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I've been unsatisfied lately with my Rusty Box as a preamp. It sounds great when I'm pushing it with other pedals, and especially with my Mini, but by itself its a little thin. I play some Albini/Jesus Lizard type stuff, and the Rusty did that very well, but that's sort of a jumping off point for my tone, not necessarily the ideal final product. I'd like to find something that can maintain some grindy mids and a sharp attack if needed, but can also provide a nice fat low end. Something that sounds as huge playing clean as it does being pushed by dirt.

Does such a thing even exist?
What are your favorite bass preamps?
Is the Rusty the problem, or is it me?

I play a jaguar bass with a big fat P pickup. So fat that it makes some of my dirt get squished a bit. So, I don't know if the bass is the problem.

Bonus points for separate clean and dirty channels.

this is relevant for me too, was about to make a thread haha
was definitely thinking about a rusty box, as every player i have seen use one has sounded amazing

bonus points if it works well on guitar

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIWINGQ7EUY[/youtube]

also what is a power amp/what is a good power amp
im really dumb at amping


EDIT:
for reference, i am plugging directly into the PA at band prac, if i just use it as a DI, will it sound right? and then i can use it as a pre for a power amp when i save up


jesus i sound stupid right now

A power amp is just the power section of an amp eßentially, you plug whatever pre amp you want into it.

A good power amp is the peavey 120/120.

The meatsmoke's always turned me off personally because of the Fender based tone stack. Lack of mids and annoying learning curve with the interaction of the knobs, at least with the Fender amps I've used for guitar. But Brian Cook and Mike Sullivan both get retarded awesome tones in Russian Circles so shit I dunno

Can you use...pretty much any half-decent power amp out there? Isn't their purpose to be as vanilla as possible?

I can only speak from a guitar perspective, but mostly, they are fairly neutral, with the only flavour shining through really coming from your tubes.
Which can actually be a really good thing.
I had a carvin T100 for a guit power amp a while back and I really loved it. People complained that it was too neutral/transparent/whatever, but to me that's where it shined, as the slightest tube change would change the character of the output sound considerably.
Apparently, it could be used for hifi, it was so neutral.
Tom, good luck finding a cheap one for bass down here, man.

AxAxSxS wrote:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIWINGQ7EUY[/youtube]

I figured this would get posted. I've been considering saving for this for a while, replacing my amp head with a power amp, and never needing anything else again. But I would have to sell a lot of stuff to get this, and my next big purchase is gonna be a Gibson SG bass. So this will likely have to wait, unless I can find one used (yea right) and flip some shit.

I'm gonna sit down and mess with the Rusty Box today. I want to like it. I really do.

Someone suggested that I might just need a tube amp to get the sound I want, which makes sense. I just dont even know where to start with tube amps. I don't have 2 grand to spend on one. Maybe I could go KVLT and find a Peavey tube head.

I have Rusty Box and I have just gotten Verellen Meatsmoke preamp. They are so different! I'm planning on making a shootout demo with them, but I need to bring my laptop back to life first.
Another one to look at is Darkglass B5K. I don't like Darkglass as a preamp personally, it always sounds overdiven with my MM Bongo, but it fits well with your description of "grindy mids and a sharp attack".

Oh man, how do you like the Meatsmoke? Its definitely on my wish list. Instant Brian Cook? I worry that it would be too mushy and boomy, not enough attack. Am I way off?

Oh, just watched that video. Nevermind, hah. Plenty of attack.

Well. Bye Bye Rusty Box. I mean, once I come up with 600 bucks haha.

IMO tube preamps are bullshit mostly. They do not sound like real tube amps because sweating power tubes is real tube tone, real grind. It's what makes that tone hit you in the chest (as long as you have the speakers…). Don't believe me, take a tube amp, crank pre amp (gain) and use post for volume. It sounds brittle and annoying. Next turn pre all the way down, crank the post and use the pre to control volume…HOLY SHIT that's how motherfuckers get badass tube tone.

I am not saying that tube preamps sound bad per se but that they don't sound like real tube amps…just saying.

I would spend my money on a real amp, that has a tone that I really like (tube or solid state, whatever…)

IMO, in general, pre amps are best for people that don't bring an amp to a gig (go into the board) or for ease of recording.

There are people that use pre's and power amps too with good success (Behndy does), i guess they have their reasons.
I, personally would spend the money on an amp I like, that is my basic tone, and use an EQ or Boost or Fuzz or OD when I needed different sounds or to cut through, etc. The B7K is basically an exception to this rule I think because the 4 band EQ plus OD are fucking dope.

If I were looking for preamps I would go B7K or maybe the Bass Crunch.

I had a Rusty Box for a long time, and I dug it, but it had quirks that I eventually couldn't get over (along with just getting an actual Traynor head). It definitely had some grind and I got along with it fairly well, but I felt like I lost some lows with it when I used it last in my chain and stacked fuzz into it.

I currently have a Faustone Valve Klipper which is a tube preamp clone of a Laney Klipp. I haven't used it on bass, but I have to agree with Delta that I'm finding that it really doesn't quite capture the same feel. I've never been much for amp gain, but at the same time I do feel like driving power tubes is equally part of the sound as driving preamp tubes. Yes, it completely depends on the amp you run into, and yes, you can get (some) tube preamp pedals to behave like heads, but I also echo that my place for them has been in DI recording etc.

I had the Rusty and didn't really like it. I thought it was a great dirt pedal but not a very flexible preamp. I heavily agree with Delta's points. Great tone is loud and that happens when you get the amp cookin! Also the point he makes about preamps being best for people who want to avoid using amps is also true. I wouldn't really opt for the preamp thing unless you can't carry amps around or something. I find preamps are more for utility and not for great tone. So many people still just use amps for tone. I mean there's the whole Axe Fx thing in the metal community but those are over $1000 units.

I think a lot of people are drawn to the preamp thing because it's low cost. but honestly, you get what you pay for. you don't have to spend a lot of money to get good tone, but you'll likely have to spend more than the price of a rusty box