which would you choose? Shuttle 6.0 or BMax-t

[gaijinking]

Hello all,
I'm quite the newbie posting here. I'm not that much of a gear head, but I definitely like to shop around for the best bang for the buck.
I'm looking to buy a small but high quality DI setup for recording straight into Logic. I play a 69' passive fender jazz that to my ears sounds almost as good un-amped as it does plugged in! Yeah it's got that classic growl.
So with that said, I would really love a nice warm/fat tube sound, but I don't really have alot of space. And for the most part I won't even be playing it through a cabinet, however, I would like the option to on occasion take it to play at a friends practice space (through his cab) with live drums. So far my research has led me to these two choices:

BBE Bmax-t - I love the idea of being able to dial in so much sound and have the option of the sonic maximizer when needed.

or

The Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 - from what I've seen this little dynamo seem like a great little piece of equipment. I love the idea that I can possibly use this to jam or play live too - the tube pre sounds really sweet, but will it sound great for recording too??

I'd love to hear what guys think? opinions?
as for my playing style/sound preferance- I'm sorta all over the place really.. I'm not terribly fond of the "modern" bass amp tone. And I prefer the sound of my strings when they're well worn in. I prefer a fat fuzzy sound for finger style funky stuff, and a nice clean articulation for strumming chords and making wacky noise. I'm not much of a slapper but on occasion I punctuate a line with it, or dig in deep with my attack.

oh and I also plan on occasionally pluggin in my Moog Etherwave Theramin too...
Again, any opinions would greatly be appreciated. I'm dying to something setup soon!!

 

[wave rider]

The BBE Bmax-t is a preamp only, you would have to take a power amp along to work with your friend's cabinet. Unless he has a powered cab...

=wr=

 

[gaijinking]

Wow, I didn't think being a newbie would get me such little response around here..

ust to clarify, what would be your preference between the two as far as sound quality recording? yes the shuttle gets points for being an amp.. but which do you guys think sounds better given my setup above??

 

[BlacksHole]

I do not believe the poor response is due to you're being new but rather that the number of ppl who would be able to adequately compare these two pieces for recording is probably very low. I cannot answer your question either, BTW.

 

[buffordbass]

It's an apples and oranges kind of question. The BBE-Tube is a great pre-amp, the shuttle is a great amp. If you want something that CAN do both record and play on occassion, the Shuttle is your only choice. You can buy a power amp to go with the BBE and maybe even spend the same $$... then it's 4 lbs vs. 40 lbs.....
The beauty is you can set the DI on the Shuttle to post eq and record, and also take it to play when you have an opportunity. The BBE cant!

 

[Fretlessboy]

the 6.0 has a great DI and is a powerhouse live. The BBE is cool but without power can't be used live

 

[stflbn]

I do not have a Shuttle, but I have a NeoPak, which I feel is very similar to the Shuttle. I've also owned and gigged a Bmax-T for a year or two.

Vastly different units (aside from the Bmax-T not being powered).

The Bmax-T is a warm and tubey sounding unit as far as I'm concerned. You'll have to work to get that native sound out of it. I feel it's naturally full and punchy. The GenzBenz however (I feel) is very transparent and much brighter sounding and not NEAR as Tubey as the Bmax-T. My experience withe my Genz is that's it's much more modern sounding then the Bmax-T.

You can brighten up the Bmax-T, or you can tone down the Shuttle. By doing so I'm sure you can get each to sound close to the other. But the Shuttle is going to be much more versatile then the Bmax-T is. However, if you're looking for that warm Tubey punchy sound the Bmax-T is an excellent choice, and I'll more than likely end up picking up another one at some time just to have sitting around when I want that sound.

 

[Visirale]

If you want mainly a DI that will capture the sound of your bass and not screw it up with it's own stuff, get an avalon U5. Same price range as those. If you want to you can add a power amp and run a cab with it. But if I had a 69 jazz and wanted just the sound of it, I'd run it through an avalon.