Bass Rack Pre Amps or Bass Rack FX

[funkgod]

Thought id open this up as im interested in all things bass rack pre's,

 interesting to see whats out there and must be interesting for others thinking about getting one.

if you have one please tell us a bit about it.

 

Iv been using this of late for recording for a certain sounds and also in an 80s tribute band, which its perfect for,

 

Its  a 1980s Nomad Bassman, there was a guitar version as well called the Axman, but the bassman is far rarer

and does not pop up very often.,

made in the UK it was quite expensive when it came out.

Its got a few tricks up its sleeve some good some not so good

 

iv just cut and pasted this to save me typing it all out...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" its got Pre-EQ. Compressor with Ratio control, Attack, Release and Gate buttons. Octave divider to add sub bass. EQ with LF and HF controls with a filter button. Crossover control, It has a low pass output on the back. Chorus, with delay control and Flanger buttons

Back Panel has Sub out, Right out, Left Mono out. Insert socket, foot switch sockets for Chorus and Octave. "

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

In use the compressor is very good if your after that fat "click" at the beginning of your notes then you can dial that in easy.

i found the compressor better than the boss compressor and 1 or two others i have tried, so when recording you can get your bass lines to really "POP" out, great when playing tight parts with the bass drum, or if wanted to cool down transient peaks it does not suck on your tone too much just sort of squashes your harder hitting notes good for leveling out slap lines and bringing lower notes up a bit.

 

the octave is soso, but at least it does not glitch like my boss one does as the notes die,

chorus is good, i use that in the 80s band when doing "im still standing by elton john" and is good at getting that Dee Murray sound.

 

The sub out on the rear i found to be very handy as when im recording i can send out 2 chans  crossed over one sub bass and one bass its very good when you want to dial in as much sub as you want and mixing the two sounds together which is not the same as doing it with the EQ on one normal bass track, but also you can add fx on to one of the crossed over signals say a sub wah on the low, say from the dod fx25b envelope filter which is one of the only things that wah sub frequency's, a fantastic little pedal that. so loads of options when splitting the sound.

 

so yea i like this. cant find a manual for it anywhere on the planet, Anyone got one ?

also looking for another one so i dont have to keep taking it from the studio to my gig bag

 

 

I did also have my eye on a SWR pre a short time ago but someone beat me to it, anyone got one ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26 by funkgod

[itu]

SWR Interstellar Overdrive.

I do have a tce 1140, too.

[LeftyJ]

Ampeg SVP-PRO, SVP-CL and an SWR Grand Prix here - though I only really use the SVP-PRO. The SWR needs maintenance, it has a constant little fizzy hum. The switch in one of the push-pull pots was broken but is working again now, and a previous owner modified one of the output jacks for some reason. Then again it was cheap (€100).

[funkgod]

2 hours ago, itu said:

SWR Interstellar Overdrive.

I do have a tce 1140, too.

 

itu and to lefty.

cool i love all things swr, got more than my fair share of swr gear, would love a swr valve pre for the studio

i have been using a redhead so something like this would be great.

can you tell us abit about them ?

Edited May 14 by funkgod

[funkgod]

1 hour ago, LeftyJ said:

Ampeg SVP-PRO, SVP-CL and an SWR Grand Prix here - though I only really use the SVP-PRO. The SWR needs maintenance, it has a constant little fizzy hum. The switch in one of the push-pull pots was broken but is working again now, and a previous owner modified one of the output jacks for some reason. Then again it was cheap (€100).

tried changing the valve ?

[LeftyJ]

9 hours ago, funkgod said:

 

itu and to lefty.

cool i love all things swr, got more than my fair share of swr gear, would love a swr valve pre for the studio

i have been using a redhead so something like this would be great.

can you tell us abit about them ?

 

My Grand Prix (Grand PRE, get it? ) is the "redface" version, which in this case is a stupid nickname because all that's red is a small area around the SWR logo. If you're familiar with SWR amps there are no surprises on this one: it's got the typical SWR controls and tone. It has the aural enhancer, 4-band EQ with semi-parametric low mid and high mid, a push-pull pot on the bass knob for a high pass filter, and an FX blend on the front panel for the effects loop. On the back there's two balanced XLR outputs (one for recording with a ground lift and switching between line and direct), one with its own volume control, an effects loop, an output to tuner, two unbalanced outputs to a power amp or amp head, and an unbalanced output that sits before the preamp's master volume.  On the front there's a headphone out with its own volume control. It's a great unit and very versatile. I bought it for home use, but I'm usually too lazy to plug it in and play either through a combo amp or straight into my little USB mixer.

