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What's your favourite Preamp/DI?


PatrickJ

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On 13/04/2018 at 20:52, TheLopp said:

I put my vote on the Shift Line Olympic Tube Preamp.

It’s a great unit and sounds really awesome. It does the pushed tube amp unbelievably good but it doesn’t do overdriven sounds. It’s the best “clean” preamp I’ve ever tried, and I own a bunch. Le Bass, Tonehammer, SCR-DI, Vintage Ultra & A/O, Hartke Bass Attack I &II,  MXR M-80, 3Leaf the Enabler, Verellen Meatsmoke, Noble, Rusty box and probably a couple more.

It takes dirt really good and the cab sim, especially the 8x10, is fantastic. And the headphones is dead silent, perfect for silent practice. And the whole unit breathes quality. I wouldn’t hesitate buying another if something happened to this. 

Good to know. The Mk 3 certainly ticks the boxes for me: headphones, cab sim and good 'cleanish' tone.

I got in touch to ask about the Mk3 and they're back in stock next month....

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I've gone round in circles this year. I have the VTbass DI, Q/Strip, BDDIv2, TCE Spectradrvie and two Zoom boxes. All sound really good, and all have USP's, but ive come to realise my fav is the BDDI. its the one i keep going back to.The more i use it the more i notice how versatile it is, especially the latest version.

I should add, im not saying its the best, just my all time fav.

Edited by dave_bass5
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11 hours ago, foxyFuze said:

Good to know. The Mk 3 certainly ticks the boxes for me: headphones, cab sim and good 'cleanish' tone.

I got in touch to ask about the Mk3 and they're back in stock next month....

I just remembered that I talked to them when I ordered and they offered members of the TalkBass community 10%  off on the Mk3. Just write TALKBASS2018 as Promo code. I don’t think they mind me spreading the news over here. 

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how should I know?

 

I have  4 and can't decide on the ONE.

MXR M80+ don't like the scooped mids

T21 BDDI - don't like the scooped mids.....

Ampeg SCR DI - the best, good tone options, OD not great, but useable for the old cab breaking up sound

 

B7K - way overpriced, no option to just use the EQ section without the OD unless you dial it down, then manually turn it up when needed....kinda defeats the purpose of a pedal doncha think DG? serious flaw in it's design to not have a seperate footswitch for OD.

 

The Ampeg wins, for now, but seriously Ampeg, did you have to make the pedal the fridge of pedals, TOO big and bulky.

Bass Fly Rig for rehearsals and may replace ALL of the others

Edited by bazzbass
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Have you seen the B7K Ultra? It addresses those issues, and the new V2 one has a cab sim too.

Personally, I think the footswitchable OD isn't that useful as the EQ changes are too drastic. I prefer to leave it always on at low gain, then stack other pedals into it for overdrive/distortion. Alpha Omega into a B3K is a favourite combo of mine lately!

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5 hours ago, bazzbass said:

Ampeg SCR DI - the best, good tone options, OD not great, but useable for the old cab breaking up sound

The Ampeg wins, for now, but seriously Ampeg, did you have to make the pedal the fridge of pedals, TOO big and bulky.

Never got my head around why Ampeg insist on including their lame OD as a 'compulsory' option on this pedal? Not yet found anyone who truly rates the OD on this unit. 

If they simply offered their EQ without the OD it would be both a cheaper and more compact EQ / headphone amp. Job done.

 

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2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Never got my head around why Ampeg insist on including their lame OD as a 'compulsory' option on this pedal? Not yet found anyone who truly rates the OD on this unit. 

If they simply offered their EQ without the OD it would be both a cheaper and more compact EQ / headphone amp. Job done.

 

I'm sure it's lame, but its certainly not up to scratch with other offerings. The unit without that circuit would be awesome though to reduce the footprint. That EQ section is really awesome.

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Well there's this if you can live without XLR and headphone out:

http://ampeg.com/products/pedals/classic/

I've only tried the standalone Scrambler pedal which I assume is the same circuit, it's not that bad actually. I moved it on in the end, but I did think it was miles better than the EHX Bass Soul Food for example, which (somehow) gets a lot of love around here!

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11 hours ago, bazzbass said:

how should I know?

 

I have  4 and can't decide on the ONE.

MXR M80+ don't like the scooped mids

T21 BDDI - don't like the scooped mids.....

Ampeg SCR DI - the best, good tone options, OD not great, but useable for the old cab breaking up sound

 

B7K - way overpriced, no option to just use the EQ section without the OD unless you dial it down, then manually turn it up when needed....kinda defeats the purpose of a pedal doncha think Ampeg? serious flaw in it's design to not have a seperate footswitch for OD.

 

The Ampeg wins, for now, but seriously Ampeg, did you have to make the pedal the fridge of pedals, TOO big and bulky.

Bass Fly Rig for rehearsals and may replace ALL of the others

Turn off the colour switch on the M80 to remove the scooped mids. Or if the OD is engaged, turn the mids to around 3 O Clock to make up for the auto engage colour switch. 

I have an M80 for the clean section mainly and I have no problem with scooped mids. 

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14 hours ago, The59Sound said:

Turn off the colour switch on the M80 to remove the scooped mids. Or if the OD is engaged, turn the mids to around 3 O Clock to make up for the auto engage colour switch. 

I have an M80 for the clean section mainly and I have no problem with scooped mids. 

I'm pretty sure the EQ controls don't work when the OD is on. What you do is, with OD off, engage the colour switch and boost the mids. THEN when you engage the OD, the mids are there.I'm 99.9% sure this is the way to do it :) Anyone else?

