Le Bass - 2-channel Tube Bass Preamp (LeBassd1)

A REAL TUBE PREAMP! 12ax7 tube pre-amp pedal, with 2 channels (clean/dirty) and Hot/Cold fusion modes so you can either go 1. Clean 2. Dirty 3. Cold: blends clean/dirty 4. Hot: Feeds clean into dirty for a boost. Geddy Lee stopped using amps like 20 some years ago... Geddy is a hero, a living god of bass! (you know it's true). I was tempted to get a Geddy Lee signature Sans Amp product, but I think it's solid state, tube emulation...I wanted a real tube... This is the first tube device that I have owned. I have only ever had solid state bass amps, currently an Ampeg SVT 400 with 1x15 and 4x10 cabinet, but I haven't actually powered it on in years, cuz I got a used Line 6 Bass POD years ago and used that cuz it was SO EASY! Then a few years ago, I played on a classic Ampeg SVT all tube head with an 8x10 cabinet, and I thought "OOOHHHHH...TUUUBES...I GET IT..." But I'm not a pro musician, I don't have Roadies, and FUHGETABOUT lugging an 8x10 rig around, let alone a 1x15+4x10, plus my home studio is in the basement, so I'm not gonna hump that kind of mass up & down stairs. I'M DONE WITH THAT! Enter a tube pre-amp pedal, and its mate, the Two Notes brand Torpedo C.A.B. M+ (Cabinets in A Box, and the + is the free software update). I LOVE THIS RIG! I saw another review where a guy said he likes this Le Bass pedal but won't use it live cuz the volumes per different settings were too varied...I disagree. I feel like it's so adjustable that the ultimate volume is even. Tube warmth and fatness!!! So tasty! There's so much low end that I don't really boost a bass knob. I've been boosting low mid and mid a bit for that Jazz bass sound. And the addition of the Torpedo C.A.B. M+ and the variety of cabinets is so nice. I recently played on a vintage Ampeg Portaflex flip top 15" and I feel like I'm getting a great recreation of that tone (I was using a couple different basses, in kingsizesoundlabs.com studio and one had flat wounds, so I'm gonna get some flat wounds to really try to match some tone...) But I LOVE this rig!!! It sounds great with my G&L JB5 in to the 12ax7 Le Bass tube pre-amp, in to the Torpedo C.A.B. M+ that has 24bit 96kHz output and no perceptible latency. So versatile, so portable, SO FUN!!! 1/8" Aux in and 1/8" Headphone jack on the C.A.B. so you can feed in music and mix your bass/guitar and play along silently with headphones. But mainly you want this as a totally portable rig, that has tube warmth and D.I. out with either a single speaker cabinet sim button on the Le Bass itself, or buy/add the Torpedo C.A.B. M+ for a tube power amp simulator and 32 cabinets AND microphone sim AND microphone placement AND reverb AND semi parametric EQ AND Enhancer on the C.A.B. to really nitpick the tone. I've been playing with these new toys almost every day now cuz it's so much fun! They make me FEEL like a rock star, and no one can take that away from me! The screenshots are the Torpedo C.A.B. bonus software. ...uh I also went a bit bananas and swapped the tube cuz I saw a YouTube vid where someone compared tubes and a JJ seemed warmer/fatter. I didn't take the time to record before/after, but I did roll off a bit more bass with the new JJ tube, cuz my Sony studio monitor headphones transmitted TONS of bass. LOVE IT!!!!!!!

First off, let me state that this pedal was totally quiet for me. I heard no noise or hum from it at all, which some other users have reported.Now, on to the drawbacks.I am primarily interested in having three sounds - overdriven (but not to the point of fuzz), a little "warm" and totally clean. This pedal seems to offer all three. Problem is, there is no volume leveling between channels. As soon as you make any kind of adjustment to either of the two individual gain channels, you have a volume mismatch with the bypass. Okay, maybe to be expected.But the real selling point of this pedal to me was the fusion modes, in which you can either blend the two gain channels or stack them. I prefer blending, so I set the lower gain channel to have a nice tubey warmth and the higher to have some edge and a touch of grit. In "cold fusion" mode, a knob allows the user to blend the channels to taste. Cool so far.Unfortunately, what I wound up with was a quiet clean bypass signal, a louder low-gain-only channel and the loudest blended gain channel. This makes the pedal unusable for me since I don't want my volume level bouncing around every time I put my foot on a switch.So, it seems like a solid pedal and works fine, but didn't do what I wanted. I really don't want to start going down the simulated amp and effect rabbithole, but I do need a way to keep overall volume fairly even across all settings.

So, I know it has a tube in it and that it is there for warmth, but this thing is way noisier than it should be. There's a lot of hiss inherent in the signal. At least any configuration I used generated it. I did side by side comps with the SansAmp Bass DI and the Stadium box from LR Baggs. Both are a better choice for getting a good amp sound.

This is a great bass EQ and D.I. It has tons of options and really gives the player control. Definitely recommend it to any bass player looking for versatility with their sound!

Brilliant easy to use.

Amazin pre amp

This is a fantastic bass preamp. I did a comparison between several top rated preamps and the Le Bass won out in the end. The fact that it is a great sounding preamp is enough, but add in the fact that it has an effects loop and is MIDI capable and the package is complete. Pair it with Two Note's Torpedo C.A.B. and WHOA! it's really amazing.