thisisswanbon

I may be a minority, but I use the tube drive more as am always on thickener/warmer upper than an all out drive/stompable effect. Really adds weight to the note and overall tone. I can't think of a preamp I've had that's had more of a 3D amp like quality (comparing to the likes of the Ampeg SGT-DI, Two notes Le bass, Markbass pre etc...)

Quick shot until a better one can be had... didn't realise how blurry this was until it was too late 🤦‍♂️ Zip on my pedaltrain snapped and it was cheaper to change the board than the bag! Went with one of the new Donner ones for a bit more space... it came literally half an hour before I left for our gig at the Newcastle AC Milan match so hastily threw this together... Addition of the Joyo monomyth last minute as an EQ and drive/back up preamp... but nothing is kicking my Digbeth off the board, that thing is unbelievable! I got some power outputs the wrong way so SOMETHING was running at 18v instead of 9v but no idea what... sounded IMMENSE in my in-ears though, but needless to say re-cabling will be done! Will most likely move the 1spot too, not many mounting options underneath unfortunately though...

Unless there's been an update since I sold mine on, then it suffers from the same restriction as the HX stomp - you can only have 1 parallel path. With the hotone, it's either 1 continuous chain of 12 blocks or two chains of 6 with the split in and out being wherever you choose...

Way Huge Pork & Pickle or Pork Loin is the best I've used for this...the hot tubes side of the EHX Hot Wax is also great for this... Cali76 wise... I took a punt on the DemonFX Call76 clone; and honestly, it's great! I'd had a Cali76 previously but sold it on as it just felt like such an extravagant purchase. I'm not sure how the Call76 would fare in a blind test, but it's close enough that I love what it does regardless, and for £55 delivered from https://www.affordaboard-pedals.co.uk/ you just can't complain.

Hey! I'll start this by confessing that I LOVE a good octaver, and I'm also a firm believer that there are some things that the digital realm just can't replicate. Since joining a band that does live band renditions of EDM classics I now spend at least 50% of my playing up past the 7th fret with a solo octave sound, usually going for the OC2 thing. Over time I've gone from an MXR M88 (which I had little understanding of) to a Boss OC3, followed by a TC Sub n Up mini, which lead to a TC Sub n Up, eventually going for a Cog T16 and finishing on a 3Leaf Audio Octabvre Mini (The white one). The T16 was the pedal which opened my eyes to the OC2 sound, and was only replaced when a drunken punter fell on it, snapping the clean blend knob. I was unable to get in touch with Tom as this was during his hiatus, and so had a couple of botched local repairs which made it worse before deciding to replace. The reason for so much self indulgent back story is just to demonstrate that I'm certainly more familiar with octave pedals than the average bear and at times feel more comfortable playing with one on than not... So... the OC5. After seeing the price of 3 leaf gear sky rocket, it seemed like the perfect time to cash out, but I'd need a suitable replacement to justify selling my favourite piece of gear. A bit of talkbass and youtube searching lead me to the OC5, with rave reviews and cries of "authentic oc2 emulation". I was aware of the digital-ness of this, but thought all these players can't be wrong surely? Turns out, they're not wrong... but it's a case of YMMV. I really wanted to like this pedal, it looks great with a cracking feature set. At £119 it seemed a steal! It had all the build quality you've come to expect from Boss, and was as intuitive as any other Boss pedal. After a good old play with my Sandberg VT4 with custom passive electronics, neck pickup solo'd going between this and the 3leaf... it certainly had the right sound, with maybe a little bit more bottom end than I'm used to from my Octabvre. It had all the right texture, with an unmistakable smoothness. Something was just a bit off... The difference, and where I feel ALL digital octave pedals fall short, is the feel when playing. Undoubtedly because of the digital processing time, you'll always have that ever so slight disconnect from picking the note, to it coming out the other end. Analogue octave pedals (Octabvre included) stick to your notes like, well... a sticky note thing! There's just an immediacy with analogue octave pedals which massively impacts the they feel, and as a result the way I play. If this ever so slight latency doesn't bother you then it's a great option... and certainly works a treat for the "Sledgehammer" type sound... but solo'd it's no cigar I'm afraid... Hope this helps!

An extra £200 to the Ampero II Stomp... not sure if there's any spec changes aside from the extra footswitch functionality. Bit of a push if not...

I wish there was, it'd be much easier! The Aux In is definitely quiet though, I've read quite a few instances... maybe there's a dodgy batch

I feel like this should be the Digbeth owners club, as the info is great... on that note - Has anyone come up with a work around or solution for the quiet Aux in? After reading reviews and personal experience, it seems a lot quieter than any other aux in I've previously had.

I understand the want for this, and don't think any abuse is necessary... personally I'd rather use a cheaper branded bass than a copy, but each to their own. I think the issue you'd have getting a copy is they all seem to use that cheap big plate bridge without the side poles - always a bit of a give away, and finding a music man replacement seems very difficult.

No mid control, but if you're just looking for slight break up, EQ doesn't really come into the conversation for me... 1. Way Huge Pork & Pickle - perfect for tube like breakup 2. Jptr FX Jive saturator - gooey mids with lovely break up texture 3. EHX Hot Wax - Hot tubes does a perfect tube break up, with loads of extra options on tap too

Doesn't tick the all in one box... but I run a DemonFX Call76 (totally original design as I understand 😬) into a Laney Digbeth preamp. The digbeth has a lovely switchable tube emulation and FET channel with 4 band and tilt eq systems and sounds great! You can get this combo for well under £200. I'm loving this combo (I run other pedals too and the digbeth is last in chain) and honestly can't imagine there being anything better at either pedal's price point.

