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The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

#4,982
Just stopping in to say that I bought a Grace Design Alix a few days ago. I admittedly struggled with it the first few days. There was a learning curve with it for me. It was sent with the phase reversed. Took me a few minutes to figure that out and it immediately sounded better when I switched it back. I've been used to a dark sounding Acoustic Image amp, and sometimes even plugging directly into the power amp of the AI, which results in a mismatched impedance and quite a dark sound. The Alix fixes this, but it took my ears some time to adjust. Then I had to figure out the fully parametric mid eq. It took me maybe three days of experimentation to find how to best use it for my basses. Then I was super struggling getting the low end that I wanted. I was about ready to give up when I remembered reading before I even got mine that the Alix has an internal jumper for the corner frequency of the bass eq. It was set at the stock setting, which gives you a wider low end. Not particularly what you would normally want for electric bass. I switched the jumper...and there was what I was looking for. It still has a more controlled/more nature low end than you get with most bass amps, but it's really quite wonderful once you get used to it. The preamp itself is warm and full, something I have struggled to get from other floor preamps that I've tried before. This feels and sounds like an extremely high quality piece of gear. Really glad I gave it a go. I couldn't be happier. I'm running it into the power section of my 900 watt Acoustic Image. Here's a clip of it with my semi hollow Martin Keith bass, and with my custom Sinobas closed back 112 cabs.
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Edit...I REALLY wish that it had an on/off switch! Instead I have to unplug it when not in use. Small nitpick, though!
 
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#4,984
benjobass said:
I pinged this to you in a DM but figured others might benefit. I use one of these to solve this problem (and to power on/off my CIOKS DC7).
Click to expand...

looks handy. I have a dedicated power strip with an on/off for my amp and pedals at home, but there are times I'd like to use it without powering up my Cioks.

gotta love the amazon 1 star reviews by people who ordered the wrong thing thinking it was a standard 3-prong extension cord.
 
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#4,985
emjazz said:
Just stopping in to say that I bought a Grace Design Alix a few days ago. I admittedly struggled with it the first few days. There was a learning curve with it for me. It was sent with the phase reversed. Took me a few minutes to figure that out and it immediately sounded better when I switched it back. I've been used to a dark sounding Acoustic Image amp, and sometimes even plugging directly into the power amp of the AI, which results in a mismatched impedance and quite a dark sound. The Alix fixes this, but it took my ears some time to adjust. Then I had to figure out the fully parametric mid eq. It took me maybe three days of experimentation to find how to best use it for my basses. Then I was super struggling getting the low end that I wanted. I was about ready to give up when I remembered reading before I even got mine that the Alix has an internal jumper for the corner frequency of the bass eq. It was set at the stock setting, which gives you a wider low end. Not particularly what you would normally want for electric bass. I switched the jumper...and there was what I was looking for. It still has a more controlled/more nature low end than you get with most bass amps, but it's really quite wonderful once you get used to it. The preamp itself is warm and full, something I have struggled to get from other floor preamps that I've tried before. This feels and sounds like an extremely high quality piece of gear. Really glad I gave it a go. I couldn't be happier. I'm running it into the power section of my 900 watt Acoustic Image. Here's a clip of it with my semi hollow Martin Keith bass, and with my custom Sinobas closed back 112 cabs.
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Edit...I REALLY wish that it had an on/off switch! Instead I have to unplug it when not in use. Small nitpick, though!
Click to expand...

This sounds exactly like what I don't want in a DI or preamp.
 
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#4,986
emjazz said:
Just stopping in to say that I bought a Grace Design Alix a few days ago. I admittedly struggled with it the first few days. There was a learning curve with it for me. It was sent with the phase reversed. Took me a few minutes to figure that out and it immediately sounded better when I switched it back. I've been used to a dark sounding Acoustic Image amp, and sometimes even plugging directly into the power amp of the AI, which results in a mismatched impedance and quite a dark sound. The Alix fixes this, but it took my ears some time to adjust. Then I had to figure out the fully parametric mid eq. It took me maybe three days of experimentation to find how to best use it for my basses. Then I was super struggling getting the low end that I wanted. I was about ready to give up when I remembered reading before I even got mine that the Alix has an internal jumper for the corner frequency of the bass eq. It was set at the stock setting, which gives you a wider low end. Not particularly what you would normally want for electric bass. I switched the jumper...and there was what I was looking for. It still has a more controlled/more nature low end than you get with most bass amps, but it's really quite wonderful once you get used to it. The preamp itself is warm and full, something I have struggled to get from other floor preamps that I've tried before. This feels and sounds like an extremely high quality piece of gear. Really glad I gave it a go. I couldn't be happier. I'm running it into the power section of my 900 watt Acoustic Image. Here's a clip of it with my semi hollow Martin Keith bass, and with my custom Sinobas closed back 112 cabs.
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Edit...I REALLY wish that it had an on/off switch! Instead I have to unplug it when not in use. Small nitpick, though!
Click to expand...

