New cheap Harley Benton Bass Preamp!

#41
@albyros
Do you mean at 12 o'clock you're getting a louder thicker* tone ? At 7 o'clock it's mostly your bass tone with little EQ added. 5 o'clock it's a totally EQ'd signal but at 12 o'clock it's equal measures of both.

Simple way to describe it is think of it as a stereo pan pot. Left is more original tone, right is EQ'd. 12 o'clock is full blown stereo.

edit * the thicker part can vary depending on the bass you are using.
 
#44
kodiakblair said:
@albyros
Do you mean at 12 o'clock you're getting a louder thicker* tone ? At 7 o'clock it's mostly your bass tone with little EQ added. 5 o'clock it's a totally EQ'd signal but at 12 o'clock it's equal measures of both.

Simple way to describe it is think of it as a stereo pan pot. Left is more original tone, right is EQ'd. 12 o'clock is full blown stereo.

edit * the thicker part can vary depending on the bass you are using.
Click to expand...
Ok, but strangely at 12 o'clock i have to lower the volume. You too? It seems that at 12 o'clock it's equal measures of both but both at ~70%, not 50%
It's strange in my opinion..
 
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#45
To me, that pedal looks like Behringer BDI21 and TC Electroic Spectracomp together in one box with a switch for input level change, a headphone output, a thru output, mid freq control with two knobs instead of presence control and one more knob for compression control but without a USB port for modifying compression with a computer.
Harley_Benton_Custom_Line_Bass_DI-Expander_-_Thomann_UK_-_2017-08-11_15.51.15.png


BDI21_P0294_Front_L.png_(Изображение_PNG,_571_×_800_пикселов)_-_2017-08-11_14.47.23.png


TC_Electronic_SpectraComp_Bass_Compressor_-_2017-08-11_14.42.50.png
 
#47
So. I got mine this week. A few notes:

  • I can confirm that the blend knob does not maintain overall volume along the cross-fade, and therefore it's a fair bit louder at 12 o'clock.
  • The compressor has a very significant effect on overall volume, and can both attenuate and boost volume depending on settings. It's therefore not something you can turn on and off at will and expect to keep overall levels. I found that I needed to keep the compressor on or else the output level would be lower than input level unless I cranked the gain all the way.
  • All outputs expect "THRU" are post the volume knob, which means you can't change volume on a monitor connected to "OUTPUT" without affecting volume going to the house PA from the XLR out.
  • The EQ seems useful, though it would have been nice to mark the frequencies on the "FREQ" knob.
So, a bit quirky. I'll need to play with it a bit more but I think I have some settings that work for now.
 
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#48
Honestly - screw Thomann. Their stock system really stinks, they will often shows things as out-of-stock at one price that they had advertised all over the internet and then mysteriously in stock at a higher price later after they cancelled all previous orders at the lower price, and most annoyingly, they are so big and so successful that they could not care less about their customers. You got screwed and want to go somewhere else? Ok, no problem, see you later.

I would so much rather order from the US on Reverb.
 
#49
Alembiccucurbit said:
To me, that pedal looks like Behringer BDI21 and TC Electroic Spectracomp together in one box with a switch for input level change, a headphone output, a thru output, mid freq control with two knobs instead of presence control and one more knob for compression control but without a USB port for modifying compression with a computer.View attachment 1199037

View attachment 1199035

View attachment 1199036
Click to expand...

Not really, no baked in mids scooped out as far as I know, and the BDI21 lack the Harley's sweepable mid control as well.

Also, though I don't know if this is true, the employee I talked with about it from Thomann, for which Harley Benton makes these products said it was supposed to be heavily inspired by the circuit in the EBS Micro Bass II.
 
#51
kodiakblair said:
@Alembiccucurbit
I'm interested in how you came to that conclusion, Oh you missed out the Bass Expander also runs on phantom power and has a line in socket. I count more differences than similarites.

@Mosfed
Any thing to add other than you don't like Thomann ?
Click to expand...

