Demeter HBP -1 pre-amp

[Owen]

1 U pre-amp. Valve goodness. 3 band passive EQ + 2 bands full parametric. FX loop with front mounted send and return. Mute switch.

I dread to think how many amps I have run over the years. Edited high (or low) lights are Petersen, Trace, Ampeg, Boogie, EA, AI, Focusrite, Fishman, BDDI, GK, Hartke, Peavey, EBS, ummmmm. I'm just putting those up as a point of reference that I have heard and used different pre-amps in my time.

The Demeter is fabulous. I plugged several bass guitars in and they all sounded good. no need for excessive EQing, they just worked. Did it colour the sound - Mmmm yes. In a good way. No harshness, or EQ extremes, just solid usable tone. Good headroom and control.

The next test was a Double Bass with a Fishman full circle pick-up. Piezo pick ups are notoriously fussy about their first input in the amplification chain, they need a really high impedance. I have been using a Fishman Pro platinum Bass EQ for a long time now as the beginning of my signal chain. It was the best I'd found and is choc full of useful DB stuff. However, into my Berg IP112 there was an element of harshness which was getting on my nerves. I plugged into the Demeter passive input, not really expecting great things. I was wrong. It is smooth smooth smooth. Full range without any of that upper mid "boink" which really gets on my nerves.

I know I should be writing things about "tone like butter" and "grind when driven" etc but the bottom line is that everything that I have plugged has sounded a lot better than they have sounded into anything else . I almost got carried away and just played, being able to forget about my signal chain. Imagine that!

[warwickhunt]

A Demeter pre has always been top of my 'to try' list, much jealous of your bit of kit

Do you have to fiddle with the EQ much and do you find the parametric useful?

[Owen]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='267079' date='Aug 21 2008, 02:14 PM']A Demeter pre has always been top of my 'to try' list, much jealous of your bit of kit

Do you have to fiddle with the EQ much and do you find the parametric useful?[/quote]

Not really having to mess with the EQ much, a touch of Bass warms things up nicely but the main EQ is more like adding texture than scalpel like precision The parametric is very useful to get rid of the resonant Bb/B on my double bass though.

I have ditched 2 other preamps since having my marathon try out and there is another to go.

[Owen]

To continue the slowest review ever, it seems that the Demeter is making things more balanced across the board than anything else I have tried. My double bass has equal heft and thud (sorry, review cliche terms there, but they serve a purpose) all the way from the bottom to the top. On other pre-amps it tends to get progressively thinner once I get to E on the D string and continue up. With the Demeter it carries on with the same authority all the way up. With bass guitars which have in the past seemed a bit light once I get onto the B string, the Demeter makes each note speak with a more equal authority. Does it have little people inside changing the gain for each note I play? I guess not, but I am liking the consistency which makes basses which were previously being left alone due to uneven response (B string being weaker than the rest, a perceivable change in tone when changing the fat string) seem to be more complete instruments.

I do realise that this sounds like internet review hyperbole but FOR ME (and ymmv) it is opening doors to forgetting about my signal chain.

Edited September 13, 2008 by owen

[mcgraham]

[quote]I do realise that this sounds like internet review hyperbole but FOR ME (and ymmv) it is opening doors to forgetting about my signal chain.[/quote]

That's really great to hear Owen I for one love to hear about other players getting closer to their ideal setup and tone. Particularly if it involves increased simplification of a rig rather than complication.

How's the Berg IP working out for you?

Mark

[Owen]

The IP112 is a thing of wonder. It has shown up a resonant wolf note in my Double Bass that had sort of been there before, but is there for shure now. It is small and loud with good extension all the way down. I'm guessing that it is a combination of the Demeter and the Berg which is giving me this extension, because it was not there all the way up with anything but the Demeter - I have not actually listened for LF extension with any of the other pre-amps I was messing with so cannot make a definitive statement for that one.

I am just wondering whether I should swap the Berg HT115 I have running underneath the IP to a cab that the IP is actually voiced to drive. The only way to know would be to A/B both. The chances of that happening round here are....................zero.

[mcgraham]

Awesome Is the Demeter pre based on some traditional Fender preamp design of legend? I forget the name, it just rings a bell.

