with the slightest tinge of OD, so that my playing sounded clean, but would see the beginnings of breakup if I dug in. The AGC is defeatable with it's own separate foot switch, so there is that as well. I did find it to be a bit noisy. I play a lot of church stuff, so most situations I'm in require my rig to be dead silent. That was the only deal breaker for me. It is also not well documented, but the Tone Hammer will give you around an 11 dB boost out of the XLR jack. One TB member contacted Aguilar about that and it turns out that the extra hot DI is to assure solid signal to the mixing desk if the cable run is long. The Tone Hammer is a very musical preamp and it's easy to dial up a nice tone without a lot of tinkering. The Tone Hammer is built like a tank, so no worries about durability. There is one other annoying thing about the TH is that there is a little lip or shroud of metal where you plug in. that might be a little different to negotiate with some pedalboard arrangements. I made it work, but thought that was worth pointing out.

I don't think you could go wrong either way but am imagining that the Q-Strip will be more of a clean EMG type sound, and the Tone Hammer will be more of it's own baked in signature tone. Someone who actually owns a Q-Strip please chime in and confirm that please...

FWIW, I prefer the Sansamp Para DI, with an Ampeg SCR-DI coming up as a close second. I do prefer that Ampeg/Vintage tone, so that's probably a clue... Hope this helps!!

Thanks for help

 

[Nunovsky]

Hello, I would like to have your opinion on two preαmp, I play electric bass cort a4 only rhythmic accompaniment, I am between these two preamp, I play without a amp, and I connect directly through the xlr di out in PA system. Which of the two preamp i choose?

I think they are diferent things and that they may even work well together.
The Tonehammer is a great preamp. I have one and I love it. I use it as a normal clean preamp and also as a dirty preamp to emulate a driven tube preamp and it works great. But it doesn't have a cab emulation so if you run drive pedal through it they may not sound as good as you want to go direct into the PA.

The Tech 21 Q-Strip is a diferent beast. It's not made to act like a sansamp which means "to go direct without an amp", but it was conceived to act as a classic recording D.I. box, as I understand it. And it also has settings that work as a cab emulator, as well as having a powerfull parametric eq section.

I think that you can run both with the Tone Hammer working as a more conventional preamp and the Q-strip as a cab simulator to get a better signal to the PA. By that I mean the Tone Hammer into the Q-strip and the DI out of this one to te PA.

 

[sisos]

I think they are diferent things and that they may even work well together.
The Tonehammer is a great preamp. I have one and I love it. I use it as a normal clean preamp and also as a dirty preamp to emulate a driven tube preamp and it works great. But it doesn't have a cab emulation so if you run drive pedal through it they may not sound as good as you want to go direct into the PA.

The Tech 21 Q-Strip is a diferent beast. It's not made to act like a sansamp which means "to go direct without an amp", but it was conceived to act as a classic recording D.I. box, as I understand it. And it also has settings that work as a cab emulator, as well as having a powerfull parametric eq section.

I think that you can run both with the Tone Hammer working as a more conventional preamp and the Q-strip as a cab simulator to get a better signal to the PA. By that I mean the Tone Hammer into the Q-strip and the DI out of this one to te PA.

Thanks for help

 

[sisos]

Anybody some more opinions or help?

 

[MDBass]

Hello, I would like to have your opinion on two preαmp, I play electric bass cort a4 only rhythmic accompaniment, I am between these two preamp, I play without a amp, and I connect directly through the xlr di out in PA system. Which of the two preamp i choose?

I've owned both, and dramatically prefer the Q: the dual fully parametric mid controls are a HUGE plus, as is the HPF and LPF functionality, which are massively helpful if you use any kind of dirt.

This was Bass > Boost Fuzz > DP-3X (no dirt, comp only) > Q\Strip