Preamps and Amplification…

Here’s another installment of Bass Geekdom…

My main bass started out with an active preamp… I have since taken it out and am left with 3 empty holes on my bass, but no matter… My bass is for playing, and not for just looking pretty…

I am rather anti-EQ, and currently play my bass through the following rig at home:

Bass => QSC PLX1804 => Dr. Bass 1580…

I figure that if the bass doesn’t sound good on it’s own, it’s not going to sound better with more junk in the signal…

I am not against the right preamp though… I just don’t think that on-board preamps are all they are cracked up to be. For me, it’s one more think to worry about/fail… Is your battery fully charged? Besides, if you get a good out-board preamp that you like, you can use it with all your passive basses, right?

Anyways, my favorite preamp of all time is the A-Designs REDDI… It’s just great sounding and great looking. It’s sort of a fire engine red brick with 1 gain knob, and a very bright blue light… If it weren’t for the weird form factor, I’d still have it…

I tried out the Tech 21 RPM, but wasn’t too happy with it as it got in the way of my bass signal. There was a magic that was lost when I turned on the pre… The sound sort of became less open…

I just ordered the Barber Electronics Launch Pad Boost Pedal… It’s got up to 20db of gain, and 2 outputs, one of them is balanced… I have high hopes for this one. I just need a boost before the power amp… I’ll keep you posted…