Do I need a guitar pre-amp?

[rarredoa]

I received a Dean acoustic-electric bass as a gift. I love it and I would like to hear how it sounds once it's amplified. I am feeding my amps from the inputs from the guitar 1/4". There is little to no output when I plug the bass directly into the berigner power amp (EP4000). There is SOME output after I plug the bass into my XLR converter.

My question is, is there such a thing as a guitar pre-amplifier, or in this case bass pre-amp? I looked at bass amps, which i think are called bass heads that go into separate cabinets, but I would like to make use of my gear without having to buy a dedicated bass rig. My intention is only to play around with the bass at home, since I am not a musician.

[Johk]

Originally Posted by rarredoa

I received a Dean acoustic-electric bass as a gift. I love it and I would like to hear how it sounds once it's amplified. I am feeding my amps from the inputs from the guitar 1/4". There is little to no output when I plug the bass directly into the berigner power amp (EP4000). There is SOME output after I plug the bass into my XLR converter.

My question is, is there such a thing as a guitar pre-amplifier, or in this case bass pre-amp? I looked at bass amps, which i think are called bass heads that go into separate cabinets, but I would like to make use of my gear without having to buy a dedicated bass rig. My intention is only to play around with the bass at home, since I am not a musician.

To answer you question, there is such a thing a a guitar pre-amplifier... Many (or most) guitar amplifiers have a pre-amp section before the main amp section. There are seperate pre-amps for bass guitar, like the Tech 21 - SansAmp Bass Driver DI. Also using it with your behringer, I would think that you could definitely get a better tone by using a pre-amp by getting more tone control over your sound.

On another note, I have no experience in running bass through standard speakers like the Polk Rti12... I would be worried about busting them... Regular speakers are not meant for this purpose and a bass cabinet would probably be a good idea (you could still get a pre-amp, using your behringer amp and get a cabinet)... But then I wondering if you would be better off with a standard bass combo amp (a combo integrates the amp and speaker cab). Something like this would work great...

[Almadacr]

Originally Posted by rarredoa

I received a Dean acoustic-electric bass as a gift. I love it and I would like to hear how it sounds once it's amplified. I am feeding my amps from the inputs from the guitar 1/4". There is little to no output when I plug the bass directly into the berigner power amp (EP4000). There is SOME output after I plug the bass into my XLR converter.

My question is, is there such a thing as a guitar pre-amplifier, or in this case bass pre-amp? I looked at bass amps, which i think are called bass heads that go into separate cabinets, but I would like to make use of my gear without having to buy a dedicated bass rig. My intention is only to play around with the bass at home, since I am not a musician.

Your best option is to buy really a small bass amp .

There are some small amps that don't cost a harm and leg just to have some fun , check it out this site for some small bass amps .

Musicians Friend

[rarredoa]

Originally Posted by Johk

To answer you question, there is such a thing a a guitar pre-amplifier... Many (or most) guitar amplifiers have a pre-amp section before the main amp section. There are seperate pre-amps for bass guitar, like the Tech 21 - SansAmp Bass Driver DI. Also using it with your behringer, I would think that you could definitely get a better tone by using a pre-amp by getting more tone control over your sound.

On another note, I have no experience in running bass through standard speakers like the Polk Rti12... I would be worried about busting them... Regular speakers are not meant for this purpose and a bass cabinet would probably be a good idea (you could still get a pre-amp, using your behringer amp and get a cabinet)... But then I wondering if you would be better off with a standard bass combo amp (a combo integrates the amp and speaker cab). Something like this would work great...

Thanks for the advice. I got a tube mic preamp for only 30 bucks at guitar center. This thing works great. I even used my polk rti12's and fills the room very nicely. I obviously won't be playing at concert levels, so just being able to hear my bass is good enough.

Can't wait to get good enough at bass to actually buy a bass amp head and cabinet!