Another wonderful "Recommend me a EQ + DI box" thread

tonymcbony

tonymcbony

Mar 21, 2006
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#1
Hi folks,

I know these threads are a dime a dozen but I'd love your opinions on which EQ/DI box to get.

I am somewhat overwhelmed by the options so a bit of input would be awesome.

I've signed up to play bass at my local church and their bass setup is ampless + IEM, so I've got to invest in a little bit of gear prior to playing.

Whatever I get, it needs to act as a respectable substitute for an amp - that's pretty much the only condition I care about. I like a little bit of grit or at least the capability to send a bit of fuzz/od into something without it freaking out. I am a stoner/doom fan otherwise so I do like a bit of grit (I used to own an SVT-CL and an Ampeg AD200B MKiii), although those sort of tones won't fly so well in this environment.

Budget tops out about $300, the cheaper the better!

So far the Aguilar Tonehammer, Ampeg SCR-DI, Tech 21 VTDI, Two Notes Le Bass, and Mesa Subway DI have all got my interest, but now I'm just swimming in a sea of indecision.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
 
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#2
I'd give a nod to the mesa and sansamp vt deluxe. I personally own both and either one sound great. I would pair a overdrive or fuzz with the mesa though as it only gets the lightest bit of grit on its own but when boosted with a tube screamer it sounds absolutely epic. The vt deluxe allows you to switch between 6 different tone presets and varying amounts of gain. Between the two the vt is more versatile but I prefer the overall tone of the mesa. Honestly any of the preamps you listed will work great it's all personal taste of wich sound suits your taste better. The eden wtdi, gk plex and new trace elliot pre should also be on your list to check out
 
#4
tonymcbony said:
Hi folks,

I know these threads are a dime a dozen but I'd love your opinions on which EQ/DI box to get.

I am somewhat overwhelmed by the options so a bit of input would be awesome.

I've signed up to play bass at my local church and their bass setup is ampless + IEM, so I've got to invest in a little bit of gear prior to playing.

Whatever I get, it needs to act as a respectable substitute for an amp - that's pretty much the only condition I care about. I like a little bit of grit or at least the capability to send a bit of fuzz/od into something without it freaking out. I am a stoner/doom fan otherwise so I do like a bit of grit (I used to own an SVT-CL and an Ampeg AD200B MKiii), although those sort of tones won't fly so well in this environment.

Budget tops out about $300, the cheaper the better!

So far the Aguilar Tonehammer, Ampeg SCR-DI, Tech 21 VTDI, Two Notes Le Bass, and Mesa Subway DI have all got my interest, but now I'm just swimming in a sea of indecision.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Sans amps are a good affordable option. I used a sans amp For years and dig them. Still own an RBI

These days I'm using the combination of a Darkglass Alpha/Omega into an Avalon u5 DI. The A/O has my ideal dirty tone and the Avalon by itself has the clean tone. Its the best of both worlds imo. But you're looking at probably around $700 for the pair even if you got them used. Which is over your budget.

I've owned the Darkglass b7k ultra and and did both clean and dirty pretty well. It by itself would also be pushing your budget though.
 
#5
Everything you mentioned will do both clean and dirty, and so will quite a few more. I'm afraid we can't help you with your indecision...we can only serve to confuse :D But you are on the right track with your shortlist so far.
 
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#6
JimmyM said:
Everything you mentioned will do both clean and dirty, and so will quite a few more. I'm afraid we can't help you with your indecision...we can only serve to confuse :D But you are on the right track with your shortlist so far.
Click to expand...

Ha! Thanks JimmyM.

Ok, so between SCR-DI and the VT Bass DI , which would you go for in my situation? Bearing in mind I like a tiny bit of grit to warm up a signal but not much more than that, and I hate clank?
 
