• 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.

The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

#241
Spent some time with the MXR M81 and the EBS tonight running a loop through both and tweaking both with headphones. There is a DEFINITE sound to the EBS. That swedish bass...it's really rich and lush.

The thing that I love and hate about the EBS is that it has SO many options, it's almost...no, it is...overkill for me. I got it when I lived in an apartment in a city so I needed a swiss army knife and a headphone amp back then. But things have changed and I like my distortion separate from my pre-amp so forcing me to take one to get the other is always an immediate strike for me. I won't say that I don't use distortion, because I do, but I have my distortion pedal and I don't need extra stuff I won't use taking up space. That said, you can dial in a real nice drive on the B channel and the mid controls right there help shape the fuzziness nicely...or you can use channel B as a mid boost...or run them in parallel...or kick on tube sim...or sooo many other options. The thing even has a battery indicator light and phantom power light...FX send/return, headphones, speaker sim...I mean the list goes on and on, but I don't think I need all that.

The MXR M81 is beautiful in that way. It's a perfect always on type of box and has a DI out with a pretty nice 3 band preamp that has a sweepable mid and it's small. It's just a bit stale or dry...which has me debating a cab sim. I can dial in a really nice tone, but when I A/B against the EBS, there is so much character in the EBS that just isn't in the MXR. The MXR hits what it is going for though...a very clean transparent preamp with an EQ to match. I'm not sure either of these really hit what I'm ultimately looking for, but they are both so solid. The MXR is almost a gimme though since you can just toss it in a gigbag and it has 1/4" out and DI out and can drive a poweramp.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wmmj and Zbysek
#242
cosmicevan said:
Spent some time with the MXR M81 and the EBS tonight running a loop through both and tweaking both with headphones. There is a DEFINITE sound to the EBS. That swedish bass...it's really rich and lush.

The thing that I love and hate about the EBS is that it has SO many options, it's almost...no, it is...overkill for me. I got it when I lived in an apartment in a city so I needed a swiss army knife and a headphone amp back then. But things have changed and I like my distortion separate from my pre-amp so forcing me to take one to get the other is always an immediate strike for me. I won't say that I don't use distortion, because I do, but I have my distortion pedal and I don't need extra stuff I won't use taking up space. That said, you can dial in a real nice drive on the B channel and the mid controls right there help shape the fuzziness nicely...or you can use channel B as a mid boost...or run them in parallel...or kick on tube sim...or sooo many other options. The thing even has a battery indicator light and phantom power light...FX send/return, headphones, speaker sim...I mean the list goes on and on, but I don't think I need all that.

The MXR M81 is beautiful in that way. It's a perfect always on type of box and has a DI out with a pretty nice 3 band preamp that has a sweepable mid and it's small. It's just a bit stale or dry...which has me debating a cab sim. I can dial in a really nice tone, but when I A/B against the EBS, there is so much character in the EBS that just isn't in the MXR. The MXR hits what it is going for though...a very clean transparent preamp with an EQ to match. I'm not sure either of these really hit what I'm ultimately looking for, but they are both so solid. The MXR is almost a gimme though since you can just toss it in a gigbag and it has 1/4" out and DI out and can drive a poweramp.
Click to expand...

Both are great. As I said earlier in this thread, I found myself using almost all the features of EBS preamp... It's soooo practical, sooo well thought-out... I have never encountered such a small preamp which could be used in so many ways...
 
  • Like
Reactions: BrentSimons and cosmicevan
#243
Been using this thing now for a few days and am pretty happy.

20181209_130029.jpg


It easily powers my poweramp and sounds pretty phenomenal. The EQ is dramatic and a bit too flexible for my needs, but I've found some sounds that I really like and it is easy to dial in the niceness. I do feel it will be many months before I really KNOW this device. This has definitely gotten me to use my ears for EQ in a new way and has me analyzing other gear for where EQ points reside as now I'm forced to look at 4 overlapping parametric bands for boost/cut options. I may look to switch out the knobs for lockable ones...we'll see how it goes once I get this thing out to a few jams and see how it performs in different settings.

