MXR M81 Bass Preamp

Awesome pedal. Brings new tonal life to my 70s Fender Jazz bass. Love it.

Pedale fantastico, totalmente neutro, per chi vuole sentire la voce del proprio basso senza simulazioni varie.

I got this for playing a few different bass guitars direct and with headphones, so I can't speak to what this device can do for playing live, but I absolutely love it. I have an Ibanez Mikro bass (extra short scale) that I improved by adding Seymour Duncan pickups, but it still sounded a bit thin to my ears. This preamp completely kicks it up to a level of power and versatility that vindicates my sticking with this somewhat silly little bass. I can boost the low and low-midrange without losing crispness and clarity. And I don't have to use the tone controls on the bass, which always strike me as unsatisfactory. I'd previously tried a "bass boost" pedal that was basically equivalent to overusing the tone control and then amplifying that low but dead sound to dubious effect. Another of my basses is an entry level fretless with stock pickups that I haven't upgraded yet. This pedal does greatly improve the sound, but the effect does seem to be dependent on starting with quality pickups for the best result, so it doesn't magically fix an inherently poor tone. My third bass is an old 60s era Japanese EB-2 clone, with one of those lovely mudbucker pickups. That pickup is a force of nature. It basically turns you into a god of thunder, but it sure is muddy. I've always wanted to find the right way to enhance the high end a bit to give the sound a bit more definition or something. This pedal enables me to do that very nicely. Moral of story: if you keep your bass's tone control all the way open, you can use this pedal to shape the sound without losing anything, as long as your pickups are providing a good enough starting point. There is a slight learning curve, such as using the dip switches hidden behind the battery cover, learning whether to use the direct output or not, but it's not difficult. The only problem is that the pedal does not come with a proper manual that explains any of this, so you've got to search online for the manual.

Tenía las esoectativas altas y las cumplió con creces. Se pueden obtener varios tonos con este pedal. Tengo varios pedales pero este y el compressor son los indispensables. Es una inversión que vale la pena.

It is a very good and versatile preamp because it works with phantom power, too. I returned the first one due to noise, but it turned out that my house had some issues with the electrical framework. I bought it again. It is small and very useful. Sounds very good too.