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The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

#6,341
SteveC said:
Every day I listen to the clips I change my mind. REDDI. Then the Noble seems to sound "better" the next day. Then it might be the Khan. At this level it's variations of great.
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I suffer from this too. When I first got my HX Stomp I was endlessly tweaking it. I think we go ear blind sometimes.

I loved my Noble but when I compared it with the Shaw, the Shaw won out. I've had an Oracle too. I've had tons of tune gear and reviewed it all here.

It's been a learning experience for me to arrive at what I call the "Wargames Conclusion". Remember when in the movie they made the computer play itself until it gave up? That's been me with gear. I finally came to the realization that for my use, the small differences in DIs, preamps, etc aren't ever going to be heard in the mix provided you're using quality gear. So I decided portability, weight, and usability was the hill I'd die on. So far, the HX Stomp has given me all I want and more. The DI just puts icing on the cake.
 
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#6,342
Erithon said:
The clips are indeed a useful guide, especially for steering me toward which preamp/DIs to prioritize, but in my experience the only way to make a final determination is to play through the gear in my own musical context: through my signal path, with my gear, in the environments in which I perform.
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True, but when they are $500 - $2,000 a pop, unless you can borrow or "buy and return" it's kind of tough.

chadhargis said:
I suffer from this too. When I first got my HX Stomp I was endlessly tweaking it. I think we go ear blind sometimes.

I loved my Noble but when I compared it with the Shaw, the Shaw won out. I've had an Oracle too. I've had tons of tune gear and reviewed it all here.

It's been a learning experience for me to arrive at what I call the "Wargames Conclusion". Remember when in the movie they made the computer play itself until it gave up? That's been me with gear. I finally came to the realization that for my use, the small differences in DIs, preamps, etc aren't ever going to be heard in the mix provided you're using quality gear. So I decided portability, weight, and usability was the hill I'd die on. So far, the HX Stomp has given me all I want and more. The DI just puts icing on the cake.
Click to expand...

Great analogy with War Games. (My city mentioned in the movie as well when they contacted the first 3 targets.) Ear blind is great. Analysis paralysis is one I use. I went with portability, size and weight as well. That's why I dumped the REDDI, Empress pedals, my keyboard synth, etc. Now it's my GLXD+, Stomp and a "just in case" passive DI on a Nano+ with a DC7 underneath. No one is complaining. I'm not sure why I'm looking ot add expense and bulk when it isn't necessary. Just trying to keep up with TB.
 
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#6,343
SteveC said:
I'm not sure why I'm looking ot add expense and bulk when it isn't necessary. Just trying to keep up with TB.
Click to expand...

Some truth right here!

When I get to the gig, I plug in 4 cables.

  1. Power to my Ciocks power supply
  2. 1/4" instrument cable from bass
  3. XLR to DI
  4. IEMs
When it's time to load out, I unplug, put the board in the Nano case, bass in the mono bag….and help the guitar player pack up his 700 things as well as helping the drummer disassemble their kits. lol!
 
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#6,344
chadhargis said:
Some truth right here!

When I get to the gig, I plug in 4 cables.

  1. Power to my Ciocks power supply
  2. 1/4" instrument cable from bass
  3. XLR to DI
  4. IEMs
When it's time to load out, I unplug, put the board in the Nano case, bass in the mono bag….and help the guitar player pack up his 700 things as well as helping the drummer disassemble their kits. lol!
Click to expand...

Two for me:
1. Power for the CIOKS
2. XLR to mixer rack

Wireless bass.
Wireless IEM.

I help run lots of FOH cable and some light stuff.
 
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#6,345
SteveC said:
True, but when they are $500 - $2,000 a pop, unless you can borrow or "buy and return" it's kind of tough.
Click to expand...
It is tough because you need the liquidity. You need to be able to have the $500 or $2000 in a piece of gear for a short period. But so long as you can do that, if you buy used and buy smart you should be able to break even or just lose out on shipping (which is well worth the knowledge gained in my opinion). Buying gear--when done responsibly--is not like spending money at a restaurant or paying for a hotel room because you can get the money back. If that weren't true I wouldn't be able to do all the pedal exploration I do :) Of course, you have to be willing to let gear go. Some people get caught up in the collecting or hoarding which is fine for them, but I cannot afford to do that haha. I just enjoy the journey because I meet good people and educate my ear in the process.
 
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#6,347
FenrirofOld said:
I'll be curious on your thoughts about the Oracle as well! I'm kind of thinking of eventually shifting off the Tone Hammer. And I like that the Oracle has both tube mojo and a solid EQ, as well as several other nifty tools.
Click to expand...

