What's your favourite Preamp/DI?

[wintoid]

12 hours ago, Misdee said:

But then again , I am a middle -aged bloke with middle-aged taste in bass tone. The BDDI , even the V2 with a midrange control, seems to  naturally favour the  more aggressive scooped and distorted  modern kind of tones that angry  kids in board shorts with tattoos and multiple piercings seem to like . That is fair enough, because the present( and probably the future) belongs to them .

I enjoyed this

[iamtheelvy]

Used a few in different bands and styles:

Aguilar Tone Hammer DI - My go-to all rounder. Great clean (dirty if you push it) tones with a bit of a classic vintage edge.

Sadowsky Pre - Only have the SDP-2 model, but a nice (and very simple) preamp for a basic clean tone.

EBS Microbass ii - Does it all! More of a modern clean tone, but has a mixable dirty channel / AB channel selecter , FX loop, tuner out (built in tuner and compresser if you buy the mark iii too!)

Tech 21 Sansamp - Classic rock tones. The most colouring of my preamps, but in the right mix its a great colour! 

[Supernaut]

Does the Radial ProDI or Radal JDI count? Only DI boxes I seem to use these days! 

[Cuzzie]

2 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Does the Radial ProDI or Radal JDI count? Only DI boxes I seem to use these days! 

Yes

JDI is mint and the Jensen transformer gives a nice vibe to the sound

[adamg67]

Just throwing this out there... since I bought a cab IR loader (with XLR direct out) I'm not even looking for a preamp anymore. The closest I have on my little fly rig board is a Darkglass Harmonic Booster which is very subtle, and gives me EQ. The IR loader does the rest, and there's a huge range of cab sims to go at. I'd definitley rather have a cab sim without a pre-amp than a pre-amp without a cab sim.

I do have a JDI as well though, to use on it's own for a nice mellow vibe with my p-alike with flats.

[Al Krow]

Quick little run through of 13 preamp pedals by our own @TJ Spicer. Have to 'fess to not being surprised by his choice of top 2!

 

 

[PatrickJ]

Nice to see this thread is still going 3.5 years on.

  

In that time I've owned a lot of the pre-amps that have been mentioned.

 

Of the full featured stomp box type pre's my favourite has been the EBS Microbass II however I'm now just taking the DI out from my amp head.  Should that change I'm sure I'll be revisiting this list, I've still yet to to try the Tone Hammer and the Broughton pres have piqued my interest.

Edited December 28, 2021 by PatrickJ

[paulo m]

Refreshing that this thread is still alive & rightly so.. But I feel we can't review Noble in the same breath as Aguliar' Sadowsky' G.K' etc  for they are not of the equivalent price range nor quality... 

I've tryed the DSM & Humbolt Bass station & it's great on passive basses' but not active circuits! Beware❌  I posted earlier in this thread & remain a solid EBS Microbass II user for its functionality & quality!!  I don't dig the EBS Microbass 3 inferior sound quality to my ears.... & remember you get what you pay for... In this department I. M. H. O. 

[Aliwobble]

I’ve tried the mxr M80 bass DI+ but could not find a use for the drive section. Currently my live board is based around the EBS microbass3 which includes a ton of functionality in just one pedal - Di, tuner, comp, overdrive, and EQ.

[SumOne]

22 hours ago, paulo m said:

Refreshing that this thread is still alive & rightly so.. But I feel we can't review Noble in the same breath as Aguliar' Sadowsky' G.K' etc  for they are not of the equivalent price range nor quality... 

I've tryed the DSM & Humbolt Bass station & it's great on passive basses' but not active circuits! Beware❌  I posted earlier in this thread & remain a solid EBS Microbass II user for its functionality & quality!!  I don't dig the EBS Microbass 3 inferior sound quality to my ears.... & remember you get what you pay for... In this department I. M. H. O. 

Was that with it switched to 'active' (there's a little toggle switch)? I had a Bass Simplifier and it worked fine for my Dingwall and Sandberg active basses (and the Dingwall had a loud signal), I thought it was a great bit of kit for end of signal chain tone shaping and DI, not quite so good for overdrive or fx loop stuff though. 

