Word on the Street is There Are Bass Preamps that Are Cheap AND Multifunctional

It's the talk of the town! At least on my Twitter, anyway.
Today, I’ll be introducing the Laney DB-PRE

Laney / DB-PRE Bass Preamp

First, I would like to list my personal impressions in bullet points.
I’ll be ecstatic to know if you like my article enough to read the rest in the second half.
Please note, I’m just an amateur who loves instruments, so I can’t offer an in-depth review...
If you just want to hear how it sounds, click here.

≪Good Points≫

• Has an Aux In and Headphone Out, so you can practice along with songs using just this one unit
• Comes with a DI Out
• Includes a Send-Return loop
• The EQ is not overly extreme; turning the knobs all the way doesn't ruin the sound
• The LO-MID frequency can be switched, allowing for a wide range of tones

≪Not-so-Good Points≫

• Turning the TILT knob all the way to the high end causes the sound to break up
• There's not much difference between the tube channel and the transistor channel
• Even with the DRIVE knob maxed out, there’s barely any distortion
  (Though it can produce a gritty distortion if you use a booster or pick really hard)

≪Summary≫

If you’re looking for a preamp with a DI that allows you to practice at home on its own, this is probably the most affordable option available that’s definitely a solid choice. Just keep in mind that the distortion is more of a bonus feature.

Here’s a bit about my experience before and after buying it.

My current pedalboard is built around the Vivie OwlMighty Pro, with my favorite distortion pedals lined up alongside it. I used to have a different preamp as the final unit in the chain, but I ended up selling it because I thought that I didn’t really need it. For a while, that setup worked fine, but over time I started to feel the inconvenience of not having a preamp at the end of the chain.
So I started browsing Sound House, wondering if there was something else more suitable out there… and that’s when I found the DB-PRE.

The two main criteria I had in mind for this search were:

1. An Aux In and Headphone Out
2. A DI Out

Based on my own research, here are the preamps that meet these conditions:

① NUX MLD Bass Preamp + DI

NUX / MLD Bass Preamp + DI

② Ampeg SCR-DI

AMPEG / SCR-DI Bass Preamp

③ The Darkglass Family

Darkglass Electronics / Microtubes B7K Ultra V2 With Aux IN Bass Preamp

Darkglass Electronics / Alpha·Omega Ultra V2 with Aux In Bass Preamp

Darkglass Electronics / Microtubes X Ultra Bass Preamp / Distortion

Darkglass Electronics / Vintage Ultra V2 with Aux In Bass Preamp

④ Laney DB-PRE

Laney / DB-PRE Bass Preamp

I’ve previously used the NUX and the Darkglass Vintage Ultra, and I also used the non-distortion version of the Ampeg for a while.
Personally, I think the NUX preamp offers the best value for the price. Thanks to the built-in IR cabinet simulator, it sounds fantastic for home practice, and it even functions as an audio interface.
But then, there’s Darkglass, which takes things even further. You can tweak all sorts of IR settings, and the distortion—well, that goes without saying that it certainly lives up to the hype. They call it the absolute best preamp, and honestly, I agree. Of course, the price reflects that, which is the only real downside.
And then, out of nowhere, I noticed the Laney. What is this? It’s suspiciously cheap. And, there’s practically no Japanese reviews to be found. It smells like a landmine, but discovering this kind of unknown gear…this is the kind of thing that makes us residents of the gear swamp hit that purchase button before we even realize it.

And yes—it arrived at lightning speed. It came in a fairly large box, and when I took it out…

It was actually fairly big. Alright, time to unbox.

…Wait, what? A matryoshka doll style of unboxing? What is going on here?
Honestly, though—I kind of love this vibe.
It really gives off the feeling that “yep, I just bought something weird.”
Well, Laney as a brand is fairly well-known, so I wasn’t too worried about the quality of the unit itself.

Alright then—let's unbox it! (For the second time in two minutes.)

It’s fairly big. I compared it to a typical pedal I had lying around, and it’s about the size of two standard pedals. The build feels pretty solid.
I went ahead and tried it out in a few different ways and my impression is that it works perfectly well for the uses I had in mind—fine-tuning at the end of the pedalboard chain, using it as a master volume, standalone practice, and DI output. For the price, I’d say it’s a solid product.
That said, it’s not the kind of unit that adds strong tonal coloration like a SansAmp might. So, if you're looking for something that shapes your sound in that way, this probably isn’t the right choice—you might want to look elsewhere.
I summarized my first impressions in the YouTube description at the top, but what stood out to me most was the TILT knob. According to the manual, it functions similarly to a tone control—the more you turn it to the right, the more treble you get. The treble and bass clef symbols on the knob are a nice touch.
However, turning the knob all the way up pretty much kills the low end, to the point where it barely functions as a bass anymore (lol). The manual mentions that turning it up boosts the highs and cuts the lows, but still—this feels a bit extreme. The reverse is true when you turn it all the way left.
That said, if you keep it between around 10 and 2 o’clock, it’s actually a very handy tool for quickly shaping your sound. It might be closer to Hartke’s SHAPE control than a standard tone knob—but even then, it behaves a bit differently.
Overall, I think this is a very useful piece of gear to have on hand. It's more than enough for home practice and it does a solid job as both a preamp and a DI. Taking all that into account, the fact that you can pick it up for just over 10,000 yen makes it a compelling option.
If you’re someone who likes using gear that stands out from the crowd, I definitely recommend giving it a shot.

That’s all for now.

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