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Outboard Preamp/DI


govons
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I would like to add to my pedal board one preamp / di and I am focus on two different options: sadowsky, aguilar tone hammer.

It seems that Aguilar has more settings as i.e. middle etc, and maybe can give more, but actually I like simplicity and functionality as it seems sadowsky.

Price level is more or less the same. Do someone has tried both and can tell me? Other options? brand and model?

cheers, gvn

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I don't have experience with either, but I think you probably need to try them both out. The Aguilar does have sweepable mids which makes it way more versatile tonally. Personally, I wouldn't go for a pre amp without a mid control, for me all the sweet tones are in those mid frequencies.

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Again, these kind of have different applications!

The Sadowsky and Aguilar are essentially outboard versions of active electronics, that would usually be found inside active bass guitars. The Sadowsky will make your bass sound like a Sadowsky bass, the Aguilar will make your bass sound like one equipped with their OBP preamp (i.e. Spector, Modulus, etc...). The Tone Hammer actually has the OBP-3 box inside when you open it up!

The Sansamps however, as the name suggests, are intended to make your plain DI sound as though it's actually being played through an Ampeg stack! More of an amp simulator in that respect.

They're definitely different beasts, so it really depends what you want from this type of pedal.

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[quote name='bakerster135' timestamp='1389791935' post='2337915']
Again, these kind of have different applications!

The Sadowsky and Aguilar are essentially outboard versions of active electronics, that would usually be found inside active bass guitars. The Sadowsky will make your bass sound like a Sadowsky bass, the Aguilar will make your bass sound like one equipped with their OBP preamp (i.e. Spector, Modulus, etc...). The Tone Hammer actually has the OBP-3 box inside when you open it up!

The Sansamps however, as the name suggests, are intended to make your plain DI sound as though it's actually being played through an Ampeg stack! More of an amp simulator in that respect.

They're definitely different beasts, so it really depends what you want from this type of pedal.
[/quote]

[b]Bakerster [/b]this is nice explanation, thank you a lot. Actually my idea is to use this kind of outboard only when I play with passive bass (mostly jb), Miller sound is target or something like that.

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don't you think that tone hammer can have also that sound with more options as excluding eq in di?

(I am tellilng this because comparing the specifications both pedals have same freq (40Hz - 4kHz) setting.)

Edited by govons
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Bizarrely, despite having the same frequency range they do sound different! The Sadowsky definitely seems to colour the sound more, when I tried it out there certainly seemed to be a different treble sound (Aguilar was transient and glassy, the Sadowsky was more "grindy"), and the bass was definitely deeper in the Sadowsky which kind of made the scoop more pronounced (this works very well for some people however!).

I actually have, always use, and love my Aguilar DB924! I've tried the Tone Hammer since and didn't really get on with it. Didn't like the sound of the mids or the AGS, and even with the same settings (mids cut) I couldn't get it to sound as good as the DB924. Honestly don't think you'll get the sound of the Sadowsky out of the Aguilar!

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[quote name='Guinness21' timestamp='1389787036' post='2337826']
Struggling to look past the sansamp para driver. This is fantastic - [url="http://johnbscott.com/preamp_shootout/"]http://johnbscott.com/preamp_shootout/[/url] - the aguilar's on there, alongside some others.
[/quote]

Great comparisons, for a work-well-in-the-mix tone I reckon the VT has some beating.

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