So, it’s bonus time at work this week. And what does one do when they get a bonus? They think about fun bass gear to buy, of course.
I’m currently using a Rumble 25 as my amp, and I’ve got a Zoom B2Four in front of it.
I’m pondering adding a preamp pedal to my rig. But I’m wondering if maybe upgrading my amp would be a better idea. The Rumble 25 works, but I’m looking to play with other people and it probably won’t work well for that. But I’m stuck in a place where I’m not sure if it’s technique or gear that’s causing me dissatisfaction with my sound.
For a preamp pedal, I’m looking at either a Sansamp BDDI or a Darkglass B7k (maybe the B7K Ultra). Open to hearing opinions and pro/cons on either.
For an amp upgrade, I’d be leaning towards the Katana 210. Again, open to other suggestions.
Obviously upgrading gear won’t fix technique issues. I know that. But at the same time, if it is a skill/technique thing then the better gear will already be in place as I improve there.
Oh, and sure “both” is an option, butI don’t know yet how much my bonus will be…
300 watt amp. That isn’t really a practice amp. You can blow your whole house down with that. A more powerful amp will be able to make things louder, but how does that solve sound issues? What don’t you like about your sound?
Lots of pre amp options. I’d start by watching this so you can discount the ones you’re definitely not interested in.
This is a few years old so there’s all the Origin Effects stuff to consider, plus Ampeg SGT-DI etc.
A pre amp can be super clean and just be how you set your EQ or many of them have ‘character’ and sound a certain way i.e the Ampeg sound or have distortion built into the unit i.e Dark Glass.
My only advice about a pre amp is buy one with an XLR out. That way in the future if you end up gigging you can run your sound straight to the FOH from the pre amp. You can still run out of the pre amp onto your onstage amp if you like but it makes it easier for FOH.
Also buying used is where the bargains are. Plenty of used Sansamps on Reverb.
If you want a SansAmp clone then this is just $36 and will get you started into the wonderful world of pre amps. Oh and it has XLR out
I’d personally start with a cheap preamp pedal i.e the Behringer and save your money for a bigger amp because a Rumble 25 won’t cut it if you want to play with others. Especially if there’s a drummer.
Again lots of really good options in the combo amp market - Ampeg Rocket 210, Katana 210, Rumble 500 etc that you could totally gig with.
That Behringer is very functional. I ran it for both bass and guitar for years. Even if you decide on a different preamp tone later, it still serves as a great active di when turned off but can be cabled to keep things manageable with the FOH crew as @Barney said.
Having just played @booker_t ’s origin preamp yesterday, out of the box that tone was very usable with zero adjustments. Opposite ends of the cost spectrum. But the durability, versatility and overall quality difference are more noticeable side by side.
I think that the amp would be the bigger upgrade. I recently upgraded from an Orange Crush 25 practice amp to an Ampeg RB-210. Yes, that’s overkill for home practice, but like you I have the goal of some day playing with others and the Orange isn’t going to cut it. Buy once, cry once, as they say.
I figured I’d worry about dialing in my tone later, once I needed to think about sitting in a mix and hopefully have a better idea of what I need. Plus, everything “feels” better now. The 2x10 speakers move so much more air than the single 8 inch speaker in the practice amp that you can feel the bass more, even at practice volume.
I use the smaller mxr bass preamp. It’s a really clean tone that doesn’t add color or overdrive the signal just a little boost. Think active vs passive bass. Which is perfect for country and Jamband tones i play. If was playing heavier rock or metal, I’d probably look elsewhere.
It has a DI port so I can show up to rehearsal with just my board, bass, and a couple of cables and plug into the board.
For gigs, I have a Boss Katana 210. Honestly its more amp than I’ll likely ever need. I originally bought it for the the included effects, as it turned out its a great pedal platform as well. For most gigs I run it at about 20-25% volume and it shakes to booths at the restaurant we play. I’ve had it up to about 85% volume before it started to break up. I’m confident I could play a large majority of the gigs I’ll see without worrying about power. I could step on the drummer if I wanted. It will also connect to practically anything with all the plugs in the back.
I would buy both again. If I had to choose one or the other, I’d get the amp 1st as it does everything the preamp does plus stand on its own with or without a PA. The 1 watt feature is good for practice too. The downside to the boss is weight. It weighs more than most in its class. It’s not crazy heavy like a tube rig but certainly heavier than class D rigs. I use a a rock and roller cart for load in/out so its not really an issue for me, but I don’t recommend carrying it too far without a cart or climbing stair.
I had the Rumble 25 for about a week, maybe two before I took it back for something bigger. I have the Boss Katana 210 now. The shop was sold out of the Rumble 40 and 100 so I looked at the Katana 110 because I intended to use pedals at some point but didn’t want to blindly buy expensive pedals so I figured I could model different ones to get a better idea of the tones I wanted first. I found that a local shop had a 210 on sale for the same price as the 110 at Guitar Center so I got the 210 .
It’s WAY more than I need for home use. I leave it at the “1W” setting for power and it gets plenty loud for my practice space. But it has all the effects, EQ, modeling, pedal loops, XLR DI out, DAI to my computer, headphone out, etc. I got the Bluetooth adapter to more easily change stuff from my phone and play music through it. I do want to get an expression pedal for it and possibly the GA-FC or GA-FC EX floor controller to better mimic pedals.
I would say it’s more than OP needs for practice use but if the intention is to play with others, especially acoustic drummers, it’d be great (but kinda heavy to move vs something like a Rumble 100).
I vote amp - it’s the only way to getting to play with others. Your preamp won’t get you there.
as for preamps - both are great but I sold by sans amp and LOVE my B7K Ultra FWIW.
DEF look to buy used whenever you can - don’t forget to look in the talkbass.com classifieds. Great deals from bass player sellers who are legit in general. Have bought a lot of th in NYS off there.
I really can’t be bothered with plug in stuff and pedals. The thought of the faff gives me the creeping jeebies.
I have a few expensive months in front of me (two cars to tax, four to insure and one to service), but once that’s out of the way I’m upgrading my amp. I have a 30W Ampeg Rocket RB-108 and there’s no point in selling it. The Phil Jones BG-450 screams so loud to me.
At my bass tutor’s, we play through a much smaller PBJ amp and I love how clean it sounds without any external devices.
It’s not that much cheaper here, £1,025 English £ or Welsh Euros. People waaaaaay more experienced than me tell me they’re fantastic. If memory serves @John_E is a fan of PJB.
My tutor uses a PJB and he loves it, as do I. A downside, if you can call it that, is that (his words) the sound is very clean so any mistakes are more pronounced than with other amps. I like the idea of that as it forces me to concentrate.
I don’t need 450W but I paid about £180 for my 30W Ampeg; it’s a decent amp but I want more power for if/when I ever play with others. As I’ve seen on here quite a lot lately, ‘buy once, cry once’. I’d rather buy the decent amp now and (hopefully) never have to worry about buying one ever again.
The 200W Ampeg RB-115 is half the price at £535 here.
Just buy an amp with a FX loop if you want to play with preamp pedals. Katana 210 is a good option and 2x10 speakers will sound a lot better than 1x8 speaker.
Sansamp and Darkglass are both really nice preamp pedals with a good drive/distortion. You only want the DK ultra if you want more EQ options and use the DI cab sim. They will sound “okay” in front of a Rumble 25 , but not as clean if you do it via a FX return amp.
For the Sansamp v1 you can buy the cheap Behringer BDI21. That is basically a no-brainer if you want to toy with preamps.
No wrong answers
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