Stream of consciousness early morning musing alert!
I need wondering about a new preamp for Double Bass and bass guitar. for my own use. I have a J retro on a Jazz plate mounted in a metal box that does the EQ nicely. I would need enough clean gain for it to drive a power amp properly so guess that would need an extra stage of grunt. Output on DI level XLR + balanced jack to drive power amp. I would also like to incorporate a second channel using an fdeck HPf (which I also have) into it so that my piezo pickup on my DB gets buffered properly. It would be cool to have a passive roll off for the fdeck. I have never really had a need for EQ on my DB once the fdeck is on board, but I guess it would be nice to be able to patch into the J retro should the need arise. I am wondering about an FX loop running in parallel(?) with a vol control so that I can blend in fx/clean on a volume pedal depending on what the song needs. Also a normal FX loop. I understand that this would not be a thing of beauty but it would do what I want and simplify my set up. An overall mute with LED also please. I am umming and ahing about rack mounting or stomp box. If I went stomp box I would not need a breakout box for switching and ting. Is this doable by someone who actually knows that they are doing (I was thinking http://4114customeffects.co.uk/)
Or I could get a Tech 21 VT deluxe which would seem to do a lot of this and is also programmable, but is rumoured to be a bit noisy. I cannot be doing with hiss. Are they mod-able to get a better signal to noise ratio?