I'd like to get a Berg IP one day. Particularly the 112 as I'd like to have a one cab/two cab option, i.e. walk with a bass and an active cab to a practice, drive to gig with bass and both cabs for the full rig. However, funds do not allow this. If just the IP112 came up for sale I could reasonably foresee moving the Schroeder & TF on in favour of the Berg, or in a trade + cash, but I think there are too many eager beavers waiting for a spare Berg IP112 coming up for me to make good on that.

Mark

[Owen]

Much as I love the IP112, walking to a practice with one would not be on my list of things to do unless I had a trolley. Neo light it is not

I don't think the Demeter is the Fender design, but then I do not actually know. Did I mention that it sounds very fine?

[mcgraham]

You may have done. Best re-iterate it just in case.

I know it's not light as small cabs go, but it's a more manageable size than the light but comparatively bulky neo cabs that are around.

Mark

[EBS_freak]

I head the Demeter next to the new SWR Marcus Miller pre in the states and I have to say... the Demeter had it. Well, to my ears anyway.

[Owen]

Today I am A/Bing my Demeter with an Avalon U5.

I am cataloguing my thoughts as much a record for me as anything else.

All going into a Berg IP310. My wife is not loving the whole thing

The tone settings on the U5 certainly change the output level, but there is loads of gain so that is not really an issue.

Magnetic pick ups.

The U5 seemed more "immediate' than the Demeter. Not sure how to define it really. There was more hit on harder plucking. Punch would be the wrong word really, more kind of aggressive poke. Harder or faster - not in a bad or good way, just different. Perhaps it is just more headroom. I tried the piezo pick up on my Bolin NS bass and there was certainly more "whoosh" of air movement with the U5. I guess what I am aiming at here is that the U5 delivers it's goods in a more prompt way than the Demeter. I'm guessing that this is due to the U5 having a better power supply able to deliver the juice quicker.

Unbuffered Double Bass Piezo pick up.

Again (yes, you can tell I have collected my thoughts by now) there is more speed in the U5. They both buffer the piezo really nicely

EQ wise the Demeter is obviously a lot more versatile with the 3 bands and also the 2 bands of full parametric.

I will keep both and gig with them for a bit. Will I actually hear the extra immeadiacy through the general noise on a gig? I really don't know and as such the Demeter wins. I will report back later on. I reserve the right to take a few years to get back to report further.

[franzbassist]

I picked up this same model Demeter a few weeks ago. Owen was very kind to give me his thoughts before I bought it, and I must admit his review was spot on.

He said:

[i]I plugged several bass guitars in and they all sounded good. no need for excessive EQing, they just worked. Did it colour the sound - Mmmm yes. In a good way. No harshness, or EQ extremes, just solid usable tone. Good headroom and control. [/i]

And I couldn't agree more. I'm really pleased with how all my basses sound through this preamp; they just sound [i]right[/i].

Cheers

Gareth

[franzbassist]

Here's mine, freshly racked with a Crown power amp bridged at [size=4][b]1100[/b][/size] watts. Mmm...

Edited April 9, 2010 by walbassist

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='walbassist' post='801064' date='Apr 9 2010, 05:20 PM']Here's mine, freshly racked with a Crown power amp bridged at 100watts. Mmm...

[/quote]

Bridged at 100w... Shirley not!

[KiOgon]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='801077' date='Apr 9 2010, 05:35 PM']Bridged at 100w... Shirley not! [/quote]
I'm sure I *bridged* her sister Long time ago tho

[franzbassist]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='801077' date='Apr 9 2010, 05:35 PM']Bridged at 100w... Shirley not! [/quote]

Ah, my bad, corrected it is.

[Owen]

I kept the Demeter and sold the Avalon. Don't get me wrong, the Avalon had RIGHTEOUS tone, just the lack of EQ was an issue with my Double Bass for live work. It needs taming. I would love to have both, but that would be silly.

[Happy Jack]

Delighted to hear that it's still hitting the spot, Owen.

[Owen]

I changed the valve in this a couple of days ago. It is now more immediate than it was. In a nice way. More importantly I messed with the internal gain trim pot thing. I turned it all the way down, just to see. I then screwed it all back together and mounted it in my rack and went to bed. I turned it on last night to give someone a lesson and lo and behold, no output. That gave me 10 minutes of head scratching until I remembered the trim pot. Once turned up again everything was fine. I am only really cataloguing this here because there seems to be no info out there on the WWW about the internal gain pot.