[paulo m]

1 hour ago, SumOne said:

Was that with it switched to 'active' (there's a little toggle switch)? I had a Bass Simplifier and it worked fine for my Dingwall and Sandberg active basses (and the Dingwall had a loud signal), I thought it was a great bit of kit for end of signal chain tone shaping and DI, not quite so good for overdrive or fx loop stuff though. 

The Simplifier for myself wasnt anything like it's title... I found it to be gadget ridden'  & it's so called filters nothing new... Its designed to attract the button pusher's & knob twiddlers ( Gadget Freaks) .. Its industrial appearance is no-accident & its so-so sound reproduction average at best' for myself. 

Strange that the Premier or elite pre-amp builders these days  employ a minimal approach.. A la' Noble..  As for its performance 'with passive instruments I found it to be far superior to its sound & performance with Active Circuits... 

Once again this is only my subjective view... to others it may appear desirable. 

Take a listen to the excellent Demo Video on this thread with the equally adept Nathan King' & judge for yourselves on this unit's non- revelationary performance. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by paulo m

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 31/08/2020 at 19:55, Baloney Balderdash said:

My EHX Black Finger, tube driven optical compressor, that acts as much as a fairly moderate compression as a tube preamp stage, then going into a Behringer BEQ700 Bass Graphic Equalizer with the 50, 400, 500 and 800 Hz, as well as the 4,5kHz, bands boosted ever so slightly, approximate just about 1 or 2dB, then going into my NUX Solid Studio IR & Poweramp Simulator, using a 3rd party Dr. Bonkers Poly Pro 1x15" + 2x8" cab IR and the EL34 tube poweramp simulator, the NUX also functioning as a DI.

Works really well for my use, really punchy, kind of slightly aggressive, tone, with a nice crisp high end presence and bite and a gutsy tight bottom end, but with a prominent hint of nice warm tube flavor and slight compression as well. 

 

I since changed my setup.

 

 

This is my complete always on signal chain:

 

My "amp-less" setup in written form (only including always on effects) :

4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound hex steel core strings, tuned in G standard tuning, 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->>

TC Electronic SpectraComp (3 band parallel compression, adding extra punch, snap and bite, but without really affecting my playing dynamics) ->> TC Electronic Sub'N'Up Mini (digital polyphonic octaver, used as an 1 octave up effect mixed with clean bass signal, giving an effect similar to that of an 8 string "octave" bass, with pairs of respectively bass and octave strings) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (low gain overdrive, [Tone] set at about 11 o'clock, [Voice] set to boost a wide curve around a 800Hz center frequency about +3dB pre gain stage, always mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> (empty effects loop for clean {bass+octave up} signal blend with Orange Juice in effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (always on parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ [Loop A Send] (empty effects loop for clean {bass+octave up} signal blend with Orange Juice in effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->||<- [Loop B Send] ->> Joyo Orange Juice (always on low gain overdrive, approximately same settings as the other Orange Juice, except slightly higher gain setting, mixed with clean {bass+octave up} signal from parallel effects [Loop A]) ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an about 50/50 ratio) }=>> Artec SE-EQ8 (8 band graphic equalizer, settings as follows: [Freq=100Hz LoShlv Boost=+1dB ; Freq=170Hz Q=wide Boost=+1dB ; Freq=280Hz Q=narrow Boost=+3dB ; Freq=500Hz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=800Hz Q=narrow Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1.4kHz Q=narrow Boost=+2dB ; Freq=2.3kHz Q=wide Boost=+3dB ; Freq=5kHz HiShlv +/- 0dB]) ->> Zoom G1Xon (Always on subtle plate reverb, and additionally used for 4 other reverb patches) ->> Zoom MS-70CDR (Always on "160 Comp" (emulating a DBX 160A compressor), set to a quite subtle compression -> always on 2 x 2 band parametric EQ : [Freq=63Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; [Freq=250Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; [I]Freq=400Hz Q=1 Boost=+3dB ; [Freq=800Hz Q=1 Boost=+3dB ; [/I]Freq=400Hz Q=4 Boost=+1dB ; Freq=1kHz Q=4 Boost=+1dB] -> always on faux, EQ based, cab sim, consisting of a 2 band parametric EQ set as follows: [Freq=12kHz Q=1 Cut=-18dB ; [I]Freq=20kHz Q=0.5 Cut=-20dB], and additionally used for a lush Church reverb that can be switched on/off[/I])

