looks like you may need to get risers for the feet and mount the neve di underneath or get a bigger board love your pedals on there though.
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The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison
- Thread starter chadhargis
- Start date
Yeah...the Oracle is going to get mounted sideways so the output jacks face the back or the board. I have a patch panel on the side, but why run more wire?
The RNDI might fit underneath as is. The board is a wedge shape, so the back is pretty tall. My power supply is in the way now, so it may have to get moved. Gonna tear it apart and redo it when I get the power cord splitter cable.
How much grit can the oracle add to mix is it able to hit that ampeg growl? I was pretty torn when getting my board rebuilt on wich pre to go with. I was looking at the Abyss, Oracle, the shaw tube injection, shiftline olympic 3 and the two notes and ultimately ended up getting a custom verrellen meatsmoke pre and I'm really happy with it other then my high gain channel being unusable I'm hoping a tube swap will fix that if not i may need to have nate rebuild it to have both channels like channel 1 if the swap doesn't help. I'm still kind of hoping in the back of my mind that agedhorse and them mesa boys make a wd tube pre pedal that has clean and grit onboard if thats the case i may flip the meatsmoke and my qstrip.
I haven't had much time with it, but I did dime the gain and got some distortion. I'd have to do some EQ tweaking to see how it sounds, but I got it. I tend to like a tube preamp running JUST before it breaks up. So I get a little "rasp" on the note, but not really full on overdrive.
I haven't had much time to mess with it tonight, but I should get some time over the next few days.
That edge of breakup tone is the best I love it! It gets just aggressive enough when I dig in without being mushy.
I use either a 12au7 or 12at7 in position 1 of my Meatsmoke. At Ben's suggestion. With medium output bass and boost channel gain below 9 o'clock I get just the right amount of OD. Note that the tube swap also affects the regular channel, so gain has to be nearly maxed to get enough volume.
The two channels sound very different so it's nice to have both of them available.
Very nice. Sounds like the Alix is a great piece of gear!
I just learned that Grace Design is up the road a bit from me. Out of my price range, unfortunately.
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Time to put the Oracle through its paces. I mounted it to the board and mounted the RNDI underneath. My preamp don't need no steenkin DI out!
Thanks! Now that I have the RNDI mounted underneath...the doors have opened for me to try preamps without an XLR out which was previously been a requirement. This is good and bad. I think I hear my credit card screaming and running away.
How did you mount the Eventide underneath? This is very similar to the board I'm building. Just waiting for everything to get here Saturday
The PowerMax (aka DC-7) has screw holes in the bottom. Just line them up with the holes in the Templeboard and insert the mounting screws.
A much more elegant solution that tying it on with twine.
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
I have a DC5 on the way and it's supposed to be the same. Thanks!The PowerMax (aka DC-7) has screw holes in the bottom. Just line them up with the holes in the Templeboard and insert the mounting screws.
A much more elegant solution that tying it on with twine.
Get the chance to try my board with the band here in a little bit. Excited to see how this combination does in preparation for Sundays broadcast and live stream.
Slick board setup right there.
I've been living vicariously through you all at the moment, and my preamp G.A.S. has multiplied thanks to this thread. But now boards too, after many happy years with my Pedaltrains.
Thanks everyone. lol 
The money is already spent when the gigs start happening again. lol
5sg.
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Nice board! Please tell us about All Things Equal; what's it do?
The All Things Equal is a buffer with two "channels". The Red and the Blue. The LED changes colors to show which channel is engaged. It allows you to set input levels for different basses so you have the same signal level hitting all your signal chain.
Yep. I had the DC5 before I got the Powermax.
Arkham Oracle Impressions
Ok...so I've spent about an hour or so playing and tweaking and using different basses through it. If you are a TLDR (too long didn't read) sort or suffer from ADD...I'll sum it up. It sounds really good. I don't have them back to back, but it sounds right up there with the Shaw Tube Injection. I took the back off and I can see why. Just as in the Shaw, the entire preamp is hand wired...no PC boards (the transformerless DIs in the Shaw come from Creation Audio Labs ARE on PC boards). I read somewhere that Arkham didn't put an XLR out on the Oracle because of noise concerns with all that hand wiring in a small (sort of) enclosure. Sort of makes sense. Shaw solved that issue by installing pre-made DIs from CAL. Putting my RNDI under the board really makes not having a DI a moot point provided the sound man sends you phantom power.
The EQ is really very useful. The bass and treble knobs are shelved. So if you adjust them, you raise the entire bottom end or top end...not just a specific frequency. This is the way the Noble works too. The difference is the Range control. It moves the point at which the shelf pivots. And it makes HUGE differences. When I first started playing with the EQ it was too fat with not a lot on top...but moving the Range knob clockwise gave me more of what I wanted without moving the bass control.
The HPF switch would be useful if you were on a wooden stage or a boomy room and wanted to dump your bottom end. I find it doesn't do much for the tone through headphones. The Hi switch does what you expect. It gives you more treble. Yuck! The Mid switch is really fantastic. I rather enjoy it, but it's not something that will be "always on". The Lo switch does indeed give you more low end at a specific frequency, but I find you have to fiddle with the EQ again to get it sounding even. It's not as effective as the "Fat" switch on the Shaw...I never turned that off.
