'warming up' a SS amp

[1970]

Wondering if there's a particularly nice preamp-type pedal that can add some colour/grit to a solid state amp, maybe something that can replicate nice subtle tube grit when playing chords. Don't need anything high-gain at all, just some nice colour.

[lefrash]

I've always been impressed by the Tech 21 VT Bass. Never played through one myself, but heard one live a couple of times and liked it! Just a warm sounding pedal.


Fraser

[BassBod]

I've used a Sansamp for years to do this. I don't really use distortion, just adds low end and "warmth". I hate using words to describe sounds, but that will do.

The old Bass Driver does it fine, the newer VT does it with more variety. Trick is to use the knobs carefully - if you are cranking it the sounds will not be very useful..the blend is the key.

[chris_b]

What amp and cab do you have?

[Truckstop]

Behringer BDI-21!

Less than a quarter of the cost of a SansAmp and does the same thing. At least this way you can see if you like extra grit for not much money rather than take the hit on a more expensive pedal.

Truckstop

[Lozz196]

Any of the above recommendations will do the job great but my personal fave for this are the Dave Hall Amps (DHA) pedals. There was one up for grabs on here recently as well.

[discreet]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1384690318' post='2279432']
Behringer BDI-21! Less than a quarter of the cost of a SansAmp and does the same thing. At least this way you can see if you like extra grit for not much money rather than take the hit on a more expensive pedal.
[/quote]

Yes. I totally agree, and have previously agreed about a thousand times on here, but well worth agreeing again!
And that's about as agreeable as it gets.

Especially as DV247 are doing it for £27.
[url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/behringer-bdi21-v-tone-bass--26905"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/behringer-bdi21-v-tone-bass--26905[/url]

Edited November 17, 2013 by discreet

[Prime_BASS]

Personally I don't like using the tech 21 stuff for warming up a signal.
My personal favourite is the Xotic BB bass preamp, I have 2.

[Sibob]

Yeah the Xotic BB Pre is the obvious choice here IMO.
The fuzzrocious Broke Dick Peanut Gallery is the curveball, awesome pedal
I've not tried one, but the Catainbread SFT gets plenty of love too!

Si

[paul_5]

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/221660-dha-vt1-eq-di-further-reduction/page__pid__2276587#entry2276587"]http://basschat.co.u...87#entry2276587[/url]

Edited November 18, 2013 by paul_5

[Roland Rock]

You really need a DHA VT1 EQ, trouble is they are a bit pricey. If only you could get a bargain one somewhere........

[paul_5]

hmmm, if only.

[1970]

well I may be getting ahead of myself but I have a SS beast arriving imminently and it's replacing a tube amp. Will give it a thorough run over the next few weeks and see if I want to add a pre to colour it nicely.

Big thanks for all the suggestions. DHA is my front runner at the moment.

[Sibob]

There's a cool Fuzrocious BDPG for sale here if you fancied trying one:

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/222700-fuzzrocious-grey-stache-bdpg/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/222700-fuzzrocious-grey-stache-bdpg/[/url]

Si

[Lozz196]

[quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1384766606' post='2280317']
Yeah the Xotic BB Pre is the obvious choice here IMO.
Si
[/quote]

Of course, I use the version of it on my Zoom B3 for this very reason, now why didn`t I remember that earlier.

[rOB]

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1384690318' post='2279432']
Behringer BDI-21!
[/quote]

Yep, another vote here.

[dave_bass5]

[quote name='rOB' timestamp='1385541770' post='2289377']
Yep, another vote here.
[/quote]

One more vote for the BDI-21, if on a budget. Although i have one these days I use a BDDI, as to my ears its a bit warmer sounding.

Also another vote for the Zoom B3, although if only looking for warmth it might be a bit overkill (although cheaper than the BDDI it can emulate)

Edited November 27, 2013 by dave_bass5

[andydye]

I've tried a variety of the preamps out there and here are the edited highlights of my search:

found the behringer sounded just a bit sh*t really (to me anyway) probably just didn't like my amp/cab combination or something, I also didn't like the 'wobbly plastic feel of it';
xotic bb was v nice but a bit too 'clean' in it's grindyness for me;
catalinbread sft is a pretty good approximation of the valvey break up that my DHA vt-1 does;

My conclusion...transistors can only go so far when emulating the sound of a valve and if you want a valve sound then a valve is what you need, when I tried a vt-1 bass drive it was all of the pedals I'd tried but with the actual sound I wanted, straight away, no faffing about to try and find the sound, it was just there...

I picked one up very reasonably s/h too

Edited November 27, 2013 by andydye

[d-basser]

I tried the SFT and liked it but ended up going for the EQD Monarch instead, gives a really good warm Orange-esque tone. May be too much over drive for your needs though, I run it with a blend pedal to keep things subtle.