The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

[alecvbass]

I've got a new to me ToneX One on the way. Anyone going down this path for their preamp needs?

I did - I got the ToneX mainly because of its convenience: not too expensive, easily available, small size, 9v / USB C power and the fact that it doubles as an audio interface means that I’ll be taking it on the cruise ship contracts from now on. I pair it with the RNDI after.

I did browse around the ToneNET community presets for a while and settled on one of the Noble captures for my main one. I also really like the 1073 + Pultec capture I found. While not exactly fit in a band situation it’s amazing for slap and solos. The channel strip and Pultec bring out a lot of highs while not being harsh at all.

All the amps / cabs are good but just not my thing. Captures in general are hit or miss but I think there’s something for everyone there. Really impressed with the SVT emulation and the NeuralDSP Parallax captures.

Bryce Vaughn has a couple of captures he sells on his site: DCX + Noble and Gladio + Noble.
I’m bound to get them at some point and run two presets of the same capture with different gain settings.

 

[Rocksolid]

I did - I got the ToneX mainly because of its convenience: not too expensive, easily available, small size, 9v / USB C power and the fact that it doubles as an audio interface means that I’ll be taking it on the cruise ship contracts from now on. I pair it with the RNDI after.

I did browse around the ToneNET community presets for a while and settled on one of the Noble captures for my main one. I also really like the 1073 + Pultec capture I found. While not exactly fit in a band situation it’s amazing for slap and solos. The channel strip and Pultec bring out a lot of highs while not being harsh at all.

All the amps / cabs are good but just not my thing. Captures in general are hit or miss but I think there’s something for everyone there. Really impressed with the SVT emulation and the NeuralDSP Parallax captures.

Bryce Vaughn has a couple of captures he sells on his site: DCX + Noble and Gladio + Noble.
I’m bound to get them at some point and run two presets of the same capture with different gain settings.

I feel like it is a whole new world I am not quite prepared for!
Realistically, I just want a good, tubey clean amp sim and a saturated amp sim that sounds close to my 2 tones I use from each channel of my Super Bassman, to feed a DI on my compact board. If I can get that, I'll be happy.

 

[alecvbass]

I feel like it is a whole new world I am not quite prepared for!
Realistically, I just want a good, tubey clean amp sim and a saturated amp sim that sounds close to my 2 tones I use from each channel of my Super Bassman, to feed a DI on my compact board. If I can get that, I'll be happy.

You can get the ToneX plugin so you can hear for yourself how it sounds and you can even capture your channels from your amp.
Even if it doesn't work out for you in your setup, you can either return it or find ways to justify keeping it for its other features.

 

[chadhargis]

I've got a new to me ToneX One on the way. Anyone going down this path for their preamp needs?

It looks interesting, but I've not had the opportunity to try one. The Quad Cortex is working so unbelievably well for me.

 

[3rdeyep]

Does anyone have sound samples comparing the DI out of the Trickfish Minnow (set flat) and the Rupert Neve Designs RNDI?

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Does anyone have sound samples comparing the DI out of the Trickfish Minnow (set flat) and the Rupert Neve Designs RNDI?

I'd LOVE to hear the TF Minnow w/EQ Bypassed AND just the direct (pre-EQ) out against the RNDI, J48, JDI, etc.

My main amp is a TF Bullhead 1k and the pre-EQ DI absolutely KILLS on that amp. So much that I've been using it in the studio lately and prefer it to my Manley Tube DI for most things, and certainly to the J48 (my primary live DI). Ryan @ Trickfish has said it's essentially the same circuit in the Minnow that's in the Bullhead 1k (modified for the pedal format), but I'm curious if it has the same headroom that the Bullhead DI has.

 

[aah63]

I'd LOVE to hear the TF Minnow w/EQ Bypassed AND just the direct (pre-EQ) out against the RNDI, J48, JDI, etc.

