There's a preamp for every flavor of bass, from clean tones to upright to overdriven grit. This list covers a wealth of options for all budgets.
MXR BASS DI+
Fine-tune your sound on this 2-channel DI with a 3-band EQ, color switch, and noise gate.
$189 street
jimdunlop.com
WALRUS Badwater
This box features a 4-band EQ, optical compressor, and a blendable, 3-voice drive control.
$299 street
walrusaudio.com
AGUILAR Tone Hammer Preamp/Direct Box
Based on the company’s Tone Hammer amp, this box features bass and treble knobs, sweepable midrange controls, and switchable tube-like saturation.
$299 street
aguilaramp.com
RADIAL Bassbone V2
This 2-channel preamp includes two inputs plus a PZB booster and piezo input, so feel free to bring your upright on the gig for a few songs.
$399 street
Radialeng.com
TECH 21 DI-2112
Geddy Lee’s signature box is a feature-rich dual-channel affair with separate level controls, plus drive, saturation, and blend knobs.
$359 street
Tech21nyc.com
DARKGLASS Alpha Omega
Maximize your grit with this box, which is based on two blendable distortion circuits and features a 3-band EQ plus bite and growl toggles.
$349 street
Darkglass.com
AMPEG SGT-DI
Conjure classic Ampeg SVT and B15 tones with this stomp’s voice control and cab sim. A 3-band EQ plus switchable high and low boosts, plus overdrive and compression, round out the features.
$399 street
Ampeg.com
ELECTRO-HARMONIX Battalion
This affordable offering features a 4-band EQ, compression, noise gate, and three signal-flow modes.
$174 street
ehx.com
MARKBASS Mark Vintage Pre
Loaded with a glowing 12AX7, this box features a 4-band EQ, three EQ presets, aux in, and headphones out.
$399 street
markbass.it
FENDER Downtown Express
This unit features overdrive, compression, and a 3-band EQ, each with their own footswitch, plus switchable effect order.
$249 street
fender.com
![Adrian Belew/BEAT Tour Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53638946&width=600&height=600&quality=85&coordinates=192%2C0%2C368%2C0)
Keith Urban has spent decades traveling the world and topping global country-music charts, and on this episode of Wong Notes, the country-guitar hero tells host Cory Wong how he conquered the world—and what keeps him chasing new sounds on his 6-string via a new record, High, which releases on September 20.
Urban came up as guitarist and singer at the same time, and he details how his playing and singing have always worked as a duet in service of the song: “When I stop singing, [my guitar] wants to say something, and he says it in a different way.” Those traits served him well when he made his move into the American music industry, a story that begins in part with a fateful meeting with a 6-string banjo in a Nashville music store in 1995.
It’s a different world for working musicians now, and Urban weighs in on the state of radio, social media, and podcasts for modern guitarists, but he still believes in word-of-mouth over the algorithm when it comes to discovering exciting new players.
And in case you didn’t know, Keith Urban is a total gearhead. He shares his essential budget stomps and admits he’s a pedal hound, chasing new sounds week in and week out, but what role does new gear play in his routine? Urban puts it simply: “I’m not chasing tone, I’m pursuing inspiration.”
Wong Notes is presented by DistroKid.
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LR Baggs HiFi Duet High-fidelity Pickup and Microphone Mixing System
