I want a fat bottom bass preamp

[baskervils]

Can anyone recommend a bass preamp to add bottom to a good bass? Thanks -

Rob

[joninc]

do you mean for recording bass or a live rig?

for recording - my Great River 1NV has huge bottom for days. also my buddy's millenia STT sounds very deep and round.

for more vintage style - the UA610 is also a big bottomed pre.

[E.Bennett]

depending on your budget, go to www.audiotechnologies.com. contact him and ask him to build you his api-like pre using the extended low end output transformer. you won't regret it.

[calaverasgrandes]

If you are talking about an instrument preamp the intersound IVP is a nice pre. Sounds fairly warm for a bass pre with semi-parametric eq. It gets a little grit if you crank the gain.

[baskervils]

Thanks gang. Yes, I was looking for a recording preamp.

Rob

[joninc]

to plug directly into or to amplify a mic on an amp?

what kind of bass are you using?

[JohnDavisNYC]

a good bass has a lot of low end....

new fingers?

avalon U5 is good... Neve doesn't suck...

[vatoben]

+1 for Great River. It rules for dirty guitars too. If you're not looking for a line/mic preamp but something specifically for bass then I can recommend looking into Aguilar stuff. They used to have a single rack space bass pre that killed.

[Dakota]

This all depends on your budget. +1 the above suggestions.

Very good on the cheap: dbx 163x is often (but not always) great as a bass DI/preamp, bass --> hi z in --> straight into converters, shape the tone at the bass, or patch in a parametric EQ after the dbx.

Ashly BP-41 is great, also ashly SC-40. They're not super expensive, but might take time to find. Avalon U5 is an oft used and popular studio standard. Also, Tech 21 sansamp bass DI.

[Warhead]

The Great River is without question one of the biggest bass sounds available for DI recording. I agree it is great for guitar cabs also (mic pre).

I wonder if an EQ might do you better though...!

War

[calaverasgrandes]

oneof the best sounds I get on bass is using the summit 2ba221 to run a mic on the speaker along with a DI track. It takes some tweaking but when its right it dominates!

[ott0bot]

oneof the best sounds I get on bass is using the summit 2ba221 to run a mic on the speaker along with a DI track. It takes some tweaking but when its right it dominates!

Indeed it does. Bass sounds great through the pre, and even better when you send it to the summit tla-50 and do a little light compression pre-tape. Using the dual outs is really handy. I have it set up so the bass player can track in the "control room" and have the main out go directly to tape, then I send the second output throught my snakes' trs retrun and reamp in another room. So you can get DI and an amp'd track on the same take, without use of a patch bay or board. Versitle little unit for sure.

The Great River 1nv or 2nv (if you've got some more cash, but totally worth it) are also wonderful preamps and sound fantastic on bass.

Another great choice is the RedDI, if you strickly want a bass DI. Definately some nice round low end.

[baskervils]

Great advice guys. Thanks. I have a nice Fender Precision (American made) that I would prefer to run directly.

Rob

[red cross]

UA 610. Killer for bass DI.

[Ryan Silva]

UA 610. Killer for bass DI.

....unless your player is doing fast popping and snapping (may god help you), I find the m610 to be a little slow in response for percussive bass playing, but I LOVE it for every other style of bass.