ToneBone BassBone OD Dual Channel Preamp for Doublers

Tonebone Bassbone OD
The perfect tool for doublers!

Often, we upright bassists find ourselves doubling on upright and electric basses on a single gig, and it's almost always a hassle. We have two completely different instruments that require different EQ as well as different volume levels, so what do you do? Worse yet, an upright bass (or passive electric upright) using piezo pickups requires a high-impedance input to sound its best, and a lot of amps just don't have that sort of buffering built in. And there are not a lot of bass amps with two channels, so we end up dragging A/B switches, multiple preamps, and other gear like equalizers to compensate. And I'll bet I'm not the only one who has played "musical cables" plugging and unplugging cords in the middle of a set! But now, a decade after releasing the original BassBone (which solves some, but not all, of those problems) the Radial Engineering folks have created this update to the BassBone - a preamp with buffering, switching, true EQ, and tons more features that you can read about below. You'll also see a diagram below that we put together to display how you can hook it up to your gear.


FEATURES:
So many features are packed into this small, footswitchable box that it seems almost impossible.

The Bassbone OD has two instrument input channels, each of which is fully equipped with level control, a semi-parametric equalizer and low frequency resonance filter. This is a change from the previous BassBone model, which had an EQ on one channel, and a few limited "shaping filters" on the other channel. This new model gives a true bass and treble EQ control, as well as a mid control that has a switchable frequency (3 choices) -- all of which are voiced for bass. On BOTH channels. This is a big win, for dialing in your sound - on BOTH basses.

Both channels ALSO feature a High Pass Filter, which can be an excellent tool for reducing rumble and feedback, especially on acoustic instruments, by cutting the very low "subsonic" frequencies that don't add anything but "mud" to your sound. So it "tightens up" the sound and reduces feedback issues.

Most important to doublers, Channel "A" has a "PZB booster" to increase the sensitivity and load to 10 meg ohms (!) to optimize it for use with the piezo transducers that you usually find on upright basses and electric uprights. Meanwhile, Channel "B" is equipped with Radial's "Drag Control" load correction, which can help to optimize the tone and feel when you're using a vintage passive instrument, like a P-Bass. It'll help you to dial in that more "vintage" tone if that's what you're after.

Toggling between channels is done using a footswitch and both channels may alternatively be mixed together by depressing the blend switch (which is great if you have a mag pickup and a piezo on a single upright bass, and want to blend them together!)

You can output to a stage amp (¼’ output), with a separate dedicated (and buffered) tuner output (which is not affected by the "Mute" for quiet tuning). One of Radial's highly regarded low-Z balanced DI outputs is the perfect feed for the PA system. An effects loop with separate send & receive jacks enables multiple pedals or effects units to be added. It even has a built in headphone jack - with its own separate volume control - for quiet rehearsing or on-stage monitoring!

For the electric player (and the adventurous upright player) you also get a great-sounding on-board bass overdrive with full control over the drive level, tone and a wet-dry mix that lets you add slight grit -- or over the top distortion(!) -- to your bass tone.

And, as always, Radial Engineering builds solid gear; you can't wiggle the controls, this thing is built to last. I always like to say that you could use this thing to bang nails into the wall to hang your band banner, then use it on the gig. It's tough!

This is a perfect Doubling Tool - it's the upright-friendly BassBone I've been begging Radial to make for over 5 years now. And it's finally here!

The third image in the photo array illustrates how instruments and devices can interface and be controlled by the Bassbone. Of course, only the Bassbone and its AC adaptor are included.

We're always looking out for you! FREE Bonus item included!

Because of the way the inputs on this preamp are buffered, if you only use the piezo-friendly input with nothing plugged into the other input, the gain levels drop substantially, which is not ideal. The easy "override" is to simply plug a cable into the other input jack - but using a cable might introduce hum or noise. We include a handy little 1/4" adapter in the package that you can plug into the unused channel, which allows for full gain without introducing noise - and isn't a random cable just flopping about, getting in your way. Simple, effective, and another example of how we help you flatten the "learning curve" with your new gear - because we've used this gear ourselves and have already figured it out!

According to California state law, if you are a resident of California, we
must notify you that this product contains chemicals known to the state
of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.