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New preamps days...


bassmayhem
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...to come.
Jacques Ruppert, the father of the Basswitch, talked very warm about a valve preamp one of his friends build, so after some correspondence I ordered one.
Behold: the WR Goliath Tube Bass Emphasizer DI. There are some sound clips on the website, also some video clips on the Youtube. [url="http://www.wra.lu/"]http://www.wra.lu/[/url]


As if not this was enough, I also ordered Malcolm Toft's latest creation: the Bassics BPA-1 preamp. This is more like a channel strip with foot switches.
There are no clips available yet, but there will be for sure. [url="http://bassics.co.uk/"]http://bassics.co.uk/[/url]



A review will come as soon as I've toyed around with them a while.
No - I haven't won on the lottery, just sold a heap of goodies, so they are long time paid for... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Edited by bassmayhem
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[quote name='molan' timestamp='1471991078' post='3117570']
All you need now is a Grace FeLix to complete the set :)
[/quote]
The Felix is a nice piece of gear, but more suited to acoustic instruments. I got two preamps already that I use with my uprights: a Fishman Platinum Pro EQ/DI with my cheap but well sounding Stella plywood bass, and a Basswitch that I use with my big solid wood upright. It is strange; some gear mix well with one instrument and some with the other. The cheap bass has a Realist Copperhead pickup and sounds good. The same pup on the other bass sounded crap. I use a Realist Life Line on that bass instead, and that is a nice combo.

The Goliath is for my four string "old school" basses and the Bassics for my more "hi-tech" 5-6 string basses. I will also use that one as preamp to my Bose rig for church gigs, where traditional speakers tend to boom a lot.

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I love the Basswitch - it's a real 'get out of jail' preamp as well if an amp goes down on a gig.

The FeLix is such a pure sounding little thing. Personally I'm looking for a bit more warmth to my pre-amps but I can imagine that, in the right hands, it works beautifully with an upright.

The Goliath looks really cool, must investigate that a bit more :)

I like that it doesn't have too many knobs to fiddle with. In fact one of my favourite bass pedals is my Alleva Coppolo Kah Boom. It has bass, treble and a bypass switch, that's the lot, not even a level setting, lol.

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I have just added an FMC Retrobass Preamp to my board and quite like it for adding a touch of tube goodness to my signal chain. Its a tube pre based on the Alembic F-1X in a pedal format. Tonestack controls and three different voice settings, no DI.

Here is a video demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ltk4FWhFG0 and more infos on the FMC website (in german) here http://fmc-audio.jimdo.com/fmc-retrobass-tube-preamp/. FMC is mainly known as builder of bass cabinets that are well liked in german-speaking bass forums.

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[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1472134512' post='3118790']
Stop it, all of you. I'm a weak willed man and love new toys. Was happy with my Basswitch until I started reading this thread...
[/quote]
I am happy with my Basswitch too. They are different animals. One clean - one colouring, when comparing with the Goliath. I got it delivered today, a really nice present...

I mean, even the box looks exclusive. Like Dior or Armani or something...


..but what was inside was much nicer.


It is a sturdy piece of gear; my reach on the piano is from C to G one octave up (with a little stretching)...


...and finally a family picture.


The sound, then...
It is no overdrive pedal, just a warm, nice preamp with tube/valve crispiness and cuddling wooliness. If I was to describe the tone, well, a bit Bassman flavour, especially with the deep switch engaged. Premier gig on Sunday on an outdoor stage. I bring my "non sexiest" light weight amp, the Max 12.2 (to be able to drive my two 4 ohm TKS 2126) with the Goliath into the FET channel. Report later!

On Tuesday the Bassics BPA-1 arrives...

Edited by bassmayhem
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[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1472154737' post='3119006']
You're an evil man, posting tempting photos... Expect you'll report that it sounds fab, too.
[/quote]

Yup, don't worry Dan, I've reported this thread to the Mod's. It's despicable that this sort of thing goes on in an open forum. Now if you'll excuse me; I've got to go see how much a kidney would fetch on the black market!

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Well,
Now the Bassic has arrived. Compared to Goliath it is another animal. Goliath sets its tone in a creamy nice manner; the Bassic is more or less a channel strip from a mixing console with eq adapted for bass guitar. The premier gig will be a church concert backing a choir. Bassic into Bose-rig seems to be a good choice...

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I'm sure it sounds great, but I'm not getting why you would want to be foot selecting eq bands....and wondering where and how I would carry it....interested to see what you make of it! For the record, my favourite DI is flat response, with a mute footswitch.....I'm probably eqphobic.

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If you for example switch between a J- and a P-bass you may have to kick in some low end on the J, or alter the mid for the P. Things like that. It is not an eq to add flavour, more like adjusting levels. Or kick in a slap tone or solo tone or something. I'll probably end up just using one switch: the Mute switch, and leave everything else be. I am also a "straight thru guy", but sometimes the room you play in does awkward things to the sound. I see the eq more as [i]a corrector of tonal anomalities in the room[/i].

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  • 1 year later...

I found the Bassics BPA-1 not to be my cup of tea so I sold it. Now I have three pedalboards, one small "non-effect board", my medium big and my super big under build. 

40641819771_83014468ca_k.jpg

Here is my Metro 24 with just a Polytune, a Diamond Bass Comp and a Two Notes LeBass: perfect for rock stuff. I found the LeBass a bit hard to tweak at first, but now I've nailed it.

40597053182_6eb66a33fe_k.jpg

The Novo 32 with my Goliath Preamp/DI and some pedals, also the very nice FMR Audio A.R.C. compressor, also boost and DI on this one. There is space for my Relay G50 too, when I want to mount it. The Goliath gives a nice break-up when digging in; otherwise it is very, very pleasant...

My big gig board isn't ready yet...

Edited by bassmayhem
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