 

9 hours ago, funkgod said:

tried changing the valve ?

 

Good call, I should try that. I have a few JJ 12AX7's laying around.

[itu]

Interstellar Overdrive is somewhat peculiar: it can be used as an amp (few watts, home rehearsal etc.), but the eq is not working then.

 

Overdrive section can be controlled via ext. volume pedal which is pretty nice feature.

 

- heavy weight

+/- rehearsal amp, but no eq

+ a good sounding unit

+ connections and ext. vol pedal option

[cd_david]

My home studio rack and my gigging rack (3u) which isn’t normally there but I record a lot with the TC 1140HS pre. 
I used it so much I’ve actually sold the Ged 2112 and replaced it with a second 1140 permanently in the recording rack. 
 

Top to bottom;

 

Yamaha 01v96 (summing mixer)

 

Gigging Rack

dbx 160

TC 1140HS

BBE 411 Sonic Maximiser 

 

Recording Rack

Furman PL 8 power conditioner 

Patch Bay

dbx 163 

Sansamp RPM

Sansamp Ged 2112

Home made Fender Bassman Valve

shelf, Sansamp BDDI, TC Tuner, Ampeg SCRDI

Avalon U5

Boss SDD10 digital delay 

BBE 362 Sonic maximiser. 
 

[JPJ]

I have these two, both SWR, both very different. The Grand Prix is a relatively simple valve pre. It’s still clean SWR and has the aural enhancer, but it’s warmer than most other SWR gear I’ve owned/tried/used. The Marcus Miller is about a full featured pre as you can get. 

[funkgod]

3 hours ago, JPJ said:

I have these two, both SWR, both very different. The Grand Prix is a relatively simple valve pre. It’s still clean SWR and has the aural enhancer, but it’s warmer than most other SWR gear I’ve owned/tried/used. The Marcus Miller is about a full featured pre as you can get. 

 

seen the SWR marcus knocking about, did always wonder about that, if the extra cash was worth it, can you give us a bit of a run down on the difference between the two please ?

[funkgod]

19 hours ago, cd_david said:

My home studio rack and my gigging rack (3u) which isn’t normally there but I record a lot with the TC 1140HS pre. 
I used it so much I’ve actually sold the Ged 2112 and replaced it with a second 1140 permanently in the recording rack. 
 

Top to bottom;

 

Yamaha 01v96 (summing mixer)

 

Gigging Rack

dbx 160

TC 1140HS

BBE 411 Sonic Maximiser 

 

Recording Rack

Furman PL 8 power conditioner 

Patch Bay

dbx 163 

Sansamp RPM

Sansamp Ged 2112

Home made Fender Bassman Valve

shelf, Sansamp BDDI, TC Tuner, Ampeg SCRDI

Avalon U5

Boss SDD10 digital delay 

BBE 362 Sonic maximiser. 
 

nice collection of bass toys 🙂

which one or ones do you use most for recording ?  what into what ? and why ?

cheers

[cd_david]

17 hours ago, funkgod said:

nice collection of bass toys 🙂

which one or ones do you use most for recording ?  what into what ? and why ?

cheers

I always go from the bass into one of the dBx compressors, into the TC or U5 and Sonic maximiser.

I Love the clarity and transparency of the TC. They’re both the HS version which makes quite a big difference to the standard 1140. Just a tighter overall sound. The signal fits very well into a mix with very little need for post production. Occasionally I’ll track a dirty channel too, go into the Sansamps or the Ampeg. 

[JPJ]

18 hours ago, funkgod said:

 

seen the SWR marcus knocking about, did always wonder about that, if the extra cash was worth it, can you give us a bit of a run down on the difference between the two please ?

Well where to start. They are both SWR, they both have a aural enhancer (although you can switch it off on the MM), so they are both capable of that glassy SWR tone, but after that they are very different.

Starting with the older Grand Prix, I defy you to get a bad sound out of this box. The valve gives a warmth to the tone but you’re not going to be able to get it dirty or even to the point of breakup. The EQ is simple and logical, logical that is once you’ve learned that most bass tone is in the lower mids. If you want a clean fat sound this box will supply it all day and still come back for more.

