The Preamp DI Thread

guitarfishbay

I had an M80 a while back, the clean side of it is nice.  I found the distortion side a bit flat sounding next to Darkglass/Tech 21 stuff though personally.  

My favourite one for clean is the Aguilar Tonehammer.  It also does nice warm-ish sounds too.  

steamabacus

The M80 is double the price of the HB, though. I'm reluctant to spend that much on something I'll only use once in a while.

Thanks for the info re. the Behringer. It is ridiculously cheap.

Bridgehouse

steamabacus said:

The M80 is double the price of the HB, though. I'm reluctant to spend that much on something I'll only use once in a while.

Thanks for the info re. the Behringer. It is ridiculously cheap.

It's almost throwaway cheap - if you don't like it you'll get £20 back on eBay any day. So £7 down tops.

Worth looking at the Dr J Sparrow - on reflection though the MXR M81 might be a better choice than the M80 as it's a dedicated clean with no distortion and even lower noise floor

Bridgehouse

guitarfishbay said:

I had an M80 a while back, the clean side of it is nice.  I found the distortion side a bit flat sounding next to Darkglass/Tech 21 stuff though personally.  

My favourite one for clean is the Aguilar Tonehammer.  It also does nice warm-ish sounds too.  

I've revised my view - MXR M81 rather than M80

guitarfishbay

Aha in which case I have not tried one of those.

Bridgehouse

guitarfishbay said:

Aha in which case I have not tried one of those.

Apparently, the "good bit" of an M80 in a different case with a bit more refinement

steamabacus

I'm liking the look of the Dr J Sparrow - currently listening to an HP42 demo on YouTube. £60 delivered direct from Joyo (I assume it's a Joyo sub-brand?)

"Not the most dynamic pedal" - will probably suit my cack-handed bass playing.

Bridgehouse

steamabacus said:

I'm liking the look of the Dr J Sparrow - currently listening to an HP42 demo on YouTube. £60 delivered direct from Joyo (I assume it's a Joyo sub-brand?)

"Not the most dynamic pedal" - will probably suit my cack-handed bass playing.

yeah, I think its a Joyo derivative.

When I say not dynamic, I mean "middle of the road" mainly as I have some pretty "characterful" preamps they definitely colour your tone a lot - whereas this is more akin to an onboard preamp with a decent EQ and direct out. The drive isn't bad and the "harmonics" knob can be useful now and again.

Oh, and its seriously compact - like really teeny tiny - half the size of a regular DI pedal and takes up very little room

Bridgehouse

Quick size comparison for you:

crunchman

My Behringer BDI 21 arrived today.  Impressed with it into my QSC.  For recording I'll probably still use some bass amp profiles on my Kemper (there are quite a lot of free ones on the rig exchange) but for live use, this looks like it will be fine.

Am tempted by that Dave Hall preamp @Bridgehouse has though.

Bridgehouse

crunchman said:

My Behringer BDI 21 arrived today.  Impressed with it into my QSC.  For recording I'll probably still use some bass amp profiles on my Kemper (there are quite a lot of free ones on the rig exchange) but for live use, this looks like it will be fine.

Am tempted by that Dave Hall preamp @Bridgehouse has though.

Well, rather sadly I found out today on Basschat that Dave Hall passed away this week - so there won’t be any more of them made

They do come up secondhand, but I suspect they will be rarer now. Very sad.

Glad the BDI21 is doing the trick - it’s the biggest bargain out there for Bass

Bridgehouse

Eden WTDI incoming... cheap used Ebay version.

I shall report once I have it and have tried it!

MattBanshee

PSA - the Behringer BDI is currently £17 on Amazon Prime.

Snags

I noticed it was £17 at a few of the other online box-shifters the other day, too (e.g. Gear4Music).  Which saves feeding the beast that is Amazon if anyone is of that mind.

ICBM

I’ve just realised that I do actually own a preamp/DI thing. Sort of .

I have an Ampeg PF350 head which I got given for parts, as the repair was going to be uneconomical. The power section is dead, but the preamp and DI output still work...

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

I’ve just realised that I do actually own a preamp/DI thing. Sort of .

I have an Ampeg PF350 head which I got given for parts, as the repair was going to be uneconomical. The power section is dead, but the preamp and DI output still work...

You’ve basically got an Ampeg SCR-DI in a big box then!

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

You’ve basically got an Ampeg SCR-DI in a big box then!

Yes, although without the overdrive circuit or the Ultra Lo/Hi switches. It’s also rather heavy for a DI box... but it might be useful to keep as a backup.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

You’ve basically got an Ampeg SCR-DI in a big box then!

Yes, although without the overdrive circuit or the Ultra Lo/Hi switches. It’s also rather heavy for a DI box... but it might be useful to keep as a backup.

You’ve not picked an SCR-DI up, have you?

Seymour1

MattBanshee said:

PSA - the Behringer BDI is currently £17 on Amazon Prime.

Well spotted. Wis for that. I've now got one on order

PolarityMan

So is the behringer actually any good? I have the acoustic preamp in that same range and its total bollocks.