A Good Option For passive Basses

[greghagger]

If you play a passive bass, you might be finding that it doesn't quite give you the fat tone that you're after when you play live. Or you might already be on an endless search for a way to boost your bass signal.

 

As a professional bassist, I need to play a mixture of active and passive basses at my gigs, and although I love passive basses for plugging directly into my computer for teaching or recording YouTube videos, I used to find that my tone was lacking when playing live through an amp. Then I stumbled upon a pedal that fixed this exact problem - the Xotic RC Booster.

 

Now, I'm not one for using loads of effects, but I always use this pedal with my passive basses, for good reason. 

 

Check out my latest YouTube video where I chat about the pedal and give you some samples of how it sounds. 

 

 

[Lozz196]

Great demo, and def a pedal worth checking out 

[Supernaut]

It's more useful for FOH EQ in my opinion. 

[ezbass]

I use a Sadowsky SBP2 for much the same reason/effect.

[BigRedX]

Or you could just set the gain and tone controls on your amp to get the same effect.

[greghagger]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Or you could just set the gain and tone controls on your amp to get the same effect.

Hi @BigRedX - the RC Booster does a different thing than just upping gain on the amp. It helps to drive the amp more giving clarity and more presence. 

[greghagger]

14 hours ago, Supernaut said:

It's more useful for FOH EQ in my opinion. 

Hi @Supernaut I don’t quite understand what you mean. The RC Booster is good for boosting bass level before going to FOH. 

[BigRedX]

4 minutes ago, greghagger said:

Hi @BigRedX - the RC Booster does a different thing than just upping gain on the amp. It helps to drive the amp more giving clarity and more presence. 

 

They should be exactly the same thing, unless you are using it to deliberately overload the input of the amp which is hardly likely to give you more clarity.

 

You'll need to explain further because I am not convinced and think it's either marketing bullshit or listening with your eyes.

[Supernaut]

45 minutes ago, greghagger said:

Hi @Supernaut I don’t quite understand what you mean. The RC Booster is good for boosting bass level before going to FOH. 

Two EQs during a show. One is FOH and one is on stage. Putting the RC before the DI out can help control and get a better EQ out front. The amp on stage can be used to sort EQ levels... on stage. 

[ezbass]

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Or you could just set the gain and tone controls on your amp to get the same effect.

Depends on the EQ notches of your amp. My SBP2 does something that neither my amp or VTDI do. Plus there’s the buffering element.

[greghagger]

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

They should be exactly the same thing, unless you are using it to deliberately overload the input of the amp which is hardly likely to give you more clarity.

 

You'll need to explain further because I am not convinced and think it's either marketing bullshit or listening with your eyes.

Boosting your signal before you go into the amp is different than cracking the gain on your amp. 
 

Listen though, I’m not in the business of persuading people to buy this, that’s for Xotic to do. I’ve made a review video. If you want to find out more, watch my video then try the pedal out in a store and let your ears the guide. If it’s not for you, cool - it’s just an option. 

[Lozz196]

Well I really liked it, and for me it sounds like a pedal that could chunk up a Jazz pretty much to Precision territory. 

[BassAdder60]

I think it has a useful place on your board and it’s a bit like the TC Spark Booster although the TC does more. 
 

I think increasing amp gain is sort of the same thing but perhaps not quite as some of the weaker bass signal is already lost in a long lead and you cannot increase gain on frequencies that are no longer present so I see some mileage in your points. It might also be the pedal EQ points are voiced differently to your amp EQ tone stack. 
 

Either way it was a nice pedal and often used by guitarists as a boost pedal in the FX loop for solo boosts