->> EHX Black Finger (tube driven optical compressor, but used primarily as a tube preamp stage) ->> ART Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp, with HPF fixed @40Hz)

->> [Effects Return] (poweramp input) of Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W, solid state guitar combo, with the build in 4 Ohm 12" speaker unit disconnected and instead hooked up to a The Box PA 502 PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (full range PA speaker with 1x 15" woofer/mids driver + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn)

 

 

 

And I guess most of these always on units could be seen as sharing joint preamp duties. 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[BabyBlueSound]

14 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

My "amp-less" setup in written form (only including always on effects) :

4 string 28,6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, and strung with gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound hex steel core strings, tuned in G standard tuning, 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning) ->>

 

Do you have any recordings of the above setup with no effects? Sounds very interesting. I'm a sucker for tiny basses but .080 with standard G, how is the sound compared to a piccolo (one octave higher tuning) sound?

[Delberthot]

I'm still using, after nearly selling it, a Radial Bassbone Tonebone V2. I absolutely love it because I can change pretty much anything on it and it never sounds shrill or brittle. It has a whole array of things that I'll never use like adjustable input for a piezo pickup, effects loop and so on but it does exactly what I need it to do.

 

I'm using it in conjunction with a passive Radial ProDI. At the moment I go from bass to effects and into the ProDi. At this point I take my feed out to the desk and then use the thru connection into the Bassbone. The out front sound is good but I'm not happy with what I hear coming back at me through the IEMs so I use the Bassbone to get the sound I like.

 

I then use the DI out from the Bassbone into one input on the Behringer P1 headphone amp and the other input contains some drums, guitar, vocals and keyboard from the desk. I run the P1 in dual mono so everything is coming into both in-ears

 

I'm about to start using a second bass so I may change the order of the DIs. I am planning to go into the Bassbone first, get the sounds that I want and get the level of both basses the same. The output will go into the ProDi and that will feed the desk. I'll use the DI on the Bassbone to go into my P1 as I still prefer the sound straight from there rather than the return from the desk

 

The only mildly annoying thing about the Bassbone is that it runs at 15v. I would much rather run it through a multi power supply but I'm not ready to spend £200 on a power supply that'll do 15v

 

In true bass player fashion, as well as having 2 DIs on my pedal board I also have a third backup of a Behginer BDI21 and a passive Art Di as well. just in case I am unlucky enough for 3 DI boxes go faulty on me at the same time 😁

 

 

Edited December 29, 2021 by Delberthot

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 29/12/2021 at 12:15, whave said:

 

Do you have any recordings of the above setup with no effects? Sounds very interesting. I'm a sucker for tiny basses but .080 with standard G, how is the sound compared to a piccolo (one octave higher tuning) sound?

 

No, I don't have any recordings of this bass setup yet, but I'll try to pull myself together to record a sample of it soon, and when that is done I'll be sure to throw an update with a link to it in this thread (have a look at my profile for a full signal chain description).

 

As for a description tone and sound is kind of hard to put into words in a way that will convey it objectively, but I can say as much as compared to a piccolo bass that is tuned 12 half steps, or 1 octave, above (E2 standard tuning, like a guitar), regular E1 standard bass 4 string bass tuning, my bass tuned in G1 stadard, just 3 half steps above E1 standard 4 string bass tuning, obviously sounds a lot deeper and closer to that of a regular bass.

 

To be exact somewhere between a bass and a baritone guitar, the latter most commonly tuned to B1, though sometimes A1, standard tuning.

 

And the always on 1 octave up signal actually blend pretty perfectly in with the regular "clean" signal of my bass, so it gives less of a sense of 2 separate parallel signals, a bass and an octave one, and really sounds more like 1 single signal, but with a prominent harmonic content enhancing effect, which is further enhanced by the fact that I run my bass through 2 low gain overdrives, blended with parallel clean signal, and 2 tube preamp stages, each dialed in to a light tube breakup, all in all giving a rich tone with a lot of bite and snap, something that the compression stages are dialed in to enhance even further as well.