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22 minutes ago, bazzbass said:

I'm pretty sure the EQ controls don't work when the OD is on. What you do is, with OD off, engage the colour switch and boost the mids. THEN when you engage the OD, the mids are there.I'm 99.9% sure this is the way to do it :) Anyone else?

That makes sense. I'm pretty sure the EQ does work with the OD though.

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5 hours ago, The59Sound said:

That makes sense. I'm pretty sure the EQ does work with the OD though.

OK I'm gonna test it out tomorrow and report back.

 

Now I think about it,the only reason I stopped using this one was coz the mic lead going to my mixer  popped when touched. Turned out that mic lead had a slightly smaller connector that wobbled in the MXR's socket

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  • 2 years later...

Giving this thread a bump.

I stopped bringing my amps to gigs due to various health conditions and years of abuse on my back means that I really shouldn't be lifting anything heavy!

My rig is now super simple: Bass > TC Polytune > Tech 21 VT Bass > FOH. The signal would then be sent back either to the monitors or my IEMs (or both). 

The Tech 21 VT is great. I'm amazed at what sounds I can get out of this thing. I would definitely recommend it. 

 

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Using the Le Bass a lot, also have the Trace Elliot Transit-B since that has a five band EQ and great compressor.
This one is arriving next week:

Simpli_bass.jpg.823fdac1c02d664f09ad7cd50d5e2175.jpg

The cabinet emulation is analog, and the parallel fx loop has a low pass filter on it so you can for instance throw a compressor on your bottom end and a distortion or chorus on the preamp fxloop. When you dial some lows out of the latter you will get that bi-amp rig sound. The EQ is based on Ampeg amps.

 

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20 hours ago, DiMarco said:

Using the Le Bass a lot, also have the Trace Elliot Transit-B since that has a five band EQ and great compressor.
This one is arriving next week:

Simpli_bass.jpg.823fdac1c02d664f09ad7cd50d5e2175.jpg

The cabinet emulation is analog, and the parallel fx loop has a low pass filter on it so you can for instance throw a compressor on your bottom end and a distortion or chorus on the preamp fxloop. When you dial some lows out of the latter you will get that bi-amp rig sound. The EQ is based on Ampeg amps.

 

I'm reporting this, 'Simplifier' under the Trades Description Act.

+1 for the Two Notes Le Bass - also not simple for a Richard like me but with squelchy limiting afor-hand, acceptable Geddy/Squire tones abound. Can't speak for other idioms previously cited, i.e. Mowtown, etc.

**Edit: I have the limiter in the Le Bass effect loop**

Edited by visog
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I’ve had an original Hartke Bass Attack, MXR M80, Aguilar Tone Hammer, Sansamp V1 and 2, Behringer BDI21, briefly a Harley Benton bass expander and a couple of DHA VT pedals. I have to say that the only one I’ve come back to is the Dave Hall stuff. I had a VT2 DI EQ but am currently sporting a VT1 DI EQ and loving it as both a preamp into my power amp and my home headphone amp.

894EA1AF-367A-4E21-B194-710D063D0CF9.thumb.jpeg.e4c8774bc17a62b267e9c0643cae2709.jpeg

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Keep coming back (again and again) to the VT bass. The heavy drive sounds are not to my tastes.... But their is a perfect clean/slight grit sweet spot that makes almost any amp sound perfect imo

Edited by danbowskill
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On 14/04/2018 at 11:54, Sibob said:

The only preamp/DI I have (if you don’t count my recording interface (which is both)), is my 3Leaf Enabler. Love it, always sounds great on gigs, although for recording I always go straight into the interface as it sounds great? and do the work in the DAW.

Si

+1 my favourite is the 3 leaf Enabler! I used one as a preamp for a while with a powered Bergantino IP112, fantastic sound. It's clean but has an organic warmth. I used it on a national tour and the sound engineer loved it. I very recentky got another, as Its also the best headphone amp I've ever had.

Others I've owned/loved are

EBS microbass2 - had this three times! Loads of useful features (headphone amp/Effects loop/AB switcher) as well as a lovely overdrive. The latest version incorporates a compressor and I think a tuner.

Tech 21 VT bass DI - great sounding PRE/DI does warm/clean as well as the Ampeg ish tube tones into distortion if wanted.

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For me my Noble preamp is the best I've found. It's a very specific sound (warm / organic / tube) so it sounds great with my P bass and flats (fingers style / palm muted). However it does also warm up nicely my jazz bass too. So if you like warm then it's great.  I've got a small trees DI too which does a similar thing in a much smaller and more portable package - similar tube vibe but much cheaper.

However I've also used:

MXR DI (M81)

Aguilar Tonehammer

And they're both great - MXR very clean but great as a starting DI. Tonehammer does a great range of sounds and is very versatile. Both often come up second hand and are a great price even new.

I tend to recommend the MXR DI as a starting point for my students - I always recommend stand alone DI boxes  rather than amps - if you're using other people amps / no amp it means you can always retain your sound. I've done a lot of touring in Europe using all sorts of backline (from amazing to truly awful) so always been pleased to have my own DI box with me.

Just my $0.2 :)

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21 hours ago, dodge_bass said:

Is this a custom order? Does it have one DI output but two unbalanced outputs for sending to different amps?

No not custom, just new version I believe ....

XLR out with separate vol/gain / ground lift 

TRS/TS out with separate vol/gain / ground lift

Phase reverse switch in case of phasing issue with two power amp 

and parallel thru OUT

and newer Thumpinator 

and input impedance selector switch

and can work off a 9v battery @200mA (nice as a backup) also 9v parallel out 
 

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