I've ordered some of those TRS Y cables to take advantage of the 2 loops on the device. I'm thinking I'll run my full effects loop through the bypassable chain so I have an easy way to kill all and get back to my clean bass sound and perhaps use the always on effects loop to swap in /out different preamps to color my tone for when I'm feeling like one pre vs another. Alternatively, I may look to put my always on's (like compressor) in loop 1 and the noisemakers on loop 2. Will experiement when I get the cables and see what sounds the best, but for now...this thing has me hitting pause on my preamp/DI-to-drive-my poweramp-w-a-pedal-search. There is a 3Leaf enabler in the classifieds now though that has me G.A.Sing pretty hard and I kinda want to try it out, must resist...
 
  • Like
Reactions: ccbass71, BrentSimons, thumbslapper and 3 others
#244
cosmicevan said:
Been using this thing now for a few days and am pretty happy.

View attachment 3243217

It easily powers my poweramp and sounds pretty phenomenal. The EQ is dramatic and a bit too flexible for my needs, but I've found some sounds that I really like and it is easy to dial in the niceness. I do feel it will be many months before I really KNOW this device. This has definitely gotten me to use my ears for EQ in a new way and has me analyzing other gear for where EQ points reside as now I'm forced to look at 4 overlapping parametric bands for boost/cut options. I may look to switch out the knobs for lockable ones...we'll see how it goes once I get this thing out to a few jams and see how it performs in different settings.

I've ordered some of those TRS Y cables to take advantage of the 2 loops on the device. I'm thinking I'll run my full effects loop through the bypassable chain so I have an easy way to kill all and get back to my clean bass sound and perhaps use the always on effects loop to swap in /out different preamps to color my tone for when I'm feeling like one pre vs another. Alternatively, I may look to put my always on's (like compressor) in loop 1 and the noisemakers on loop 2. Will experiement when I get the cables and see what sounds the best, but for now...this thing has me hitting pause on my preamp/DI-to-drive-my poweramp-w-a-pedal-search. There is a 3Leaf enabler in the classifieds now though that has me G.A.Sing pretty hard and I kinda want to try it out, must resist...
Click to expand...

Wow! It looks great!

Four bands of semi-para Eq...hmmm

HPF...hmmm

LPF...hmmm

I want one! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: CunniMingus, cosmicevan and SteveBass5
#244
Zbysek said:
Wow! It looks great!

Four bands of semi-para Eq...hmmm

HPF...hmmm

LPF...hmmm

I want one! :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, when this popped up in the classifieds I instantly bought it...plus I had heard so much about Broughton Audio I figured it was worth the try even if I hated it and took a few buck loss on a resale. Pleased to say that my response was quite the opposite and short of their being a tube in there, I'm not sure how it could get much better. Having those FX loops will hopefully pay off down the road and allow me to inject some tubey goodness in there. I'm able to dial in some really nice EQs that rival the Avalon U5 but the warmth of the Demeter VTBP-201s is hard to replace. This thing is probably the end of my MXR M81 and EBS Microbass II though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: thumbslapper, Zbysek and SteveBass5
#245
cosmicevan said:
Yeah, when this popped up in the classifieds I instantly bought it...plus I had heard so much about Broughton Audio I figured it was worth the try even if I hated it and took a few buck loss on a resale. Pleased to say that my response was quite the opposite and short of their being a tube in there, I'm not sure how it could get much better. Having those FX loops will hopefully pay off down the road and allow me to inject some tubey goodness in there. I'm able to dial in some really nice EQs that rival the Avalon U5 but the warmth of the Demeter VTBP-201s is hard to replace. This thing is probably the end of my MXR M81 and EBS Microbass II though.
Click to expand...

