Xotic Bass BB Preamp

The Xotic Bass BB Preamp is a preamp, boost and overdrive pedal for bass, made by Xotic. Xotic describes it as adding presence to a bass tone "from subtle break-up to smooth distortion while it never loses its low-end definition with up to 30dB+ boost"¹. In practice that means one knob-heavy box can serve as a clean level boost to sit better in a mix, or as an overdrive that, in MusicRadar's words, does not compromise the low end or string articulation².

The pedal is the bass sibling of Xotic's BB Preamp, a guitar pedal first released in 2005, with the bass version following in 2006³⁴. The current version is the Bass BB Preamp V1.5, a refresh released in August 2023².

From clean boost to smooth distortion

The Bass BB Preamp is built around a gain stage that Xotic says goes from a pristine clean boost to a hard overdriven distortion. Xotic's own description of the gain knob: it "offers pristine clean boost to a hard overdriven distortion which is very nice tone that stays firm, with great note separation and just the right amount of compression for a smooth overall texture"¹. The design goal, per Xotic, was to retain the original attack sound and tonal spectrums of the bass while producing that drive⁵.

How it sounds at the extremes is a matter for attributed voices. MusicRadar's Jonathan Horsley found the pedal, like its predecessor, "fairly hot and gnarly without turning fuzzy", and described it as adding "a musical, amp-like grit" to a bass tone². Xotic's product page carries an endorsement from bassist Bryan Beller:

The controls

The pedal keeps its control set simple: gain, volume, and a two-band EQ⁸. Each of the two EQ controls offers 15dB of boost or cut, and Xotic describes the two bands as broadly overlapping¹. MusicRadar highlighted "the considerable tone shaping powers from the 15dB of boost and cut under the Treble and Bass dial respectively"².

The manual's EQ diagram marks the knob range as +15dB fully clockwise to -15dB fully counterclockwise, with 0dB at the center detent, and labels the low and high cutoff frequencies at 500Hz and 800Hz⁸. A single on/off footswitch engages the effect, with a status LED, and the switching is true bypass¹⁸.

Power: 9V or 18V

The V1.5 runs on a 9V battery or an optional AC adapter⁵⁹². Xotic lists power consumption as 9V DC at 8mA or 18V at 11mA, and specifies a regulated adapter in the 9V DC to 18V DC range¹. The manual for the earlier Bass BB Preamp gives the DC jack as 2.1mm x 5.5mm, 9V DC negative center, with a maximum draw of 9V DC at 15mA⁸. Xotic's earlier V1.5 product page listed 9V DC at 6mA⁵, so the maker's own figures for current draw vary between listings; the current product page's 8mA at 9V is the newest.

Battery life is approximately 40 hours of continuous use with an alkaline battery, and the manual advises unplugging the output jack when the pedal is not in use to extend it⁸.

The V1.5 refresh

The Bass BB Preamp V1.5 was released on August 21, 2023, priced at $180 street²⁷. MusicRadar called it "a refreshed unit that offers a few choice improvements on the original"². The changes:

• 9V or 18V operation, where the original was a 9V pedal²
• The power connection moved to the top of the enclosure²
• High-contrast white "top hat" dials, in line with Xotic's current range²

The enclosure is compact, at 4.39" x 2.38" x 1.98", and weighs 0.6 lbs.¹. MusicRadar found the form factor "pleasingly compact"².

How it differs from the BB Preamp

The BB Preamp is the guitar version of the same circuit, first released in 2005, a few years after Xotic's AC Booster and RC Booster; the bass version came out in 2006³⁴. Aion FX's technical analysis describes the original BB Preamp as featuring a "warm, compressed overdrive tone", and identifies the main difference from the AC or RC Booster as a Tube Screamer tone control stage shaping the signal going into a Baxandall EQ³⁴.

The Bass BB Preamp takes that platform and voices it for bass, with the design emphasis on retaining low-end definition and the original attack of the signal at up to 30dB+ of boost¹⁵. Where a guitar overdrive can afford to thin the low end, a bass drive cannot, and that retention is the point of the bass model. For a purely clean bass boost without the drive stage, Xotic also makes the Bass RC Booster.

The BB Preamp line also had variants that are no longer in production: the Andy Timmons signature model, the Plus, and two Custom Shop models released in 2009, one of which (the BB Preamp MB) restored the Tube Screamer tone control as an adjustable mid control³.

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