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The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

#4,283
Eadger said:
Shouldn't it be all about what sounds best? I feel like this thread is starting to become a "how many tubes can I show that I have on my board" thread....even to the point where we're now selling stuff that we think actually sounds better just because it doesn't have a tube in it.

I mean, if I didn't mention tubes and said you can either have a pedal with a small form factor that's built like a rock with simple power requirements....or you can have one that's 3 times the size, fragile, with extremely high power requirements, and doesn't sound as good to you. Would you really choose the latter?

I get that tubes sound great, and I'm totally interested in this thread from a point of actually comparing the quality/sound of preamps/DIs (whether tube or not).....but I'm starting to feel like opinions are now purely subjective based on tube count.
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Lot of truth in your statement, but in my case it's not about tube count, it's about splitting hairs.

That's why I built the budget baby board. To test that theory. Is small and powered off 9v as good as big heavy tube gear that forces the power company to spin up another turbine?

My experience says....maybe.

In terms of pure tone, the boutique tube gear takes the win. But in terms of "will anyone in the audience notice?", my belief is a resounding "hell no".

But I'll cop and say that I dig vintage tone and vintage things. Tubes are pretty damn vintage. I am fascinated by them. So part of the draw for me is the tube itself. It's the old school tech that spins my beanie.

I will say, when I go "work" as a bass player gigging for a share of the tip bucket and a free burger, no way I'm taking my tube rig. I'm grabbing that baby board and when some schlub spills beer and chili cheese fries on it I won't feel the urge to throat punch him.
 
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#4,285
chadhargis said:
and when some schlub spills beer and chili cheese fries on it I won't feel the urge to throat punch him.
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I'm curious where some of ya'll are playing. The Double Deuce? Before they brought in Dalton? LOL. I've played a lot of sh%*holes and rowdy bars but never had anyone even come close to spilling anything on my gear thank god. If they do I've got a good insurance policy that covers it.

Before Dalton

road_house_double_deuce_bar_brawl1.png



road_house.jpg


After Dalton

Screen-Shot-2019-07-14-at-4.51.36-PM.png


Ya'll need Dalton in yer life :roflmao:
 
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#4,286
uwrossl said:
I'm curious where some of ya'll are playing. The Double Deuce? Before they brought in Dalton? LOL. I've played a lot of sh%*holes and rowdy bars but never had anyone even come close to spilling anything on my gear thank god. If they do I've got a good insurance policy that covers it.

Before Dalton

View attachment 3941773


View attachment 3941774

After Dalton

View attachment 3941783

Ya'll need Dalton in yer life :roflmao:
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I've played many gigs where there was no stage. Just the band on the floor with the drunk people dancing and spilling stuff everywhere. Even had gigs where people came up and grabbed the mic and started butchering the song we were playing.
 
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#4,287
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#4,291
Eadger said:
Shouldn't it be all about what sounds best? I feel like this thread is starting to become a "how many tubes can I show that I have on my board" thread....even to the point where we're now selling stuff that we think actually sounds better just because it doesn't have a tube in it.

I mean, if I didn't mention tubes and said you can either have a pedal with a small form factor that's built like a rock with simple power requirements....or you can have one that's 3 times the size, fragile, with extremely high power requirements, and doesn't sound as good to you. Would you really choose the latter?

I get that tubes sound great, and I'm totally interested in this thread from a point of actually comparing the quality/sound of preamps/DIs (whether tube or not).....but I'm starting to feel like opinions are now purely subjective based on tube count.
Click to expand...
It absolutely needs to be about what sounds best. I think there is still a belief that regardless of how much tube emulation has improved, the real thing still wins. That's certainly the case for me. In saying that, one of my favourite pedals I've put after my LA-1A is my joyo American Sound, and I will unashamedly use that on my pedal board when it is the appropriate tonal choice for what I'm doing.

I've done a lot of listening to sound clips comparing all sorts of pedals and combinations recently, and essentially I think the "tube stacking" we are doing does get to a point where it has a negative affect. The attack on the front of the note softens more and more and becomes too much. Too much of a good thing.
To this end, I can't see myself purchasing a super high end DI, with a tube or otherwise that adds to my tone. I feel like I've done all my tone enhancement that I require before the DI, so as long as it reproduces my tone with no added distortion, and no frequency alteration, I think I'll be happy.
Everyone's wants and needs are different, but I just wanted to share mine.
 
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#4,293
labeledbass said:
The ones left at Reactor 4.. between the two though, would not the 400 have more power available compared to the little wall wart tranny on that pedal/preamp?
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So long as the wall wart supplies sufficient clean power to enable the SLO to get the 12AX7 to operate at the proper voltage and current draw specifications, it should make no difference, I think. But I defer to the tube experts here.
 
#4,294
Robal said:
So long as the wall wart supplies sufficient clean power to enable the SLO to get the 12AX7 to operate at the proper voltage and current draw specifications, it should make no difference, I think. But I defer to the tube experts here.
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Correct; and that was the point of my original Q.

Of course, my foot remains distastefully inserted in my mouth. Probably be there a while.
 
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#4,295
I've been fooling around with a few in-the-box settings for cab sims and how to best route my new Sol Invictus. Aside from some Ableton issues I was having, I think I'm making some progress. Last night, I started routing things like this:

Inst Out - Blended Ch A + B signal into a cab sim pedal, then into a mixer for monitoring when tracking.
Inst Ch A Out - Clean tone sent to the interface and DAW. Recorded but not monitored when tracking.
Inst Ch B Out - Dirty tone sent to the interface and DAW. Recorded but not monitored when tracking.

I tried sending the Line Out into the interface and DAW but found it was tricky since it sends a blended A + B signal. The in-the-box mixing just wasn't what I wanted, and it was too tricky to get it right. However, with the A and B recorded independently, it was easy to apply plugin compression to the clean signal and plugin cab sim to the dirty signal, then blend the result to taste.

I'll try to post something up in the near future. Right now, I'm dialing things in, and my playing is a bit rusty.
 
#4,296
Rocksolid said:
I've had dancers come ass first over Foldback wedges and land on my pedal board, turning everything on simultaneously and manage to unplug leads. The noise was horrific!
Mic stands knocked, mic hitting my mouth/teeth, or mic coming flat out towards front face of my bass. That was a miraculous save. Managed to catch it with millimetres you spare!
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Ahhhh the lovely chaotic world of live music!

This is exactly why I don't do vox! Well...I mean that and the fact that I can't sing. LOL

We've definitely had girls climb on the stage from time to time and stumble around for a bit. Luckily it's always been at a place that had a couple "Daltons" on hand and they were quickly removed without incident. We are typically a 6 to 8 piece band and since I don't do vox I'm usually not up right at the front of the stage so less chance of incident.
 

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