I mostly play Fender and FrankenFender Ps, Js and PJs and play roots music and have a nice little stable of preamps that I dig owning that work well with the basses I play and the music that I play them on …
Alembic F1-X - A legendary design that has stood the test of time. Pros: classic Showman tone stack, no frills, built like a tank, excellent DI. Cons: the EQ is not all that versatile making it a one trick pony (albeit a great trick) and doesn't work all that well with Jazz basses due to its inherently scooped response, IMHO.
Trace Elliot V-Type - Some call it "the poor man's Alembic" and there is certainly some validity to that assessment due to it also being based on the Showman tone stack. However, the ability to dial up some distortion (whereas the Alembic can only be clean, cleaner or cleanest) with it's gain/master design and the increased midrange versatility differentiates it. A wonderful preamp and often a best buy if you can find one on the used market.
Ampeg SVP Pro - Goes together with my P-Basses like "bread & buttah" and for my money, the Ampeg SVT sound is _the_ sound. Pros: it is the classic rock sound, IMHO … 'nuff said. Cons: it's kind of noisy (and I have a quieter than average one).
Ampeg SVP CL - Pretty much all the positive attributes of the SVP Pro without the noise. Cons: you can't get the same grind you can get with the SVP Pro and its "DRIVE" control and the 5 position "ULTRA LOW" selector is more or less useless to me (as I think that it is the midrange of the SVT circuit that allows it to cut so well and the "ULTRA LOW" settings on the 5 position switch only cut midrange to varying degrees). I'll often use this one on a sound reinforced gig where I want the Ampeg sound because it has a good quality (and quiet!) DI.
Aguilar DB659 - Killer, just killer. It has only one sound, but it's a great one and works especially well with my P-Basses. It has the capability to sound really thick, but with a lot of midrange. It works really well with my SWR Stereo 800 poweramp, which adds a lot of clarity to the inherent thump of the DB659 and makes for really good, old school tone.
Demeter VTBP 201 with Jensen DI (the older, 1.5 rack space model) - I got this on a wild hair when a fellow TalkBasser was looking to trade his VTBP 201 for a Tech 21 RPM. I liked the Tech 21 just fine, but it was such a great bargain for me, I thought I'd check out what all the bru-ha-ha was on these bad boys. Pros: the DI is world class … you can't get much better, IMHO. It is voiced very nicely for Jazz basses with the 40/120 Hz frequency selector switch for the bass control … the 120 Hz position gives a Jazz (with stock, passive pickups) some of that low end thump that I like so much on my P-Basses. I might add that I prefer the older, 1.5 rack space version of this preamp to the newer, single rack space version … the same warmth and clarity, but noticeably more low end thump.
Tech 21 VT Bass V2 Pedal - I like this little stomp box as much as any of the above preamps. I use it more or less exclusively for its Ampeg B-15 emulation which works great for the roots music that I typically play. Pros: an unbelievable value for $169 and a decent facsimile of the "fliptop" sound and when paired with a good poweramp can be loud enough to use anywhere. Cons: it sounds like the SVT emulation that Tech 21 chose is with the "ULTRA LOW" switch engaged, which I don't personally care for. Also, I don't like to rely on batteries so I only use it with an AC adapter which can be a bit on the delicate side for transport, set up and tear down. Recommendation: be sure to get the V2 or VT BassDI as the V1 doesn't have the ability to bypass the 10" speaker emulation, which makes it inherently too bright, IMHO.
Barber Linden EQ Pedal - A recent acquisition that has turned out to be a wonderful unit. It is a stomp box containing the classic, old school Baxendall tone stack found on the legendary Ampeg B15 that we all know and love. It's totally solid state and is as simple as simple gets and sounds wonderful … talk about plug and play! Granted, it's a new toy for me, but I am really digging the you-know-what out of it. It's a very cool unit if you can find one (Barber Electronics doesn't make them anymore for some reason). I recently picked up a cheap used Whirlwind IMP-2 to give me DI capabilities with both the Linden EQ and the VT Bass.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. ;^)
