The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

[Rickter]

I am looking forward to playing with cab sims. The Le Bass just has one (on or off) but the Darkglass software lets you yous IR files, and there are MANY of them out there.

In all honesty this was one of the major factors that pushed me away from the LeBass. You get the one cab sim of an 810, and you can't change it. To have the capacity for variation you have to get the Torpedo CAB. I didn't want to drop another $500 just to be able to change cabs if an 810 wasn't my flavor. When Darkglass announced the Alpha Omega Ultra and the V2 models that added cab sim, I was pretty much sold.

One of the bonuses of the Alpha Omega Ultra, to me at least, is that with the drive circuit disengaged, it removes all coloration from your signal aside from the EQ and cab sim, both of which can be zeroed or turned off so that you can get relatively unadulterated pass through sound. Since I typically like my P5's sound through a good DI, the addition of the cab sim and a touch of eq/drive is just icing on the cake.

 

[TonyP-]

If you like clean transparent but yet a full vibe the Basswitch takes it.

The new tech 21 sounds good BUT it has its own vibe.

 

[chadhargis]

In all honesty this was one of the major factors that pushed me away from the LeBass. You get the one cab sim of an 810, and you can't change it.

Yep! I hear many great things about the Darkglass gear.

I am playing Sunday and depending on how things go tonight and tomorrow, there is a chance I might give one a shot live. I get to cover a Louis Johnson line playing "Billie Jean". A little octave from the H9 to thicken things up and a wee bit of drive would just be absolutely sweet.

 

[Wfrance3]

Tech 21 para DI.
I can make it do anything I need done.
I have an Ampeg Scri-di if it calls for your chest to need to feel the bass, but that rarely comes out.

 

[chadhargis]

Let the games begin!

Sweetwater delivered the Darkglass Vintage Ultra right on time. The Le Bass came signature required, and of course I was at work, so I'll have to pick it up tomorrow.

My initial impressions of the Darkglass Vintage Ultra. It's a nice piece of kit, but not as industrial as the Tone Hammer. The EQ knobs don't seem to be as sensitive as the Tone Hammer. Out of the box, with everything disengaged, the sucker was really quiet. I had to gain it up at the mixing console. Never had to do that with the Tone Hammer. So in the battle of "pure DI performance" the Tone Hammer takes it. It's not just better, it's remarkably better.

Moving on to the engaging the pedal. I turned on the circuit all set flat and it didn't sound any different. That's good, that's how it should be. Then I started tweaking knobs. Humm...sounds pretty good. Let's try that cab sim and software. I engaged the cab sim and it was THIS DAMN LOUD and I had to pull the master down. Then I heard it....HISSSSSSSSSSSS....turn the cab sim off.....silent. Back on....HISSSSSSSS. ARRRGH!! I do not tolerate noise in my chain. I'm running the thing on a regulated, isolated power supply. I even tried a wall wart...same thing. I switched back to the Tone Hammer. Silent as a church mouse. Back to the Darkglass.....HISSSSSSSSS. F*&k! I almost put it back in the box right then. But I tried different cam sims, but to no avail. The cab sim is just noisy as hell.

Here's a clip of the cab sim off, then on. You can hear the pop of the button and you can hear the hiss loud and clear. This is not "trivial". It really makes the cab sim unusable without gating it.



Here's the baseline track played via straight DI to the mixer. No EQ. No effects. Just the goodness of Cary Nordstrand's awesome jazz bass pickups and D'Addario NYXL strings.

Signal Chain:
Aguilar Tone Hammer (disengaged) --> Allen & Heath ZEDi 10 Mixer --> USB to Mac --> GarageBand --> Exported to Uncompressed WAV file --> Uploaded to Sound Cloud (where God knows what happens to it).

Baseline Track:


Tone Hammer Engaged with EQ set to my preference:


Darkglass Vintage Ultra - Clean - No Cab Sim:


Darkglass Vintage Ultra - Clean - Cab Sim Engaged:


Darkglass Vintage Ultra - Dirty - Cab Sim Engaged:


I ran the distortion really hot, but still not as stanky as you can get it. Overall, the Darkglass sounds nice except for the cab sim hiss. I do like the cab sim. It opens up a whole world of things.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

 

[chadhargis]

The Le Bass is on the desk now...tweaking has begun...oooooh...this one is nice folks. Stay tuned.

 

[bucephylus]

In my quest for an ampless signal chain, I’ve been through a few preamp/DI’s. I’ve gigged the Sadowsky, the ISP Beta, and the Mesa Subway. They are all well made and had their aspects of coolness.

Most recently, I picked up a Demeter Bass 400. Which, admittedly is an integrated amp. But, it’s small. And, I can just set it on the stage next to my pedal board; and suddenly it becomes a preamp/DI. Quite clearly the most awesome preamp/DI I’ve heard yet. Sounds like I have an actual awesome bass amp right in the mains. Dig it.

 

[57pbass]

In my quest for an ampless signal chain, I’ve been through a few preamp/DI’s. I’ve gigged the Sadowsky, the ISP Beta, and the Mesa Subway. They are all well made and had their aspects of coolness.

Most recently, I picked up a Demeter Bass 400. Which, admittedly is an integrated amp. But, it’s small. And, I can just set it on the stage next to my pedal board; and suddenly it becomes a preamp/DI. Quite clearly the most awesome preamp/DI I’ve heard yet. Sounds like I have an actual awesome bass amp right in the mains. Dig it.

He makes great classic gear.
Does yours have the Jensen transformer?

 

[bucephylus]

He makes great classic gear.
Does yours have the Jensen transformer?

Absolutely. Pristine.

