Bass Preamps: 5 Budget Alternatives for Your Rig
All under $100!
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Bass Preamps: 5 Budget Alternatives for Your Rig · Source: Oleksandr Perepelytsia / Alamy Stock Photo
Bass preamps are an essential tool for shaping your tone and boosting your clarity. Hop aboard as we check out 5 budget bass preamps for you to consider!
5 Budget Bass Preamps
Why Should You Get a Bass Preamp?
Depending on where you are in your bass playing journey, you may not have even considered using a bass preamp. So, what do they do? How do they work? But most importantly, why should you have one?
Compared to your standard bass amplifier, a bass preamp gives you more control over your EQ. Presenting players with adjustable mids, drives or different voicings. Furthermore, they can give you that gain and clarity that you’ve always craved at live gigs. Strengthening your signal into your amp or PA.
If you’re not already intrigued, the benefits go on. As we’ll see here, many units double as a DI box with an XLR output. Meaning, that your signal will be balanced for playing straight into a mixing desk or PA system. Aside from the consistency and strength, let’s check out some budget options that could help you out.
Behringer V-Tone Bass BDI21
To kick us off in our quest for budget preamps, we have the *Behringer V-Tone Bass BDI21. Setting the bar very high, or low, depending on how you look at it. With an RRP of £20.90 / €24.60, this is a great starting point for anyone.
What are we looking at? This is an analogue modelling bass preamp. On offer are sparkling slap sounds and the contrast of heavy distortion. Controlled via treble and bass EQ dials, along with controls for the overall drive, level and presence.
Additional hardware includes a direct XLR output for recording, and of course, your standard 6.3mm jack connectors. Meaning that you can use this as a bass preamp for live and recording.
Joyo R-26 Monomyth Bass Preamp
Our next bass preamp is three times more expensive than the Behringer unit. Is it three times the pedal? Let’s learn more about the *Joyo R-26 Monomyth.
In addition to your typical dials for different voicings, there are also twin switches that offer a gain and indeed a treble boost. Control is guaranteed thanks to a comprehensive EQ. LEDs also indicate when you’re using the drive footswitch.
You can either opt for ground lift and cab simulator modes with two buttons situated on the side of the unit. Adjacent to these is the balanced XLR output. Useful for going straight into a desk, or running through your amp too.
Behringer MIC500USB Tube Ultragain
Another entry from Behringer here! Stay with me, this isn’t just a bass preamp… It offers 48v phantom power for electric, bass and acoustic guitars, vocals, keys and more. Potentially a worthwhile investment?
This *MIC500USB Tube Ultragain offers preamp modelling with 16 different presets for various analogue instruments. We get two dials to control the level of input and output gain. This, along with the phantom power, allows you to bypass your PA and go straight into a set of speakers.
A first for our list of budget bass preamps, we get USB capabilities for using directly with your DAW. I also like how there’s a small selection of LEDs to indicate your gain, and if you’re clipping. The only downside is that there is only one channel, so you couldn’t use it as a mini PA desk. Overall, not just a one-trick pony.
Harley Benton Custom Line Bass DI-Expander
Back to a dedicated bass preamp, this time from Harley Benton. If I were to pick up more gigs on bass guitar, I would have this in my gig bag immediately.
From their Custom Line, this *Bass DI Expander is essentially a bass DI, along with a compressor and various other settings. A balanced XLR output joins a headphone output, plus the ability to use this as a direct line in.
On the face of the pedal, we have dials to control the overall volume, gain, threshold and compression. That compression can be turned on / off easily with the chrome footswitch.
Valeton Dapper Bass Effect Strip
Concluding our look at budget bass preamps is something that we have featured here on gearnews various times. This isn’t a dedicated preamp, however, you can use it is one. Oh, and as a tuner and an effects pedal. Do you see why we like it so much?
To say that this is the most expensive unit in our list, we’re doing okay! Priced at a sensible *£82 / €93, we’re still under the triple figure mark. In exchange for that cash, we have four effects to play with:
- Chorus
- Octave
- Bass Amp Simulator
- Dirty Q (Fuzz)
As for hardware, there’s a symmetrical DI-output, FX loop, and a parallel output. As is the case for all of the units we’ve looked at, the Dapper Bass Effect Strip is powered by a standard 9V power supply.
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