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.