If I dime the gain I can get some overdrive, but it's not the same as power tube overdrive, it is sort of brittle sounding like all small 12AX7 preamps. I have the gain set to where it just starts to impart a little wool, then back it off a hair.
The master I have set about 1:00 and I could raise or lower it and compensate for it on the mixer...so it doesn't really matter much.
So do I like it better than the SLO? Yes and no.
It sounds better to my ears...but in a mix no one will know. It is a bit noisier due to my power feed not being filtered. When I had the SLO it was powered off my PowerMax which is isolated and filtered....dead quiet. So it's not really the fault of the Oracle, but I can hear my computer hard drive array clicking through it. I won't have that issue on a gig as I run a Fishman power conditioner.
It's a lot bigger than the SLO, doesn't have a cab sim, doesn't have an FX loop, doesn't have a headphone out, and doesn't have an Aux in. All things I didn't use on the SLO. The 120v power requirement and the size are the big negatives, but I have a right angle plug coming for the power cord to help keep the cord from sticking out and not fitting in my case (or having to unplug the power cord from the back).
So I'm torn. I love the SLO not just for how it sounded...and it sounded good...but for everything it could do in such a small package. It's like pulling for the little guy in a fight...the underdog. But products like the Shaw, Noble, and Oracle are really on another level quality and sound wise. The components inside the Oracle are top notch. If you are a tube roller, the Oracle is REALLY easy to do tube swaps in. Six screws to remove the back, and the tube is smack in the middle of the enclosure and you can easily get your fingers on it to wiggle it out. I have a Mullard high gain, low microphonic tube on the way from Tube Depot.
Verdict...it's awesome! Yet another great preamp option.
Ok...so I've spent about an hour or so playing and tweaking and using different basses through it. If you are a TLDR (too long didn't read) sort or suffer from ADD...I'll sum it up. It sounds really good. I don't have them back to back, but it sounds right up there with the Shaw Tube Injection. I took the back off and I can see why. Just as in the Shaw, the entire preamp is hand wired...no PC boards (the transformerless DIs in the Shaw come from Creation Audio Labs ARE on PC boards). I read somewhere that Arkham didn't put an XLR out on the Oracle because of noise concerns with all that hand wiring in a small (sort of) enclosure. Sort of makes sense. Shaw solved that issue by installing pre-made DIs from CAL. Putting my RNDI under the board really makes not having a DI a moot point provided the sound man sends you phantom power.
The EQ is really very useful. The bass and treble knobs are shelved. So if you adjust them, you raise the entire bottom end or top end...not just a specific frequency. This is the way the Noble works too. The difference is the Range control. It moves the point at which the shelf pivots. And it makes HUGE differences. When I first started playing with the EQ it was too fat with not a lot on top...but moving the Range knob clockwise gave me more of what I wanted without moving the bass control.
The HPF switch would be useful if you were on a wooden stage or a boomy room and wanted to dump your bottom end. I find it doesn't do much for the tone through headphones. The Hi switch does what you expect. It gives you more treble. Yuck! The Mid switch is really fantastic. I rather enjoy it, but it's not something that will be "always on". The Lo switch does indeed give you more low end at a specific frequency, but I find you have to fiddle with the EQ again to get it sounding even. It's not as effective as the "Fat" switch on the Shaw...I never turned that off.
If I dime the gain I can get some overdrive, but it's not the same as power tube overdrive, it is sort of brittle sounding like all small 12AX7 preamps. I have the gain set to where it just starts to impart a little wool, then back it off a hair.
The master I have set about 1:00 and I could raise or lower it and compensate for it on the mixer...so it doesn't really matter much.
So do I like it better than the SLO? Yes and no.
It sounds better to my ears...but in a mix no one will know. It is a bit noisier due to my power feed not being filtered. When I had the SLO it was powered off my PowerMax which is isolated and filtered....dead quiet. So it's not really the fault of the Oracle, but I can hear my computer hard drive array clicking through it. I won't have that issue on a gig as I run a Fishman power conditioner.
It's a lot bigger than the SLO, doesn't have a cab sim, doesn't have an FX loop, doesn't have a headphone out, and doesn't have an Aux in. All things I didn't use on the SLO. The 120v power requirement and the size are the big negatives, but I have a right angle plug coming for the power cord to help keep the cord from sticking out and not fitting in my case (or having to unplug the power cord from the back).
So I'm torn. I love the SLO not just for how it sounded...and it sounded good...but for everything it could do in such a small package. It's like pulling for the little guy in a fight...the underdog. But products like the Shaw, Noble, and Oracle are really on another level quality and sound wise. The components inside the Oracle are top notch. If you are a tube roller, the Oracle is REALLY easy to do tube swaps in. Six screws to remove the back, and the tube is smack in the middle of the enclosure and you can easily get your fingers on it to wiggle it out. I have a Mullard high gain, low microphonic tube on the way from Tube Depot.
Verdict...it's awesome! Yet another great preamp option.
I've used the Nordstrand preamp for a while and owned a couple of them but added the RNDI in front to send signal to the House and IEM feed.
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