The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

[scubaduba]

@scubaduba did you have an audible hiss coming from your Le Bass? mines not terrible now that i got the low noise tube from tube depot but it's still there. Especially when practicing solo pieces. I ordered the tc electronics sentry noise gate but it's on back order

I do remember it not being the quietest device though I used it live many times without real issue.

 

[Johno Dunn]

@scubaduba did you have an audible hiss coming from your Le Bass? mines not terrible now that i got the low noise tube from tube depot but it's still there. Especially when practicing solo pieces. I ordered the tc electronics sentry noise gate but it's on back order

You might want to look at the Zoom MS60b. It has a fantastic noise suppressor in it. And the tuner is great also!

 

[misterCRUSH]

I do remember it not being the quietest device though I used it live many times without real issue.

yeah i haven't used it live but when i use the DI for recording there is no hiss so if things ever do open back up i would be going direct and not having an issue (hopefully).

 

[oo_ee_oo_ah_ah]

What's PDR?

Physicians Desk Reference.

I'll show myself out.

 

[BunchyMutt]

It's when you walk past a window - Public Displays of Reflection

 

[jacoby75]

You might want to look at the Zoom MS60b. It has a fantastic noise suppressor in it. And the tuner is great also!

The MS60b really surprised me. I liked it a lot. The amp sims sounded great, the compression worked well, and some of the modulation effects sounded fantastic. But I kept getting this low-level distortion out of it. Even with my passive basses. Even when every single thing in the Zoom was bypassed. I could not figure it out for the life of me. I seem to be one of only maybe two people who ever commented on experiencing that with the unit. Zoom even sent me a new one to try, but it did the same thing. Very odd.

 

[BunchyMutt]

The MS60b really surprised me. I liked it a lot. The amp sims sounded great, the compression worked well, and some of the modulation effects sounded fantastic. But I kept getting this low-level distortion out of it. Even with my passive basses. Even when every single thing in the Zoom was bypassed. I could not figure it out for the life of me. I seem to be one of only maybe two people who ever commented on experiencing that with the unit. Zoom even sent me a new one to try, but it did the same thing. Very odd.

Weird. I've had mine first in chain for ages and never had an issue with it. The magic of different setups

 

[jacoby75]

Weird. I've had mine first in chain for ages and never had an issue with it. The magic of different setups

Indeed. I've gotten some highly regarded pedals around here that I felt sounded awful in my setup. To each their own.

 

[BioDriver]

I'm giddy with excitement about the Subway Plus coming in next week. Hopefully customs and the USPS surprise me with an early delivery

 

[Real Soon]

@scubaduba did you have an audible hiss coming from your Le Bass? mines not terrible now that i got the low noise tube from tube depot but it's still there. Especially when practicing solo pieces. I ordered the tc electronics sentry noise gate but it's on back order

I used to own a Le Bass. Fantastic sound but the DI/XLR out had a noise floor that made it unusable for me.

At the time, that is; it funded other purchases, but if I had it now, I'd run its 1/4" to my brand new puppy RNDI and enjoy.


Update: I see your experience is the reverse of mine. Weird! Well, having a quiet DI gives it an edge that could be useful in its own way for sure

 

[Rocksolid]

The MS60b really surprised me. I liked it a lot. The amp sims sounded great, the compression worked well, and some of the modulation effects sounded fantastic. But I kept getting this low-level distortion out of it. Even with my passive basses. Even when every single thing in the Zoom was bypassed. I could not figure it out for the life of me. I seem to be one of only maybe two people who ever commented on experiencing that with the unit. Zoom even sent me a new one to try, but it did the same thing. Very odd.

I found the key to getting the most out of the 60B was with it in the loop of an LS-2 or similar. I could take it out of my signal chain scroll to the effect I want and kick it in when needed. On my main board I use the 60B for all my effects, Octave, Autowah, Phaser, Chorus, and combinations of these.

 

[tedsalt]

I'm debating that scrap as well.

Don't debate long, just d

The MS60b really surprised me. I liked it a lot. The amp sims sounded great, the compression worked well, and some of the modulation effects sounded fantastic. But I kept getting this low-level distortion out of it. Even with my passive basses. Even when every single thing in the Zoom was bypassed. I could not figure it out for the life of me. I seem to be one of only maybe two people who ever commented on experiencing that with the unit. Zoom even sent me a new one to try, but it did the same thing. Very odd.