When you are ready to sell it, you know who to call first!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zbysek and cosmicevan
#248
NickFromNY said:
When you are ready to sell it, you know who to call first!
Click to expand...

Zbysek said:
Yes, that will be me..:)
Click to expand...

honestly, you guys would probably have better luck talking to my wife since this one is gonna have to be pried from my cold dead hands at this point. Besides...why not just get a messenger? It is almost identical except the problem solver has the loops and extra band of EQ...plus the messenger seems to have the jacks laid out a bit more intelligently.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zbysek and John D Harris
#249
cosmicevan said:
honestly, you guys would probably have better luck talking to my wife since this one is gonna have to be pried from my cold dead hands at this point.
Click to expand...

Understandable

cosmicevan said:
Besides...why not just get a messenger? It is almost identical except the problem solver has the loops and extra band of EQ...plus the messenger seems to have the jacks laid out a bit more intelligently.
Click to expand...

Four bands of semi-para EQ is what I love about the Problem Solver...
 
  • Like
Reactions: cosmicevan
#253
The great preamp saga continues. Met with local amp builder Kevin Shaw and his son Ben (a very gifted bass player). They live just an hour from me, so I went over a picked up one of his Tube Injection preamps. It's really good. Different than the Noble as it colors the sound a LOT more, but in a good way. Think B15 in a box sort of way. It's got a few more bells and whistles. Kevin and Ben were awesome too.

IMG_0159.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: cosmicevan, Turn Em Loose, SteveBass5 and 1 other person
#254
chadhargis said:
The great preamp saga continues. Met with local amp builder Kevin Shaw and his son Ben (a very gifted bass player). They live just an hour from me, so I went over a picked up one of his Tube Injection preamps. It's really good. Different than the Noble as it colors the sound a LOT more, but in a good way. Think B15 in a box sort of way. It's got a few more bells and whistles. Kevin and Ben were awesome too.

View attachment 3265906
Click to expand...
Love, love, love mine!
 
  • Like
Reactions: chadhargis
#255
chadhargis said:
The great preamp saga continues. Met with local amp builder Kevin Shaw and his son Ben (a very gifted bass player). They live just an hour from me, so I went over a picked up one of his Tube Injection preamps. It's really good. Different than the Noble as it colors the sound a LOT more, but in a good way. Think B15 in a box sort of way. It's got a few more bells and whistles. Kevin and Ben were awesome too.

View attachment 3265906
Click to expand...

The Shaw is at the top of my GAS list.
 
#256
Turn Em Loose said:
The Shaw is at the top of my GAS list.
Click to expand...
I have had mine for a few months. I originally wanted a Noble but, the Shaw has more flexibility. Im sooo glad I went with the shaw. The midrange switches makes it more than a one trick pony . The tube goodness is so drippy. I run it thru a rad power amp.
 
  • Like
Reactions: John D Harris and cosmicevan
#259
chadhargis said:
The great preamp saga continues. Met with local amp builder Kevin Shaw and his son Ben (a very gifted bass player). They live just an hour from me, so I went over a picked up one of his Tube Injection preamps. It's really good. Different than the Noble as it colors the sound a LOT more, but in a good way. Think B15 in a box sort of way. It's got a few more bells and whistles. Kevin and Ben were awesome too.

View attachment 3265906
Click to expand...

@MDBass
 
  • Like
Reactions: MDBass
#260
chadhargis said:
The great preamp saga continues. Met with local amp builder Kevin Shaw and his son Ben (a very gifted bass player). They live just an hour from me, so I went over a picked up one of his Tube Injection preamps. It's really good. Different than the Noble as it colors the sound a LOT more, but in a good way. Think B15 in a box sort of way. It's got a few more bells and whistles. Kevin and Ben were awesome too.

View attachment 3265906
Click to expand...

"B15 in a box" as in, when pushed, it overdrives (even to the point of what most would consider "fuzz") in a very musical way?
 
  • Like
Reactions: CunniMingus

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back