What preamp pedal do you use, and why?

[Lesfunk]

Have they sorted out that firmware issue?

I don’t know. I never bothered with any of that.
When I switched on the cab sim, I didn’t like the sound.
But the preamp on its own is very good
IMO it’s worth the money even without the IR

 

[Kipp Harrington]

I used to use a Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe. I later discovered that I really didn't need a preamp to get the sound I was looking for. Now I use a Whirlwind Bass 10 EQ pedal and I am happy as a pig in slop!

 

[MrClassicMetal]

I don’t know. I never bothered with any of that.
When I switched on the cab sim, I didn’t like the sound.
But the preamp on its own is very good
IMO it’s worth the money even without the IR

True, it's quite a bargain. And you've got a point there regarding the IR. I used to think one was necessary, but not anymore.

 

[WarwickE36]

Sansamp BDDI v2 or Sushibox Dr Wattson

 

[GwenOnBass]

This meets all my needs.

 

[Rnr..........4]

I used to use a YYZ but I don't quite understand why you would want to because Geddy's tone on those early records and 80s records you can get by using a bass with the same pickups anyway. I felt the grit sound sounded artificial. Now, if you want that Clockwork Angels tone. Sure, crank the drive, etc. The Rickenbacker setting on the YYZ is laughable really. Just get a Rick.

 

[devnulljp]

Bassbone OD

 

[el murdoque]

The Sansamp PBDDI is hard to beat in terms of bang for the buck. The DI out simply works with anything.
Lots of knobs, but every single one makes sense, built in tuner and even a comp, so it can double as a standalone: EBS MicroBass III. A bit cheaper with less options: EBS MicroBass II.

 

[clockworkcorpse]

TLDR: I like the Tone Hammer a lot.

I've used the BDDI and Ampeg Scrambler DI, but now only own a Tone Hammer DI. I had a TH350 for years, and now a TH700, so I'm used to the EQ. I found the Scrambler easy to use, but the output on the 1/4" was way too low, and the input had a low ceiling. The BDDI was awesome, but while A-B-ing it against the Tone Hammer I found I could do everything I wanted from the BDDI with the TH, and I found the TH easier to dial in. My one complaint about the Tone Hammer is that I much prefer the drive knob on the TH heads to the AGS switch. I'm never going to click the AGS on or off on the fly, as the gain can't be preset separately for on and off. I do pretty much have the AGS always on, I do like the easily controlled hair.

 

[johnk_10]

i have a lot of preamps that i use and love but the two that i'm most looking forward to trying are the two Origin Bassrig ones that are due to arrive early next week.
my current ones are:

Rack mount:
UA 6176 (completely AWESOME)
Focusrite ISA 430MKII (also AWESOME)

pedals:
Aguilar Tone Hammer
Custom made Acoustic 370
Acoustic 360 (viva analog)
Custom made Sunn Coliseum preamp
Custom made Sunn Beta Bass preamp
Custom made Kustom K200B
Custom Made Orange AD200B
Custom made Traynor Monoblock II
SushiBox SBVT
SushiBox DR Wattson (HW version)
EAE Musicman HD130
Tech21 SH1
Tech21 YYZ
Tech21 VT bass
Tech21 Leeds
Tronographic Rusty Box
and a few more that i can't think of at the moment.................

 

[wncBass]

Tech 21 Leeds, I wish Tech 21 made a Leeds DI or a Leeds deluxe.

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

I use a SansAmp VT Bass. I do like to use it to dial in a little bit of hair on my sound, but mostly it's a DI with an equalization setup for when I play ampless (sans amp?).

Funny enough, the name came from the concept of playing without an amp.

i have a lot of preamps that i use and love but the two that i'm most looking forward to trying are the two Origin Bassrig ones that are due to arrive early next week.
my current ones are:

Rack mount:
UA 6176 (completely AWESOME)
Focusrite ISA 430MKII (also AWESOME)

pedals:
Aguilar Tone Hammer
Custom made Acoustic 370
Acoustic 360 (viva analog)
Custom made Sunn Coliseum preamp
Custom made Sunn Beta Bass preamp
Custom made Kustom K200B
Custom Made Orange AD200B
Custom made Traynor Monoblock II
SushiBox SBVT
SushiBox DR Wattson (HW version)
EAE Musicman HD130
Tech21 SH1
Tech21 YYZ
Tech21 VT bass
Tech21 Leeds
Tronographic Rusty Box
and a few more that i can't think of at the moment.................

Before the Darkglass stuff came to prominence, I was GASSing so hard for a Rusty Box. It's not like this elsewhere in the world, but the mark up on that device in Australia is laughable. It's not that expensive, but it's out of reach.