Were you using an isolated power supply?

 

[jacoby75]

Were you using an isolated power supply?

Trust me. I tried every possible scenario I could think of to isolate the noise. I got down to just the 60b by itself, both with its own power supply and just with batteries. Everything on the 60b bypassed, straight into a headphone amp. It wouldn't go away. I've had similar experiences with a couple of other pedals, namely compressors. Perhaps there is something particularly hot about my passive jazz. I don't know. But I'm pretty sure I tried it with other basses as well (all passive) and had the same issue. I spent days working on it. It was totally not worth it. I eventually sold the thing.

 

[Johno Dunn]

I found the key to getting the most out of the 60B was with it in the loop of an LS-2 or similar. I could take it out of my signal chain scroll to the effect I want and kick it in when needed. On my main board I use the 60B for all my effects, Octave, Autowah, Phaser, Chorus, and combinations of these.
View attachment 3951227

I run mine in a Saturn loop for the same reason. Use mine mainly as a fretless simulator and tuner.

 

[Mr. Business]

That's so funny the ms60b is coming up. This is my setup and all I really need. I run into a Genzler head or a radial stage bug.

 

[BunchyMutt]

Funny you post that. Just got a Night Owl Edison today and I can't get over how it's what I've always wanted. The "more of everything" that others have said is true. Turning it off makes my signal seem anemic and simple.

The big thing for me is that it supersedes the Jule Monique (for my setup, that probably is not like anyone else's here). The Monique wasn't quick enough and in some cases rolled off too much highs and blunted the attack. The Edison keeps everything and then some

Also, the MS-60B is still my one consistent pedal

 

[jacoby75]

That's so funny the ms60b is coming up. This is my setup and all I really need. I run into a Genzler head or a radial stage bug.View attachment 3951322

It might make a difference if you use it with an amp. I only used mine direct, so I could hear every little nuance and noise.

 

[Real Soon]

Layout still in progress (& the board I'm having built will have room for one more pedal, and I think the RNDI is not supposed to sit on a power amplifier), but....

I am now spoildt.


.....and interestingly, I needed to crank up the input gain on my B173 preamp a few notches to match what was coming out of the DG Vintage Ultra DI, but since the noise floor is comparable and the tone even somehow bigger, it makes no difference to me. Actually the B173's current range allows for better input gain control, so it's all positives.

Whether I'm using the pedals or not, it's now one cable switch to go from practice to recording. And in theory I can set up to do both at once via the Thru connection. Just tested that... works beautifully via the Ground Lift switch.

I'm a n00b to dedicated DIs, esp active ones, so all of this all of you know already. Heh.


Btw, I've learned I'm not supposed to run these sorts of pedals on a daisychain, but maybe I got lucky: they're all playing nicely and all getting plenty of juice on a One Spot.

 

[fivestringgecko]

Pure Tube got here early, and I must say, it's the $66 little ray of sunshine that I was hoping it would be!

It sounds thick and tubey like I was thinking it would, but just like I remember with the Blue Tube, the gain kicks in early and gets grindy fast... Not a surprise since I believe they're pretty much the same circuit. With the stock tube my preferred setting is around 8:30 on the Push knob, and that's already got some hair on the tone. A new lower gain tube is definitely in order to get a little more usability out of that control. I put a 12AU7 in the Blue Tube and it made a nice difference, but with the thoughts people have posted about tube swapping, I want to explore a bit more with a 12AY7 and/or a 12AT7 as well.

The PT came with an unmarked tube, so I assume it's a 12AX7 from the way the gain knob behaves. It seems to be a pretty decent tube though, not a lot of noise. I'll need to take a look through the toy bin, I think I have another 12AU7 in there somewhere. If not, I can always swap between the two Tubeworks pedals. And tube rolling in the PT should be pretty easy... I popped it open, and Bob's your uncle, it's right there.

I'll have to go back through my bookmarks to remember peoples' thoughts from this thread, and do a little perusing on Tube Depot to see if there's a couple tubes that strike my fancy. I'll post some audio comparisons when I get there of course.

5sg.

 

[mostvaliant]

I have a question. Is there any page like this where instead of comparing preamps people are comparing different overdrive circuits on bass? I may have just over looked it.