 

But despite this it still sound mostly like a bass, perhaps if you could imagine J.J. Burnel's bass tone a bit less overdriven, a bit more polished and smooth and with a hint of an added 1 octave up signal, though as said the 1 octave up effect blends in pretty perfectly with the "clean" bass signal, and some of that enhanced harmonic content effect that results it really just counters the fact that the short scale of my Mikro generally results in less prominent harmonic content and more fundamentals (as is the case with all short scale basses)

 

Also the fact that it is tuned slightly higher than a regular bass makes it a bit better suited for melodic work and chord work, but while still being able to fill out the role and sonic space of a bass instrument (both important factors since I use this for a bass and drums duo), as well as the thinner gauge strings needed for this tuning ensures that the deepest thickest gauge string sounds great all the way up the fretboard to the very last fret, where it otherwise would have had a tendency to go very thuddy and dead sounding as you approach about the 12th fret and above, due to the decreased flexibility of the thick string to vibrate caused by the shorter scale length of the Mikro.

 

The issues that comes with shorter scale basses described in the above 2 paragraphs being the reason why I actually prefer relative thin gauge strings for short scale basses, and usually, against common (mis)conception, will advocate for such, some of the resulting decrease in tension being made up for by the lesser flexibility/stiffer feel, as mentioned also being caused by the shorter scale length (think about it both guitars and baritone guitars will usually use strings with overall much less tension than a bass.without the strings ending up feeling too floppy, thanks to their shorter scale length).

 

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[AinsleyWalker]

Very surprised nobody (as far as I saw) mentioned the Shift Line Olympic MKIII. 
That seems to be the go-to alternative for Nobles on a lot of other forums. 

[TeresaFR]

Tech21 VT bass DI

[paul_5]

of all the Tech21 kit I'd go for the Paradrive.

[admiralchew]

9 hours ago, AinsleyWalker said:

Very surprised nobody (as far as I saw) mentioned the Shift Line Olympic MKIII. 
That seems to be the go-to alternative for Nobles on a lot of other forums. 

The SLO is a fantastic bit of kit. As well as being a tube preamp and DI, it’s has an effects loop, changeable cab sims and a headphone out.

 

Having read the 280+ page preamp thread on another forum, I noticed it got nothing but love and took a chance. I’ve been selling multiple preamps recently but that one has stayed put.

 

I have a Noble too, which is part of my desktop set up, but I’m about to build a new board around the SLO.

 

They are a little difficult to get at the moment as they come from St Petersburg, but I spoke with Shiftline earlier this week; if you want to place an order it’s currently better to email than to try the site.

[AinsleyWalker]

6 hours ago, admiralchew said:

The SLO is a fantastic bit of kit. As well as being a tube preamp and DI, it’s has an effects loop, changeable cab sims and a headphone out.

 

Having read the 280+ page preamp thread on another forum, I noticed it got nothing but love and took a chance. I’ve been selling multiple preamps recently but that one has stayed put.

 

I have a Noble too, which is part of my desktop set up, but I’m about to build a new board around the SLO.

 

They are a little difficult to get at the moment as they come from St Petersburg, but I spoke with Shiftline earlier this week; if you want to place an order it’s currently better to email than to try the site.

 

Thanks very much for the info! I'd love a Noble but it's out of my price range currently, might save up and give Shiftline an email! 👍

[dmc79]

Just been thinking about preamp/DI boxes that have headphone & Aux inputs. With the likes of EBS, Ampeg, TC, GK, Broughton, Laney, Mesa, Genzler, and now Aguilar, offering headphone / Aux inputs, don't you agree that the likes of Tech 21 and MXR are lagging behind in this area? It's becoming more of a crowded marketplace for sure, but I wonder if either of those have something in the pipeline in this regard. More bassists than ever seem to be using IEMs or needing a swiss army knife preamp/DI with headphone / aux for silent practice, so whilst there are plenty of options out there, I'm also a little surprised that some companies are yet to offer anything as such. 

[Jack]

7 hours ago, dmc79 said:

Just been thinking about preamp/DI boxes that have headphone & Aux inputs. With the likes of EBS, Ampeg, TC, GK, Broughton, Laney, Mesa, Genzler, and now Aguilar, offering headphone / Aux inputs, don't you agree that the likes of Tech 21 and MXR are lagging behind in this area? It's becoming more of a crowded marketplace for sure, but I wonder if either of those have something in the pipeline in this regard. More bassists than ever seem to be using IEMs or needing a swiss army knife preamp/DI with headphone / aux for silent practice, so whilst there are plenty of options out there, I'm also a little surprised that some companies are yet to offer anything as such. 