If you insist...

It's absurd that in 2017 they can't show you actual pictures of stock and have to rely on photos from manufacturers even on custom shop and one-off items; their communication is horrible and they take forever to get back to you; their prices are crap and they have no incentive to ever be competitive; b-stock is 5% off which is unheard of in the US; and you can't ever be confident of when you will get an item, even if you choose express mail, because their stock system is so unreliable.

Do you want me to keep going? People in the US who complain about Guitar Center have no idea how much worse it could be.
 
#52
Well that's the opposite from my dealings with Thomann. Order late Sunday night,items arrive in Scotland by Wednesday afternoon. Price increase between me ordering and order being processed on opening of business. Email was sent asking why I got charged more,reply and refund next day. No photos of stock ? That's a strange one because most companies just show a "stock" image.

All that is by the by. This thread is about a preamp any chance you can stick to the topic ? If you want to complain about the company there are other sections for that.
 
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#54
Is the LINE IN signal routed to the DI OUT ? Is there any way to control the volume of LINE IN ? I am asking this because I am looking for a simple and easy one-box IEM / monitor solution. Routing the bass signal through the preamp to DI OUT and using the LINE IN to feed the monitor signal from FoH would allow an ultra compact stage setup for IEM.
 
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#55
@TheBass
The LINE IN routs through the DI OUT but it's completely unaffected by the Bass Expander.
You must set the LINE IN volume at source. If I get a chance today I'll replicate the set up you suggest.

Am I correct in thinking you plan on using the Headphone Out for your IEM ?
 
#56
Another interesting discovery: Even though the "CLIP" LED is next to the gain knob, it shows output levels, post everything, not input levels. Anyway, figuring that out meant that now I can get decent levels with my passive jazz bass → MS-60B by enabling the -10dB pad switch and then cranking gain to full.
 
#57
kodiakblair said:
Am I correct in thinking you plan on using the Headphone Out for your IEM ?
Click to expand...
That's correct. I'd like to use it as a simple one-in-a-box solution for stage DI Box + personal IEM. Of course this will only work if the FoH monitor mix via LINE IN is not routed to the DI OUT. But as you already wrote, LINE IN is routed to DI OUT and it will not work with this preamp.

Anyway, thanks for quick clarification.
 
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#58
The ampeg SCR-DI works the way you need. It does lack a separate level control for the aux in. My suggestion would be the Roll PM351. Mono or stereo line in(monitor mix, from the board), XLR in and thru (your vocal), and mono or stereo instrument in to XLR out, with separate volume controls for each. The only thing it lacks is an overall volume control, and a 1/4" output/throughput for the instrument in. That's only an issue if you're feeding a stage amp as well. A master volume can be had right on the headphone cable. Even Behringer makes a box with an xlr in, volume control, and stereo 1/8" out, passive, no amplifier. They're around $30. The Rolls is under $100, so for well under $150, you can have a viable wired in ears rig.
 
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#59
kodiakblair said:
Well that's the opposite from my dealings with Thomann. Order late Sunday night,items arrive in Scotland by Wednesday afternoon. Price increase between me ordering and order being processed on opening of business. Email was sent asking why I got charged more,reply and refund next day. No photos of stock ? That's a strange one because most companies just show a "stock" image.

All that is by the by. This thread is about a preamp any chance you can stick to the topic ? If you want to complain about the company there are other sections for that.
Click to expand...

Sorry I don't agree.

People should be wary of Harley Benton and, since they are Thomann's house brand, Thomann's willingless to stick by their products.

I haven't had a ton of Harley Benton stuff but I have had 2 power supplies, a tuner and a couple of random pedals. When both power supplies stopped working properly (one developed an operating buzz that was audible outside the box and the second had outlets that just stopped working), Thomann was way less than helpful with one customer service rep saying "well they are very inexpensive what did you expect". Both power supplies ended up in the trash as no repair solution or replacement product was offered.
 
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