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

Tech 21 Leeds, I wish Tech 21 made a Leeds DI or a Leeds deluxe.

View attachment 4599903

Run a Mooer or similar mini DI right next to that Leeds, and you're in biznizz.

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

TLDR: I like the Tone Hammer a lot.

I've used the BDDI and Ampeg Scrambler DI, but now only own a Tone Hammer DI. I had a TH350 for years, and now a TH700, so I'm used to the EQ. I found the Scrambler easy to use, but the output on the 1/4" was way too low, and the input had a low ceiling. The BDDI was awesome, but while A-B-ing it against the Tone Hammer I found I could do everything I wanted from the BDDI with the TH, and I found the TH easier to dial in. My one complaint about the Tone Hammer is that I much prefer the drive knob on the TH heads to the AGS switch. I'm never going to click the AGS on or off on the fly, as the gain can't be preset separately for on and off. I do pretty much have the AGS always on, I do like the easily controlled hair.

The only way I could find the TH pre pedal functional for everything was to actually have the AGS always on. But just *slightly*. A little dab will do ya, as it's extremely aggressive haha. I'll admit it. That was a cool sound. It kind of pissed me that I couldn't use it as an actual dirt box. I didn't find it quite so controllable.

 

[fishdude101101]

Trickfish minnow because it is very clean and the bass control is voice at 80hz rather than 40hz like a lot of pre amps so it can thicken up the higher strings as well. I use it in front of all my amps as a base sound. Which there was a 250hz option for the low mids.

I also use the Mesa subway di + somtimes in the same way. Very flexible and has a hpf built in. My only complaint is that it isn't really a clean sounding pre, that tube emulation stuff is always there.

 

[jdh3000]

Two Notes Le Bass...it's a tube preamp, nice smooth cleans and a couple levels of grit if you want. Warm tube sound.
May be just a little over your budget though.

I also have the MXR M81, which has a solid sound... completely clean preamp though, if you want dirt. it doesn't do it. It has a good sweepable mid control. Definitely within your price range.

A good affordable option it the TC Electronics Spark Plug, the bigger boost with 2 knobs. It's touted as a boost pedal but can definitely be used as a preamp. It has 3 levels from clean, mid grit and dirty. At the price you could have a couple to swith between.

Something I should've mentioned first is the swiss army knife of preamps, the Zoom ms60b. It's a "multi-effects" pedal, but loaded with preamps a amp sims(which are preamps)... It also includes compressors and eqs...
A lot of great sounds without even touching any of the effecs like envelope, phasers, chorus distortion, octave, etc.
Use 4 at one time.
If I was big into effects, I'd get two and set up one for utilities to chain together preamps, parametric eq, hpf, and use the other pedal to cycle through effects. I mainly used it as a utility pedal.

It's my grab and go when I don't want to carry my board.

They make a larger version, b3n, but I don't know much about it...most of the same effects.

 

[Deleted member 132197]

- Fishman Pro EQ Platinum Bass. My go to pedal for acoustic instruments and clean tones. It has a very efficient compression and hi pass filter.

Radial Bassbone OD. I bought it a couple years ago mainly to use for seamless switching between fretted and fretless basses live (which it does beautifully). I quickly discovered that it was a veritable Swiss Army knife

I use the Shift-Line Olympic, and for certain bands it is essentially my entire rig; I use it as my "amp" sound for FOH as well as IEM's. I like it because 1, I think it sounds great, 2. It's flexible in that you can load IR's or choose not to use them, and 3. the tube functionality is awesome, you can slam the front end of this thing and it reacts like an amp would. There's plenty of routing options with it as with (has a DI out, headphones out, aux line in, line out and FX loop), it's relatively compact and it simply has gotten the job done for me. FOH engineers love the tones I'm able to provide for them and my bandmates like the tones as well.

I would also recommend these three.

Right now I'm using the Shift Line Olympic exactly for the reasons @halech54 wrote down. But before that I used a Radial Bassbone v2 (the two channels were ideal for the double bass and bass, and the HPF was a nice extra) and the Fishman.

 

[esa372]

I had no idea the ParaDriver was basically an RPM. Might just have to go buy one. Is it close in sound to an RPM?

Yep. On the Tech21 website, they call it the "floor version of our RPM rackmount":

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[ThudThudThud]

Yep. On the Tech21 website, they call it the "floor version of our RPM rackmount":

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Dammit GAS.

 

[ruju]

Lately I’m using the Boss BB1x as a clean preamp. I’m not a big fan of the drive on it.