I've always liked the idea of using these to tighten up lows, but I struggle to comprehend where they go in your chain! To my underdeveloped brain, it makes more sense to go at the end of your chain to filter any effects units too, but when going to FOH it wouldn't hit your DI. At the beginning of your chain just feels like it would suck all of the fundamental of your raw bass whilst not addressing the added lows from effects and preamp EQs...

I watched that video more times than I'd like to admit...

TL;DR - I have a problem. So I've been on a bit of a preamp journey since going direct to FOH, and I feel like it's finally come to an end! It seems a shame to just let it be done without taking the excuse to be a bit self indulgent and talk about some fantastic pedals... so here we go! My epic tone quest begins in March '23, with my band buying a new P.A. System. I'd forever been in a cycle of buying bass amps to suit my barefaced Big twin II (which I hated), and decided the new PA was an excuse to go direct to FOH. Enter... Hotone Ampero Stomp II! I'd had little success with the HX stomp previously, but looking at the spec sheet thought this HAD to be a winner. After a brief bit of setting up it sounded fantastic, with a great lively quality to the sound. As has often happened with me though; I see digital, I hear digital. This coupled with option paralysis and meant it had to go... enter, Mark Bass Vintage Pre! What a bloody good bit of kit this is! The tube really adds a warmth and punch to the sound that I've not gotten elsewhere. There was a mid quality to this that I LOVED! Didn't like the preset eq voices, but didn't use them. Found I had to have the gain too low for my c4 patches and lost alot of headroom, and when turning the gain up the clipping was very digital and didnt have that expected tube character. And so it went... enter, Ampeg SGT DI! What a sound! This thing was monstrous! Didn't like the digital cab sims, but thought they were a nice inclusion. The SGT circuit though had a life and weight that was unbelievable! Found the gain staging to be a bit fiddly, felt cheated that I wasn't using the cab sims, and the lads in the band saying they couldn't really tell the difference made me think £370 is a bit much to make myself smile. And so, back it went... enter, Laney Digbeth Preamp! I cannot believe the quality of this thing for £140 new! It's so feature rich and well built; 3.5mm aux in and phones out, 4 band eq with selectable low mids, dual mixable channels, fx loop, really useful tilt eq... the list goes on! I still had the Ampeg when I bought this, with a view of best pedal stays. I can't say this bested the ampeg, or the mark bass, or the hotone; they all brought a genuinely different tonal palet to the table. The thing that won out on the laney was this weight and body to each note. There's a space to the note with both channels on that gives it a real amp like feel. It put the same smile on my face as the mark bass and ampeg, at a fraction of the price! I'm obsessed with pedals, so no doubt somewhere down the line I'll want the latest and greatest, but for now I'm content at last!

If it's any re-assurance, their returns policy is the most transparent, well communicated returns process I've ever used. Love your description of this pedal, my JPTRFX jive didn't tick the boxes I wanted it to, wishing I'd gone for something like this instead!

I'd be inclined to agree with @NancyJohnson on this one... I had a Spector Rebop 4MM that I loved the look of and in headphones but struggled in the mix. Spent upwards of £450 on an Aguilar MM pickup and a custom commissioned routeless pick up. Made a difference tonally but it still wasn't what I expected and didn't drown out the other niggles I had... If the bass doesn't do what you want it to, then I'd change the bass; not the electronics

Personally I've had digital stuff (Line 6 HX stomp, Hotone Ampero II Stomp, various zoom iterations, Ampeg SGT DI with digital IR loader, source audio aftershock and bass OFD, TC Spectracomp etc) and they always lack a certain body and harmonic content. That being said, I may love it if I try it; I know local players who are far better than me who have this and love what it does... I currently use a Source Audio Ultrawave and C4, so am not 100% anti digital; I just think it lends itself to certain application, and this is one of those where I can't understand why they haven't stayed true or closer to the source material.

At the risk of being "that guy"... I can't work out why they've gone the digital route with these! Surely a recreation in pedal format would've had more appeal (and better results I can imagine) than a digital interpretation .

While I haven't tried the Ampero mini, the filters on the Ampero II were fantastic (one mans fantastic is another mans tragic of course). The pitch effects were still awful on the Ampero II however, even after a complete overhaul update of them... they'd have been better off saving face and removing them in my opinion.

Appreciate the reply Greg, but I respectfully disagree (also owned 2 MS60B's and 2 x HX Stomps). Neither blew my socks off, but I found the zoom filter and synth sounds to be a huge cut above the HX stuff, and The dirts, fuzzes and distortions were more than passable on the zoom. With the ability to stack effects in the zoom, I'm not sure how it's justified.

This surely can't be £150 better than the Zoom MS60B though... seems ludicrous pricing to me!

Was going to... but saw someone say they're a digital emulation and instantly switched off...

Paddy has pretty much hit the nail on the head there... its a fantastic pedal that does everything right really, it's just ALOT of coin. That being said, price wise I'd say its in line with all premium preamps (markbass, origin effects, two notes etc). I gigged mine last night straight to FOH to be sure of its return and the sound man said it was thunderous (no IRs used, just preamp and SGT). Long story short, if you're happy to spend the coin then you can do far far worse