Ampeg Classic Analog Bass Preamp Pedal

I love the Ampeg sound. I have a "virtual amp" already, I use a Zoom B3n and after trying all the amp models in the B3n, I found myself settled on their "Flip-Top" model, which is an emulation of an Ampeg PortaFlex. It's a pretty good emulation, but I wanted to see how it compared to SCR-DI, which is made by Ampeg itself.The SCR-DI seems to have everything that new Ampeg Rocket Bass combo amps have, just no actual power amp section or speaker, so this was a way (I assume) to also evaluate the sound of the Rocket Bass amps.First of all, super solid build! Solid metal, very hefty. Doesn't have a door for the battery cover, you have to take off the bottom cover, but the screws for the bottom cover are also the rubber feet, so it's pretty easy to unscrew the rubber feet with your fingers to remove the cover and change the battery, no screwdriver needed. I did not evaluate battery life with a 9 volt.I love the sound! It seemed to have a slightly cleaner and deeper and truer feel than the Flip-Top emulation in the B3n. I don't have a ton of experience with other Ampeg bass amps (other than having heard a lot of them) but it sounds very "Ampeg-y" to me.I also loved the Scrambler circuit, it was an easy way to inject just my preferred amount of grit/gain/overdrive into my sound. Much easier than the B3n in that respect -- the B3n can get me where I want, but it requires fiddling, and on my passive PJ bass, it also requires me to turn up the volume at the instrument end, which the Scrambler circuit did not. I could get the Scrambler to easily give me the crunch I sought regardless of the volume on my PJ.However, since the B3n's emulation was almost as good, and the B3n also has tons of effects and an excellent built-in tuner, I decided to stay with the B3n and return the SCR-DI.But I highly recommend the SCR-DI if you are looking for a virtual amp/DI box! The sound was great! Kind of wish I could have kept it, but the B3n gets me close enough and I love the extra features, and I don't actually need the balanced DI out right at the moment (which the B3n doesn't have (:

I never thought I could get that wonderful SVT thump and growl out of my bass without replacing my old massive SVT-4 amp and 6x10 cabinet. $200 vs $3,000 makes this a surprisingly good investment. No regrets at all. Getting a good tone out of it is not unlike setting the tone on my old amp rig. I have this on my small petal board with a $200 fully isolated 4 channel pedal power supply powering the thing with a compressor, equalizer, tuner, and passive volume pedal. No significant 60hz noise at all. Make sure your pedal supply outluts at least 300 mA, preferably 500. If you get noise or cross talk it's probably your power supply. I had to return my first cheap supply because of a ground loop issue causing all kinds of hum that lowered in volume every time I touched one of the pedals. Don't blame this on the pedal. I plug it in to a small bluetooth speaker via the headphone out plug for practice sessions and use the very handy aux in port to connect my phone for a metronome and to play along to other music. I could only be happier if it came with a randy supermodel than made me breakfast in bed and cleaned my house.

This pedal really helps fill the low end and gives me the sound I need. Pedal performance is what they say it is. I've used it this far with 29 shows and it's holding up very well.

I was using this direct into a DAW (focusrite) as XLR out and it was solid for around 8 months. All of a sudden the XLR signal was gone and I had to use instrument out. I contacted ampeg and they sent me a list of vendors for repair...unfortunately the closest ones to my location look like garage-style repair, so i'll be going through that...but it would've been nice to have a more corporate support system. For $250 I expected some longevity out of the product.

DI delivers solid SVT sound with very low noise compared to my Ampeg Micro VR, which I love for practice but is really noisy direct. I would warn - definitely use a 9v adapter. I made the mistake of using it with a battery. Even with the instrument unplugged and the unit off, after about 5 hours, it completely drained the battery. I was outside when I heard it going into oscillation as the battery died ( I'd left my system on with the DAW ready to record ), it was the loudest thing and almost broke stuff. My MOTU input device almost didn't come back up, had to unplug and reboot everything. Took me awhile searching about it to find it's a common thing and nothing can be done, except pop a fresh battery in it every 2 hours of play time.But on on an adapter I have had nothing but great sound.

I use this for home practice with headphones. I also attach pedals to it. This sounds phenomenal. There is some noise in the aux side but this is common and not something i see as a big deal. This makes home practice easy and quick with setup. I would buy again.

I have had various Chorus effects over the last 30 (!) years as a former pro guitarist. This guy is just so smooth and clean for bass. It lives up to its name: The bass lines just liquify and start dripping off the ceiling in fine waterfalls. Thumbs up!

Tone and function is top notch while it works. During COVID, I acquired this puppy for online jamming and used it less than 8 hrs per week in my home studio. After 28 months (Warranty is only 12 months), this unit volume output is very low and the sound is distorted even plucking the strings lightly or at any input gain settings!