The Marcus Miller (‘MM’) however is a very different beast. It’s still got the classic SWR sound despite being from what many consider to be the inferior ‘Fender era’. After that, well it’s basically your Swiss Army knife of tone options. The feature set is very similar to the behemoth SM1500 (that I also own) but obviously in a much lighter package. Having the five band eq with low, mid, and high semi-parametric mids takes a bit of getting used to, but I’ve found that less is definitely more with this setup. Having a fully featured compressor onboard is a bonus but in truth I prefer the multi band compression in my TC Plethora these days. The bass intensifier circuit is a great addition, but hard to describe, it fattens up the bottom end and adds ‘width’ to your tone. 
Recording, I’ll tend to start with the Grand Prix and only switch to the MM if I need something I can’t get out of the Grand Prix. Live, if I’m using this rack then it’ll be the MM as it punches through the mix better to my old ears, using the SWR amplite 400 racked below the MM.

[cd_david]

I’ve always fancied a Grand Prix Pre.

[NAS Bass]

Always regretted selling my Grand Prix!

[WinterMute]

This was my gig rig for some time, very compact, very loud and sounded great. Yes, you have to buy into the whole modelling thing, but that's fine.

 

 

I've now stopped playing live and have changed over to the Quad Cortex in the studio, although I do run the DI channel through an RND Shelford and an AMEK 9098 comp/lim...

 

[Piers_Williamson]

On 30/05/2024 at 11:32, WinterMute said:

This was my gig rig for some time, very compact, very loud and sounded great. Yes, you have to buy into the whole modelling thing, but that's fine.

 

 

I've now stopped playing live and have changed over to the Quad Cortex in the studio, although I do run the DI channel through an RND Shelford and an AMEK 9098 comp/lim...

 

 

I know this is a 'show me your rack' section, and I can read the words, but (not being a studio engineer), I'm not entirely sure what 'have changed over to the Quad Cortex in the studio, although I do run the DI channel through an RND Shelford and an AMEK 9098 comp/lim..' means.  It sounds and looks impressive though!

[Piers_Williamson]

 

[jazzyvee]

Here is my main gigging rack.

Alembic DS-5R bass power supply,

Alembic F-1X Pre amp - has 3 outputs LF, HF & Full Range which is what i use.

Alembic SF-2 Superfilter in the send/return loop of the F-1x.

Synq 1K0 stereo power amp.

 

Edited June 2 by jazzyvee

[Piers_Williamson]

1 hour ago, jazzyvee said:

Here is my main gigging rack.

Alembic DS-5R bass power supply,

Alembic F-1X Pre amp - has 3 outputs LF, HF & Full Range which is what i use.

Alembic SF-2 Superfilter in the send/return loop of the F-1x.

Synq 1K0 stereo power amp.

 

 

I think I might have asked you this before Jazzyvee, but doesn't the super-filter just duplicate the onboard parametrics in an Alembic Series Bass?

[jazzyvee]

Kind of, but the superfilter has low, high and band pass filters with the low end of the low pass filter starting at 45hz to 6Khz and my bass has just low pass filters with the low end starting at 350Hz and the top end 6kHz so the super filter gives me a way to access and manipulate the really deep low end

 

The way I have it wired is through the send/return channel and you can think of it like a 3 channel mixer. The input from F-1x send to the SF-2, you can think of as being split into three, with 1 being the clean channel,  one channel going to the A channel of the SF-2 and the other to the B channel on the SF-2, then the settings you use on the SF-2 channels are mixed with the clean channel and fed back into the return channel of the F-1x and sent to the power amp.

 

I tend to use the SF-2 mainly for reggae gigs because i can eq the low end, choose how much of it goes to the amp whilst keeping the clarity of the original bass signal.

There are different ways to wire up the SF-2 to give you more options.

[Beedster]

On 13/05/2024 at 23:06, funkgod said:

Thought id open this up as im interested in all things bass rack pre's,

 interesting to see whats out there and must be interesting for others thinking about getting one.

if you have one please tell us a bit about it.