My main amp is a TF Bullhead 1k and the pre-EQ DI absolutely KILLS on that amp. So much that I've been using it in the studio lately and prefer it to my Manley Tube DI for most things, and certainly to the J48 (my primary live DI). Ryan @ Trickfish has said it's essentially the same circuit in the Minnow that's in the Bullhead 1k (modified for the pedal format), but I'm curious if it has the same headroom that the Bullhead DI has.

I've owned both the Minnow and the Bullhead .5 at different times, and I've recorded with each. From what I remember, the DI out of the .5 sounded slightly better to me, and I’ve got to say, it seemed to have more headroom than the Minnow. I’d still love to hear a comparison between the RNDI and the Minnow set flat tho. I might have to do that myself.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I've owned both the Minnow and the Bullhead .5 at different times, and I've recorded with each. From what I remember, the DI out of the .5 sounded slightly better to me, and I’ve got to say, it seemed to have more headroom than the Minnow. I’d still love to hear a comparison between the RNDI and the Minnow set flat tho. I might have to do that myself.

I have a Minnow now and the DI out with the EQ turned off is easily on par with the J48 (with better top end clarity) and Countryman Type 85 (with better low-end fullness). It's kind of the best of both worlds - the fullness, bottom, and headroom of the J48 and the clarity of the Countryman. I've never played through an RNDI, so I can't comment on that. I'd agree that the Bullhead DI has a bit more headroom, but I've been using the Minnow on some sessions and the the final result is excellent and the engineers are happy.

 

[aah63]

I have a Minnow now and the DI out with the EQ turned off is easily on par with the J48 (with better top end clarity) and Countryman Type 85 (with better low-end fullness). It's kind of the best of both worlds - the fullness, bottom, and headroom of the J48 and the clarity of the Countryman. I've never played through an RNDI, so I can't comment on that. I'd agree that the Bullhead DI has a bit more headroom, but I've been using the Minnow on some sessions and the the final result is excellent and the engineers are happy.

I'm thinking about getting an RNDI and a Minnow to compare them. I'll circle back here if I go through with it.

 

[alecvbass]

Anybody in FL willing to borrow me a Noble for a week? I’m on a Royal Caribbean ship and we come state side to Fort Lauderdale from early November to mid January.
I have my RNDI with me and a ToneX One on the way but like half this forum I’m GASing for a Noble.
Willing to pay for gas, rental or replacement tubes - we play in the same indoor bar every night anyway so no moving around.

 

[chadhargis]

Anybody in FL willing to borrow me a Noble for a week? I’m on a Royal Caribbean ship and we come state side to Fort Lauderdale from early November to mid January.
I have my RNDI with me and a ToneX One on the way but like half this forum I’m GASing for a Noble.
Willing to pay for gas, rental or replacement tubes - we play in the same indoor bar every night anyway so no moving around.

Pick up an HX One. It has a model of a Noble in it that's good and a lot less expensive than a real one.

 

[bucephylus]

I find it interesting that there are so many TB’ers, who consider the SLO to be “colored.”

My “big” rigs are all driven by either Demeter preamps or Alembic preamps; and I’ve always considered those pieces to be on the “clean” side of things. BTW, the Demeter Bass 400 with the dove cage mod makes an outstanding tube preamp as well; though somewhat too large a footprint for many fly gig pedalboards. James has a new unit, called the VTTB, which seems to be a pretty cool unit as well.

Anyhow, my SLO fits rather comfortably into the same tonal spectrum as my Demeter VTBP and Alembic F1X units. I still use it and have no reason to look further. Different strokes, I suppose.

View attachment 7071762
View attachment 7071763

Just an update that I have somewhat moved on from the SLO; though it’s still in my shed.

Some of the Sushi Box pedals have found their way to my boards. I’ve got the Venus Z on my large board and the limited supply PMLE on my smaller gig board. Very transparent with lots of nice tube depth.