I don't think basschat is representative. 

 

Of trends? Maybe. Numbers? Definitely not. 

Edited September 11, 2023 by Jack

[bloke_zero]

Ampeg are pretty good in this regard:

https://ampeg.com/products/pedals/

 

I have the SCR-DI and although it's fussy about input level (there is an internal dip switch for high output inputs 😐 ) it sounds pretty good and has aux in and phones

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

I've changed my setup once again, so this is what makes up my core basic "clean" tone of my "amp-less" setup:

 

Quote

4 string 28.6" scale Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass (equipped with an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, and strung with Elixir Nanoweb coated nickel-plated roundwound hex steel core guitar strings, gauge .068 - .052 - .038 - .028, tuned in tenor bass, A standard, tuning, that is as the 4 upper strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning) ->

 

->> XVive Undulator (tremolo pedal, but never actually engaged and used exclusively for its great buffer) -> //[Stereo Out, dry signal through output, from XVive Undulator] ->>^*^// [regular buffered Out(put) from XVive Undulator]->> EHX Black Finger (tube driven optical compressor, with 2 preamp tubes operating at proper high 300V plate voltage, mainly used as a tube preamp stage, driven to just at the edge of the tubes's breakup point, but with some very subtle compression dialed in as well) ->>  Zoom B1Xon (used predominantly as reverb unit, with various different reverb patches, including the always on {very subtle Plate Reverb -> subtle Spring Reverb} reverb patch that is part of my basic "clean" tone, and an extremely thick, lush reverb patch, used as a pad effect with volume swells from the build in expression pedal, though also used for a couple of additional effects, including a prominent "wah" pedal patch and a trippy reverse delay patch)  ->> NUX (NBP-5) Melvin Lee Davis Bass Preamp + DI  (loaded with a digitally emulated Aguilar Tone Hammer amp, and an Ampeg SVT-212AV IR cab simulation, with a subtle low gain overdrive blended in at a 50/50 clean/drive ratio) ->> Boss LS-2 [A+B Mix <-> Bypass] (parallel effect loops mixer/switch) ={ ^*^[Stereo Out, dry signal through output, from Xvive Undulator] (the completely dry unprocessed output of the bass, mixed with the signal from the rest of the signal chain from parallel effects [Loop B]) ->> [Loop A Return] ->|+|<- [Loop B Send] ->> [signal from NUX preamp and everything in the signal chain behind it] ->> [Loop B Return] ([Loop A] + [Loop B] mixed at an approximate 1/2 ratio) => [LS-2 Output] }=>->

 

->> ART Tube MP Project Series (tube preamp and DI, with build in HPF, fixed @40Hz -12dB/Oct, engaged, tube driven to just on the verge of breakup point) ->

 

// ->> Band rehearsal/jamming/gigging  // ->> Home practice // ->> Home recordings //  : 

 

->> Effects Return (poweramp input) of a Peavey Solo Special 112 (160W combo amp, with the build in speaker disconnect and instead hooked up to a passive PA speaker) ->> The Box PA 502 (passive full range flat frequency response PA speaker with 1x 15"  woofer/mids driver + 1.7" high frequency tweeter horn) 

 

But while the NUX MLD Bass Preamp got the main preamp duties in this setup, and I am actually really happy with what it does, and while the ART Tube MP Project Series tube preamp got the DI duties, I would say that the EHX Black Finger, which I kind of more so use as a tube preamp stage than a compressor, really, would be my favorite preamp overall, having been an integrated part of my core basic clean tone setup for both bass and guitar, through various different setups, for as long as I've owned it, which is about 20 years.

 

Just makes anything you put through come out sounding better on the other side, and takes my tone from great to amazing, adding tube warmth and harmonic complexity and depth to it, as well as a touch of tube breakup grid when I am digging in.

 

Here it is:

 

And yes, I know it is dirty as hell, but as said it is 20 years old, have been all sort of places and been stomped on with shoes on, while it has never been cleaned beyond the occasional vacuum cleaning, and also the photo enhancement applied to the image actually made it look worse than it really is, just pretend that it is 100% pure magic mojo tone sauce.  

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Supernaut]

Do you play guitar or bass?