#7
MXR makes some nice products. Have a look at the Bass DI:



And then there's the M81. The EQ on this pedal is more functional as it has a sweepable mid:



It also gives you the option of true bypass or a buffered output. I'd go for this option myself preferring the sweepable mid. It goes for $169 at Musician's Friend and of course they're always doing 15% off $199 purchases so if you got another box to add distortion... of course now you have two pedals (although with more flexibility given that sweepable mid... I specifically bought my Markbass F500 head because it had two sweepable mids, as I really don't care for fixed frequencies as they're often the wrong frequency). In the interest of convenience I might lean towards that Ampeg SCR-DI. I just ordered the Ampeg Classic pedal which has the same "tone stack" as in the SCR but it was unacceptably noisy. The SCR-DI's published specs indicate a noise floor which is 15 dB lower than the Classic and that's pretty significant. As for "clank"... well, that's kind of what the Ampeg sound is (in my opinion). An aggressive upper mid and high end give it a clangy sound which often does well at cutting through a mix and both the SCR and the VT are designed to do that.

I definitely haven't helped! :D
 
#8
I have an Aguilar THDI for sale if you are interested. Pretty versatile overall and while you can get some pretty dirty sounds with the AGS, I ended up using it at low-gain settings to get a pretty cool clean tone.

As far as church stuff goes, I find the THDI and regular old Sansamp BDDI (single or programmable) seem to be the standard-issue ones, but all of those you mentioned are pretty popular. It's difficult to go wrong, really.
 
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#9
tonymcbony said:
Ha! Thanks JimmyM.

Ok, so between SCR-DI and the VT Bass DI , which would you go for in my situation? Bearing in mind I like a tiny bit of grit to warm up a signal but not much more than that, and I hate clank?
Click to expand...
Well they'll both do what you want, but the SCR-DI is a bit clearer and easier to use, although you can make it clanky or un-clanky as you see fit. I've heard people say the VT is clanky, but I don't think I sound clanky when I use it.
 
#10
JimmyM said:
Well they'll both do what you want, but the SCR-DI is a bit clearer and easier to use, although you can make it clanky or un-clanky as you see fit. I've heard people say the VT is clanky, but I don't think I sound clanky when I use it.
Click to expand...
I have found the speaker sim defeat button to make a big difference in that regard. I generally prefer it to be off.
 
#11
Hi Tony

Are you the Tony I bought a PF350 head off a few years ago?

I have tried quite a few of the preamps over the years that have been listed for exactly the same application. The short answer is that they are all good options. I have a collected a Tonehammer, VT Bass, MXR M80, the PF350 as a preamp, I’m currently using a Zoom B3, and I have a Two Notes Le Bass on the way. All the changes have been more for my enjoyment rather than the congregations. For our sound system, the thing that has made the biggest difference through the PA ( and presumably to your in-ears) is having a cab sim. Some people like them and some people don’t, but it is the bit that makes the difference in making it sound like an amp to me.

Good luck with your choice!
 
#12
joppo said:
Hi Tony

Are you the Tony I bought a PF350 head off a few years ago?

I have tried quite a few of the preamps over the years that have been listed for exactly the same application. The short answer is that they are all good options. I have a collected a Tonehammer, VT Bass, MXR M80, the PF350 as a preamp, I’m currently using a Zoom B3, and I have a Two Notes Le Bass on the way. All the changes have been more for my enjoyment rather than the congregations. For our sound system, the thing that has made the biggest difference through the PA ( and presumably to your in-ears) is having a cab sim. Some people like them and some people don’t, but it is the bit that makes the difference in making it sound like an amp to me.

Good luck with your choice!
Click to expand...
Sure am! I miss the tone of that PF350 – hoping the SCR-DI will get similar tones.
Would love to hear your thoughts on the Le Bass and MXR M80
 
#13
That PF350 has served me really well!

I haven’t used the SCR-DI, but I regularly use a little BA110V2 combo amp as a wedge for a monitor. It believe it has the same preamp as the SCR-DI and it sounds great - very much like the PF350.

The Le Bass arrives in the next couple of days, but I’m in Brisbane until the middle of next week. I’ll pm you after I get home and have a play.

I sold the M80 a long time ago, so I’m a little hazy. I loved the clean tone, but the distortion in it wasn’t for me at that time. It has lots of ability to adjust, so who knows if I would find it a bit more to my liking now.
 
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