I would also add that I have somewhat rediscovered some of the benefits of the Sadowsky Outboard preamp; which turns out to be pretty useful for more than just adding voicing to passive basses. Since the Treble and Bass are Boost ONLY, and the Volume is Cut ONLY, that pedal can contribute both voicing and line leveling in the gain stacking. VERY useful.

 

[alecvbass]

Pick up an HX One. It has a model of a Noble in it that's good and a lot less expensive than a real one.

I know I know. I bought HX Native a few years ago and my best friend also has two Stomps. I tried it and it’s obviously a good piece of gear.

Just curious about the real thing. On the ship I use an Ampeg RB and I’m curious how and if the sound improves with the real thing - I know one tube is used for the DI out and the other is used for the amp out. ToneX + RNDI sounds pretty sweet so it’s tall order.

 

[chadhargis]

I know I know. I bought HX Native a few years ago and my best friend also has two Stomps. I tried it and it’s obviously a good piece of gear.

Just curious about the real thing. On the ship I use an Ampeg RB and I’m curious how and if the sound improves with the real thing - I know one tube is used for the DI out and the other is used for the amp out. ToneX + RNDI sounds pretty sweet so it’s tall order.

The important thing to remember is that any piece of gear is only as good as your FOH or recording engineer. I only play live, so the subtile nuances I hear in my practice space with headphones on are totally lost in a room with a high ceiling filled with 300 people.

 

[Deleted member 409773]

I use two pedalboards, but lately the one with the Empress MKII and SansAmp BDDI v2 less often. Even though I initially preferred that setup, now I prefer the pedalboard with the Origin effects, but for the DI I use the one on the Darkglass with the Nolly Mega Meld ir.

Here I recorded a comparison between the two pedalboards. In both recordings I use the corresponding compressor: Empress + SansAmp, Cali76 and Origin SV respectively:



And here I use the pedalboard with Origin effects and Darkglass, but in a mix with my band:

 

[chadhargis]

I use two pedalboards, but lately the one with the Empress MKII and SansAmp BDDI v2 less often. Even though I initially preferred that setup, now I prefer the pedalboard with the Origin effects, but for the DI I use the one on the Darkglass with the Nolly Mega Meld ir.

View attachment 7329260

Here I recorded a comparison between the two pedalboards. In both recordings I use the corresponding compressor: Empress + SansAmp, Cali76 and Origin SV respectively:



And here I use the pedalboard with Origin effects and Darkglass, but in a mix with my band:

I was going to build an all Origin Effects board and by the time I priced it out, it was over $2000, so I decided to go with the Quad Cortex with the Cali76 in the FX loop.

 

[nonohmic]

Quick question for the preamp massif;

Could a full size TC Spark be used as a preamp in front of a power amp?

 

[Mark Ambler]

Quick question for the preamp massif;

Could a full size TC Spark be used as a preamp in front of a power amp?

According to google,
The
TC Electronic Spark Booster pedal provides up to 26 dB of boost. The smaller Spark Mini Booster model offers up to 20 dB of boost.
I use a Genzler Magellan Preamp which gives up to 40 db of boost. I would think it would work, but I'd also recommend the Gentler for that purpose.

 

[Rocksolid]

Quick question for the preamp massif;

Could a full size TC Spark be used as a preamp in front of a power amp?

I've tried mine in this application when I was throwing together a small board for something, and it just felt a little flat for me tonally. I love the Spark at the front of my chain much more. I preferred the MXR M81 Bass pre for end of chain, driving a power amp.
Unless your are looking for the low gain saturation the Spark can do, i think the M81 is a better option.

 

[nonohmic]

I've tried mine in this application when I was throwing together a small board for something, and it just felt a little flat for me tonally. I love the Spark at the front of my chain much more. I preferred the MXR M81 Bass pre for end of chain, driving a power amp.
Unless your are looking for the low gain saturation the Spark can do, i think the M81 is a better option.

I love the Spark and it’s not leaving the board but no reason I can’t add a preamp. Just wondering if it was necessary. Kinda what I figured. It would be a little underpowered and a little limited. Thanks for the insight