 

Iv been using this of late for recording for a certain sounds and also in an 80s tribute band, which its perfect for,

 

Its  a 1980s Nomad Bassman, there was a guitar version as well called the Axman, but the bassman is far rarer

and does not pop up very often.,

made in the UK it was quite expensive when it came out.

Its got a few tricks up its sleeve some good some not so good

 

iv just cut and pasted this to save me typing it all out...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

" its got Pre-EQ. Compressor with Ratio control, Attack, Release and Gate buttons. Octave divider to add sub bass. EQ with LF and HF controls with a filter button. Crossover control, It has a low pass output on the back. Chorus, with delay control and Flanger buttons

Back Panel has Sub out, Right out, Left Mono out. Insert socket, foot switch sockets for Chorus and Octave. "

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

In use the compressor is very good if your after that fat "click" at the beginning of your notes then you can dial that in easy.

i found the compressor better than the boss compressor and 1 or two others i have tried, so when recording you can get your bass lines to really "POP" out, great when playing tight parts with the bass drum, or if wanted to cool down transient peaks it does not suck on your tone too much just sort of squashes your harder hitting notes good for leveling out slap lines and bringing lower notes up a bit.

 

the octave is soso, but at least it does not glitch like my boss one does as the notes die,

chorus is good, i use that in the 80s band when doing "im still standing by elton john" and is good at getting that Dee Murray sound.

 

The sub out on the rear i found to be very handy as when im recording i can send out 2 chans  crossed over one sub bass and one bass its very good when you want to dial in as much sub as you want and mixing the two sounds together which is not the same as doing it with the EQ on one normal bass track, but also you can add fx on to one of the crossed over signals say a sub wah on the low, say from the dod fx25b envelope filter which is one of the only things that wah sub frequency's, a fantastic little pedal that. so loads of options when splitting the sound.

 

so yea i like this. cant find a manual for it anywhere on the planet, Anyone got one ?

also looking for another one so i dont have to keep taking it from the studio to my gig bag

 

 

I did also have my eye on a SWR pre a short time ago but someone beat me to it, anyone got one ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nomad Bassman, for when you absolutely  gotta compress the f*** outta everything 😀

 

Loved mine 👍

[funkgod]

On 30/05/2024 at 11:32, WinterMute said:

This was my gig rig for some time, very compact, very loud and sounded great. Yes, you have to buy into the whole modelling thing, but that's fine.

 

 

I've now stopped playing live and have changed over to the Quad Cortex in the studio, although I do run the DI channel through an RND Shelford and an AMEK 9098 comp/lim...

 

 

 

MMMMMMMMMMM... AMEK

i have used mine for bass quite alot, i have the 9098 pre eq and if you want to get finite with your bass sound then this is the elephants clackerbag.

love that.

[funkgod]

On 04/06/2024 at 23:39, Beedster said:

Nomad Bassman, for when you absolutely  gotta compress the f*** outta everything 😀

 

Loved mine 👍

haha yep it can do that by the fist full, you can get as you know quite extreme with it.

i do like that sharp quick gate punch you get at the beginning of the note, it really "pops" the notes out

so much more that other compressors i have tried and works really well on bass.

sounds good recorded as well. its one of the main reasons i got it as i tried 'i.clarke's' one, who is on here and lives just down the road and then spent about 6 months looking for one.

that sound pulled back abit so not so extreme is also a killer sound for that "poppy" mark king slap thump,

Edited June 6 by funkgod

[WinterMute]

3 hours ago, funkgod said:

 

 

MMMMMMMMMMM... AMEK

i have used mine for bass quite alot, i have the 9098 pre eq and if you want to get finite with your bass sound then this is the elephants clackerbag.

love that.

 

I had a pair of the Pre/EQ's in a rack with a Focusrite RED3 compressor for many years, it was my remote location rig.

 

I like the shelford channel a lot though, the EQ isn't quite as versatile, but it sounds great and the compressor is brilliant, plus the DI input is the RND DI box, which is just the best recording DI I've ever used. 

 

If I was going out remote recording again, I'd grab another Shelford.

 

The 9098 desk was a monster, my buddy Simean Skolfield was working for AMEK while that was being developed, it's still the best sounding console short of the RND 5088. I use the 9098 as a buss compressor for the output of the Phoenix Audio summing mixer, sounds bloody great, I tried the RND Master Buss Processor, but I didn't like it as much.

 

You can't go far wrong with a bit of Rupert kit.