Educate me please... F-2B and F-1X preamps

[moongerm]

Forgive me for being ignorant on this subject....


So we all know the F-2B and F-1X preamps are designed with the inspiration of the Fender Dual Showman guitar amplifier.


What I would curiously like to wrap my head around is:


A lot of folks, including myself use Alembic Preamps for Bass Guitar. What else makes Alembic Preamps desirable for bass (aside from the obvious flexible i/o and HP Filter additions)? Stripped down if Alembic or anyone took a Fender Dual Showman amp or any other warm tube GUITAR amp and turned it into a simple preamp how much different would it sound, what would be missing that it would not be desirable as a bass preamp? 


Also has Alembic ever deviated from the Dual Showman inspired design along with the tone control section as a custom build to give it a custom alternate preamp sound for bass?   

[adriaan]

As to your last question, you may be overlooking the SF-2. You have a point that none of them is a specific bass preamp, but that's just the point.

[moongerm]

SF-2 aside Adriaan as that is such a unique device, as are the F-1X and F-2B.  What I am getting at is aside from speakers and power amps that are designed to support the frequency spectrum of a hi-fi bass, cleanly, couldn't a clean warm guitar preamp be a solution for bassists? 

This leads back to my question below where the Dual Showman is used, rare exceptions aside, mainly by guitarists.

[adriaan]

Both he F-2B and the F-1X are clean warm guitar preamps that work perfectly fine for bass too. Just that the F-1X has a cross-over, that mosts guitarists would probably not use (like most bassists).

[lbpesq]

However, the F-1X has an effects loop, which the F-2B lacks.  I have both.  The F-2B is the heart of my regular guitar rig, while the F-1X resides in my studio's bass rig.

Bill, tgo

[edwin]

Forgive me for being ignorant on this subject....


So we all know the F-2B and F-1X preamps are designed with the inspiration of the Fender Dual Showman guitar amplifier.


What I would curiously like to wrap my head around is:


A lot of folks, including myself use Alembic Preamps for Bass Guitar. What else makes Alembic Preamps desirable for bass (aside from the obvious flexible i/o and HP Filter additions)? Stripped down if Alembic or anyone took a Fender Dual Showman amp or any other warm tube GUITAR amp and turned it into a simple preamp how much different would it sound, what would be missing that it would not be desirable as a bass preamp? 


Also has Alembic ever deviated from the Dual Showman inspired design along with the tone control section as a custom build to give it a custom alternate preamp sound for bass?   

You can try any guitar preamp. No reason not to. It just so happens that the Fender preamp, which I think was essentially lifted and tweaked from a tube manual, works well. Some will, some may not, but unless the preamp has a high pass filter that loses the low end, there's no reason why it wouldn't sound good.

Interestingly, some famous bass amps, beyond the Bassman, have been used for guitar, including the SVT by the Stones.

[lbpesq]

The first amp I got when I moved to California in 1973 was a Vox Essex bass amp through which I played my guitar.

Bill, tgo