One really cool though relatively minor benefit of the Jensen is that you can just unhook the DI feed cable from the board/snake at the end of the night with no pops. Isolation is a grand thing.

 

[chadhargis]

And the next challenger...Two Notes Le Bass

First off...this is a big pedal. And it's a power hungry pedal. And it only has one cab sim. And there are a bunch of knobs. And it has four "modes".....and I don't care. It sounds marvelous! I mean like giggle when you play and you can't put your bass down marvelous. Wow!

That said, lets talk about the only quirk I could find with it. If you bump or wiggle the power cord, you hear it in the mix. It's even more noticeable in fusion mode. I don't plan on wiggling the cable on gigs, so that's not really a big deal to me.

The cab sim is excellent and I'd more than likely never turn it off unless I was recording and using patches or sims in my DAW. The B "overdrive" channel sounds like tube overdrive...because it IS tube overdrive. The little tube gets warm, but I never noticed it get hot.

I'm digging this pedal. Once the AGRO pedal comes in and I give it a shot with the Tone Hammer, I'll see how I feel. The Tone Hammer still seems to have the best DI when all effects are turned off. Tone Hammer is quieter, but the Le Bass is really quiet too. Even with cab sim on...it's quiet. There would be no noticeable difference in the two unless you were listening for it.

Now for sound clips:

Le Bass - Channel A - Cab Sim Off:


Le Bass - Channel A - Cab Sim On:


Le Bass - Channel B - Cab Sim Off:


Le Bass - Channel B - Cab Sim On:


Le Bass - Cold Fusion - Cab Sim Off:


Le Bass - Cold Fusion - Cab Sim On:


Le Bass - Hot Fusion - Cab Sim Off:


Le Bass - Hot Fusion - Cab Sim On:


And there you have it. The Le Bass has a strong chance of toppling the Tone Hammer, but I await the AGRO pedal which I got to play with at NAMM today running through a Tone Hammer. Of course, it was hooked up to a big 3x12 rig and it sounded REALLY REALLY good. Like BUTTAH! But take those great Aguilar cabs away and feed that signal in direct and how will it sound? We'll see.

Stay tuned!

I'm going back to playing with the Le Bass. Holy crap it's fun!

 

[Robal]

Has anyone compared the Noble to the Shiftline Olympic III? I have a Basswitch IQ, and am looking for a tube pedal preamp.

 

[57pbass]

Absolutely. Pristine.

One really cool though relatively minor benefit of the Jensen is that you can just unhook the DI cable from the board at the end of the night with no pops. Isolation is a grand thing.

Awesome..that Jensen transformer seems to be a constant among the hi End di/pres...don’t know what it does sonically?.
Enjoy..

 

[57pbass]

Has anyone compared the Noble to the Shiftline Olympus III? I have a Basswitch IQ, and am looking for a tube pedal preamp.

They are so different..The Noble has two tubes and it’s staight forward.. Volume/Bass/Treble...and a boost.
The Olympus has so much more onboard..and one tube...but I would be very interested in hearing a real comparison as well..

I don’t know what type of sound your searching for but I’m really loving the Noble..with my Fenders it’s really great...

 

[keatz]

I only just replaced my vt bass deluxe with a tone hammer, and other than the volume jump Im stoked. So why did you have to go and do the le bass clips???? Arghhhhhh. I want.

 

[chadhargis]

I only just replaced my vt bass deluxe with a tone hammer, and other than the volume jump Im stoked. So why did you have to go and do the le bass clips???? Arghhhhhh. I want.

I know, right! The Le Bass is pretty good.

The Tone Hammer is also great. But the cab sim on the Le Bass along with how the overdrive reacts to the dynamics of your playing....it’s solid. And it’s MIDI capable so it will talk to my H9 and vice versa. I can also use a MIDI controller to control both pedals on the fly. That’s very attractive.

Much playing left to do!

 

[chadhargis]

Took the leap and am playing the Le Bass live. Oooh weee! As Borat would say, “It’s a very niiice”.

Sound guy is recording a board mix for me. I’ll post it up as soon as I get it.

 

[SteveBassJr]

Has anyone compared the Noble to the Shiftline Olympus III? I have a Basswitch IQ, and am looking for a tube pedal preamp.

Im in the same market. I love my basswitch but...

 

[chadhargis]

I’d love to have a Noble, but that’s a little steep for my budget. If I were a pro player and a studio cat I’d invest in one. But as a hobby player and worship team bassist, I can’t justify it.

 

[Jacob J]

I happen to have a Noble at home that a friend of mine and fellow bassplayer was so kind to lend me, because I have been particularly interested in how it stacks up against the Olympic. Unfortunately, I don't have any recording equipment so that I could carry out a comparison and post it here for you guys. But I'm sure me and my friend will conduct a test at some point (hoping for that to be soon) and hopefully find a way to make some decent recordings. I do plan to take them both to my rehearsal space during the following week and plug them into my Fender Rumble V3 500 combo. I have already tried the Olympic that way, plugging it into the effect return and effectively bypassing the Rumble's preamp, and the result was really good. The sound was bigger, warmer, and I cut through the mix easier. It also has its own baked in tone - courtesy of the classic Fender tonestack I suppose. According to my friend, when he runs the Noble into his amp, it makes things warmer, yet still being clean at the same time. I suspect this will be the biggest difference between the two. You really can push the Olympic into saturated, breakup territory, while I expect the Noble to add some spark and some sort of 'liveness' to the tone, but being clean and transparent along the way.

 

[chadhargis]

I happen to have a Noble at home that a friend of mine and fellow bassplayer was so kind to lend me, because I have been particularly interested in how it stacks up against the Olympic.

The Olympic looks interesting. I seldom play with an amp or cab so I’m really intrigued by cab sims which the Olympic has.