Glad you got it all figured out. The Alix is a phenomenal sounding solid state DI. It is the closest I have found yet to get you into the tone and feel of tube gear without having tubes. It really does have this spacial "3D" feel to it.
 
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#4,989
hornet_front.jpg

Looks pretty sweet, especially for $250. Requires 48v though.
 
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#4,991
cavemanbass said:
View attachment 4146018
Looks pretty sweet, especially for $250. Requires 48v though.
Click to expand...

This looks like a great little product! Just so people know: I did a little research on the Hornet, and it doesn't run on 48v phantom power (like the RNDI for example). It comes with a power adapter that coincidentally just happens to be 48v. They don't have a manual up yet for it on their site, so I thought y'all might want to know this.

It does have phantom power, so theoretically you could power your RNDI with a Hornet, or use a condenser mic. If you think about it, it's totally logical that you can't phantom power a device that offers phantom power; there wouldn't be enough "juice."
 
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#4,993
MascisMan said:
So if I'm understanding correctly. You must use the wall wart and can not power the unit via phantom power from the board?
Click to expand...
unfortunately that is the case. I emailed the company, and very quickly got this reply from Peter:

"Hi, unfortunately phantom power only provides about 7-14 mA, which is not even enough to power the meter on the hornet. (That's why even some microphones, like early earthworks, can't run on some phantom power supplies.) So the hornet can deliver phantom power, but it can't run on it.

On the bright side, the power supply for the hornet is really small…"

I was tempted to ask him if there was any way they could have made it work with a OneSpot... this product sits at the intersection of Pro Audio and musical instrument amplification, I guess our concerns as musicians just don't factor into design decisions for a product that the company expects to sell to audio engineers.
 
#4,994
cavemanbass said:
unfortunately that is the case. I emailed the company, and very quickly got this reply from Peter:

"Hi, unfortunately phantom power only provides about 7-14 mA, which is not even enough to power the meter on the hornet. (That's why even some microphones, like early earthworks, can't run on some phantom power supplies.) So the hornet can deliver phantom power, but it can't run on it.

On the bright side, the power supply for the hornet is really small…"

I was tempted to ask him if there was any way they could have made it work with a OneSpot... this product sits at the intersection of Pro Audio and musical instrument amplification, I guess our concerns as musicians just don't factor into design decisions for a product that the company expects to sell to audio engineers.
Click to expand...

Bummer, doesn't even have an IEC type input for power. Rules out a Y-splitter if you're running a CIOKS or similar as well.
 
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#4,996
cavemanbass said:
unfortunately that is the case. I emailed the company, and very quickly got this reply from Peter:

"Hi, unfortunately phantom power only provides about 7-14 mA, which is not even enough to power the meter on the hornet. (That's why even some microphones, like early earthworks, can't run on some phantom power supplies.) So the hornet can deliver phantom power, but it can't run on it.

On the bright side, the power supply for the hornet is really small…"

I was tempted to ask him if there was any way they could have made it work with a OneSpot... this product sits at the intersection of Pro Audio and musical instrument amplification, I guess our concerns as musicians just don't factor into design decisions for a product that the company expects to sell to audio engineers.
Click to expand...

jdc866 said:
Bummer, doesn't even have an IEC type input for power. Rules out a Y-splitter if you're running a CIOKS or similar as well.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is a non-starter for me. Was excited about this product too.
 
#4,998
MascisMan said:
So if I'm understanding correctly. You must use the wall wart and can not power the unit via phantom power from the board?
Click to expand...

Yeah when I saw "48v power" my incorrect assumption was that they meant, powered by phantom power.

But Useful Arts does have lots of products (like the BF1) for people who prefer standard IEC power cords. They are adding another option to the marketplace, not taking choices away. :)

I think the Hornet would be a very cool product for a one-person small home studio, who needs a mic sometimes and DI other times. For example it could sit on your desk next to your Focusrite audio interface and give you more tonal options. The form factor is perfect for that: The wall wart is out of sight under your desk, and the unit itself takes up minimal desktop real estate.
 
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