Distributed by Godlyke and co-designed by Phil Jones, Japanese boutique pedal company HAO has the new Bass Liner Preamp pedal, a stomp box-sized preamp with professional audio features. Primarily for four, five and six string bass guitars, it has a five-band EQ with separate Input Gain and Output Level controls and up to +10 dB boost—sometimes required if you boost or cut to the extremes this pedal is capable of. But even milder EQ settings require these controls to match levels when switching the EQ in/out.
There are five separate +/-18dB cut/boost controls at 50 Hz, 160 Hz, 630 Hz, 2.5 kHz and 12 kHz. These are the key frequencies for proper tonal changes to any bass instrument and any musician’s style/music. The pro features start with center-detent controls for a flat (frequency) response when straight up. The detents make them easy to locate by “feel” on darken stages or studios.
The Bass Liner has two stomp switches: true bypass and a mute switch that allows for tuning silently via the secondary pass-through direct output jack. This second output is before any processing for your tuner or to provide an isolated direct signal for recording or FOH live mixing.
I found this output ideal for recording when I wanted the bass guitar recorded on two tracks at the same time—one with an EQ and the other track without. Muting is silent and only on the EQ processed output jack. Bass Liner has loads of output level no matter how it is set and using it with my bass player was awesome. Overdriving for distortion effects (if you’re wondering) is not this pedal’s purpose. Shaping a superior tone shape for bass is.
Bass Liner uses either an internal 9-volt battery or a 9 to 18-volt DC adaptor. Eighteen-volts will increase the pedal’s headroom and recommended for handling the wide dynamics of five-string basses. The HAO Bass Liner sells for $349. Visit http://godlyke.com/hao-hand- built-guitar-effects/bass-liner for more info.
miniBIO: Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer with over 30 gold and platinum RIAA awards to his credit. He has recorded and/or mixed: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and Robbie Nevil. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and also teaches recording engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA.http://www.barryrudolph.com
