Preamp with DI recommendations

[dudewheresmybass]

I have an m80 as well. 

Solid pedal, great tones. Instant scoop available with the color button on the clean channel, and the drive on the second channel used judiciously can be incredible, but can also be really harsh with the wrong settings. A real marmite tone.

 

[Linus27]

Has anyone tried a Fishman Platinum Pro-EQ? I'm thinking that my current Sansamp BDDI v2 could stay on fretted pedalboard and the Fishman could be used on my fretless pedalboard. It might be a little more musical with the fretless over the Sansamp and the Sansamp will give me the tone I want for the fretted bass. Plus the Fishman has a tuner meaning I could lose a pedal.

[fretmeister]

Another one to stick on the try list - the EBS ones. I saw that Ian King video (London show pit player) uses one and it sounded excellent.

Helped of course by him being a much better player than me!

 

 

 

 

From about 7 mins in.

 

He uses the acoustic one, but there are other models too.

[JPJ]

2 hours ago, Linus27 said:

Has anyone tried a Fishman Platinum Pro-EQ? I'm thinking that my current Sansamp BDDI v2 could stay on fretted pedalboard and the Fishman could be used on my fretless pedalboard. It might be a little more musical with the fretless over the Sansamp and the Sansamp will give me the tone I want for the fretted bass. Plus the Fishman has a tuner meaning I could lose a pedal.

I love my Sansamp for fretless, I start with the “Fat Tube” recommended settings from the manual and then dial the drive back until it’s just breaking up as I really dig in. Lovely tone, or at least I think so 😂 Apologies, I’m not trying to dissuade you from buying another preamp, GAS is an awful affliction 

[Linus27]

54 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Another one to stick on the try list - the EBS ones. I saw that Ian King video (London show pit player) uses one and it sounded excellent.

Helped of course by him being a much better player than me!

 

 

 

 

From about 7 mins in.

 

He uses the acoustic one, but there are other models too.

 

I'd watched that previously and its a brilliant video. I spoke to Ian afterwards and he was really interested in my choice of strings I use on my fretless. His setup is also really interesting.

[Linus27]

28 minutes ago, JPJ said:

I love my Sansamp for fretless, I start with the “Fat Tube” recommended settings from the manual and then dial the drive back until it’s just breaking up as I really dig in. Lovely tone, or at least I think so 😂 Apologies, I’m not trying to dissuade you from buying another preamp, GAS is an awful affliction 

 

No need to apologise, I am open to all ideas and just gathering information on all the different options. I also love my Sansamp for my fretless and it was that little bit of magic that was missing. I will also try your setting suggestions. I may well stick with either the Laney Digbeth or the Sansamp VT DI. I know they will both work very well but I am leaning towards the Laney as its £100 cheaper, has great reviews and I am very interested in the Tube and FET options on it.

[Adee]

How about this Palmer Pre DI …

 

 

[bnt]

The new Sub-Atomic from DSM&H looks interesting, I'm looking for a price. It looks like it's taking their Simplifier Bass Station concept but made the channels switchable. (Correction: it does still use parallel processing, with the LPF on the parallel path as on the Simplifiers.) I'm actually using my Simplifier clone with an A/B switch in the loops to give me two channels, so this already has me interested.

 

PS: US price will be $259 (Sweetwater).

Edited March 25 by bnt

[Linus27]

Just a little update from me. Took the plunge on a Laney Digbeth Preamp but I'm afraid it's not for me. Nice enough pedal but I found the EQ was very subtle apart from the bass dial and the treble did next to nothing to shape or change the tonal characteristics. I quite liked the Tube and FET dials and did create a half decent tone by blending them but in all honesty, it didn't make me go wow in the same way my Sansamp BDDI v2 did and the EBS Microbass 2 I once had. It did work nicer with my fretless Jazz but did nothing with my P-bass with flats. Comparing it back to back with the Sansamp, the Sansamp was like putting an old pair of comfy trainers on. I can see me ending up with another Sansamp at this rate.

Edited April 2 by Linus27

[fretmeister]

That's a shame - I fancy trying one myself.

I have a L6 Stomp incoming now so I'm hoping that will do me for a while. I've had a Helix rack since they first came out so I'm well used to setting up sounds in that system. 

 

Should be here on Saturday so I'm looking forward to a weekend of playing and patch creation.

[uncle psychosis]

This thread is relevant to my interests.

 

Currently I'm using the Boss Me-90b but I quite fancy something a bit smaller.

 

I'm after very similar tones to you, really so thinking about exactly the same pedals...

[Linus27]

On 25/03/2025 at 12:54, bnt said:

The new Sub-Atomic from DSM&H looks interesting, I'm looking for a price. It looks like it's taking their Simplifier Bass Station concept but made the channels switchable. (Correction: it does still use parallel processing, with the LPF on the parallel path as on the Simplifiers.) I'm actually using my Simplifier clone with an A/B switch in the loops to give me two channels, so this already has me interested.

 

PS: US price will be $259 (Sweetwater).

 

That does look really interesting. Oddly enough, this came up on YouTube today and it looks and sou d absolutely brilliant and the features are amazing. It's quite pricey but not silly money.

 

 

[fretmeister]

I wish the compressor could be used with the other 2 preamp tones.

Then that would be ace.

[Linus27]

3 hours ago, fretmeister said:

I wish the compressor could be used with the other 2 preamp tones.

Then that would be ace.

 

Yeah I totally agree.

[SimonK]

I always have both freted and fretless with me on my bi-weekly church gig. I use a Genzler Magellan Pre as it has two pre-shaped EQ curves which makes it nice and easy to dial in, one for the freted and the other for the fretless. A touch of Keeley compression and I'm very happy with my mwah. Thus said if I was only to gig the fretless I would go for a fishman platinum  pro EQ as it does everything (EQ, DI, tuner & compression) in one box. The other bass player at church uses one of these and his tone is great (albeit on a five string with frets).

 

Mind you as a Trace Elliot fan I've always been tempted with the Transit B pedal that also does everything, but never actually tried one for myself...

[fretmeister]

@Linus27

 

I forgot about this video - 26 different preamps all used in various styles - reamping to hear each with each player.

 

 

Hopefully that will be of some use to you.

 

 

[bnt]

20 hours ago, Linus27 said:

 

That does look really interesting. Oddly enough, this came up on YouTube today and it looks and sou d absolutely brilliant and the features are amazing. It's quite pricey but not silly money.

 

Right - the Sub-Atomic is a pedal version of that, a bit cheaper and not quite as flexible in routing, but with switches.

[TheGhostofJaco]

Jad freer capo for me. I’ve been using one since it came out. Just beautiful saturation. The eq is very forgiving so you can really pump the low end up on a p bass. Has a b side so you can have a drive tone when you need it. Incredible build quality. I can’t say enough good things about it in the studio or live.