Way back when I started this thread, I had a Tone Hammer. I loved the Oracle, but it suffered the same issue as the Shaw....it's too big. I wanted to shrink my rig to a Pedaltrain Nano+.

Here's the latest iteration:

IMG_0207.jpeg
 
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#6,349
ImTheOnlyOne said:
With compressors already in the HX, how much is the Stella doing for the Finally?
Click to expand...

The comps in the HXS are fine, but the Stella has a few things I like.

  1. It has a meter so I can see how much it's compressing
  2. It has an "EQ Tilt" which is very cool
  3. It has a "Tape Saturation" effect
  4. It has a blend function to let some uncompressed signal through (other comps do too)
I went through a series of compressors and I found few I really liked. One was the G-Lab compressor, the other was the LA-2A tube compressor. But both of those are big and don't fit my small and light motif.

I have my HXS set up where if I wanted to go ultralite, I can use it as a stand alone. I have patches that use the built in comps and the stomp has a tuner too.
 
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#6,350
chadhargis said:
Way back when I started this thread, I had a Tone Hammer. I loved the Oracle, but it suffered the same issue as the Shaw....it's too big. I wanted to shrink my rig to a Pedaltrain Nano+.

Here's the latest iteration:

View attachment 5441411
Click to expand...
The new Oracle fits on a Nano, and it's powered by 9V. Mine literally just came in today and I got it all mounted on a Nano+
IMG_9912.jpeg
IMG_9910.jpeg
IMG_9911.jpeg
 
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#6,351
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#6,352
I'm doing a Shaw / Nobellium / Ampeg PF-20 T / BBE B Max T thing at the moment. The Shaw is pretty danged impressive for thick but clear bass. I haven't been able to get there with my HX by itself. The form factor is less important for me but I definately understand where you're coming from.

When I'm in my power trio, up against a cranked EVH 5150 (pre-amp out, we're IEM) the HX is just fine by itself. Mostly the GK model with gain dialed down. In my vocal pop thing the instrumentation and arrangements are much less dense. I'm typically using a Starfire bass and Ampeg PF-20 T. I think the Shaw will really shine there.

And yeah... I've had an Oracle twice and that new form factor is like Yummm :)
 
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#6,355
chadhargis said:
The comps in the HXS are fine, but the Stella has a few things I like.

  1. It has a meter so I can see how much it's compressing
  2. It has an "EQ Tilt" which is very cool
  3. It has a "Tape Saturation" effect
  4. It has a blend function to let some uncompressed signal through (other comps do too)
I went through a series of compressors and I found few I really liked. One was the G-Lab compressor, the other was the LA-2A tube compressor. But both of those are big and don't fit my small and light motif.

I have my HXS set up where if I wanted to go ultralite, I can use it as a stand alone. I have patches that use the built in comps and the stomp has a tuner too.
Click to expand...

Have you checked out the UA pedals that do the LA2A / 1176? I am curious about them myself. Having a comp in front of the DI is not a bad thing.
 
#6,358
Erithon said:
The Khan VTDI was my favorite: it imparts tube warmth while maintaining a fairly transparent tone. It also brings a certain smoothness to the track. If I wanted a brighter tone (and for some reason didn't want to change the EQ to achieve it), I'd opt for the JDI.
Click to expand...

This is a great assessment of the Khan. I have the Khan and Finally hooked up now and have been A/Bing them. The Khan is "smoother" sounding for sure. It has less top end, but that could be corrected with EQ. The Finally sounds 90% as good as the Khan. You really have to listen to them back to back and nit pick to arrive at that conclusion.

The trick up the sleeve of the Finally is the ability to get real tube OD from it. I have mine set to where it's clean until I dig in a bit. I have a compressor in the chain, so that controls how hot the signal is that hits it so it never gets ugly. Just a nice grit when I dig in.
 
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#6,359
TheArchitect said:
Have you checked out the UA pedals that do the LA2A / 1176? I am curious about them myself. Having a comp in front of the DI is not a bad thing.
Click to expand...

chadhargis said:
I've not had an opportunity to try the UA pedals. They look interesting. Especially the Max with multiple comp emulations.
Click to expand...

Skip the UA Max. Not a good compressor for bass. Here's my review: https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/universal-audio-max-compressor-review

The UA 1176 is just OK. Here's my review: https://www.compressorpedalreviews.com/post/universal-audio-uafx-1176-studio-compressor-pedal-review
 
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#6,360
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