Aguilar DB680 Preamp

I have reviewed this preamp already and I wanted to add one thing. The ONLY and I mean only thing ghis preamp can't do is create a dirty tone. It just doesn't. I bought a Budda Phat Bass tube overdrive pedal, put it infront of the input and its beautiful. Now I can trulery get any tone under the sun. This preamp just sounds better than anythig else out there.

WARNING: Don't plug into this preamp unless you have the money set aside to buy one...or you'll go crazy!

10, I don't know what I could possibly add to this amp in terms of features, without adding built in effects of which I am not a fan of. You can always read the manual on the Aguilar site for all of the details. My favorite feature of the amp is the tube driven fully parametric eq. I am a dial turner so I like this feature.
It has all of the needed inputs and outputs. Active/passive switch, bi-amping control, effects blend, bright and deep boosts. I use this for gigging, I only record to put demos together. Great job Aguilar!

Where do begin. You can sculpt full rich, non-muddy, lows and ringing/singing mids and highs. I use ringing and singing adjectives because thise are the only ones that I can really find to describe the sound. It is simply beautiful. Without a doubt the best clean sound I have ever heard. The fully parametric really lets one dial in one's tone.

I have owned and several ampegs,Mesa/Boogie Bass 400+, Eden WT 800 to name a few and the DB680 sounds much, yes much better it is the best preamp I have ever owned or played in my 20+ years of playing the bass.

As for a dirty sound, it needs help. It can't put out a good dirty sound on its own. It needs to be front ended or have some overdrive in the effects loop. For a great dirty sound my Ampeg SVT 2 Pro is hands down better. Between its Master, Gain and Drive control and eq it has the largest array of usable overdrives/distortions. When you team these two amps up together it is just earth shaking.

The DB680 has a little brother the DB 659 and I would have to say that the DB659 sounds just as good, it just has far fewer controls, but all of the beautiful tone that makes the DB680 great is also in the DB 659.

Unless you want a devestating overdrive this amp can cover any kind of music.

I would like to add that all of my basses (active/passive/vintage and junky) sound great through this amp.

Last, hate solid state... But I have tried this amp through a solid state power amp and it still sounds great. Not as good as when it is coupled with my DB 728 power amp, but still better than anything else.

So far so good. I have only had it for 4 months.

Never had to make a call, but their website is very useful

It is hard to rate it per the dollar. How much of your overal capital is it worth to spend to get awesome tone. I would like to know what Aguilar's margins are on their products, because they are very very expensive...try to find it used.

With that being said once I heard this amp I knew it was my destiny to own one.

Trying to answer the above questions that I haven't already answered...
I have been playing for 20+ years and I also use an Ampeg SVT 2 pro, I have a slew of basses, some of my favorites being my Lakland-Bob Glaub P-bass, a frankenstiened Fender P-bass of my own design, my Warwick Thumb Fretless, Steinberger upright and my vintage Spector NS-2 all of wich sound wonderful through this amp.
I hope it never gets stolen because I would be miserable untill I got a new one.
It has everything I could want in a preamp

It's an Extremely High Quality Bass Preamp. This unit can replicate just about any sound one would wish. Awesome tone controls, you can get whatever you want if you learn how it works. I still have an extra EQ pedal to do more if I need ( I have used it frequently though) I like to decrease (Aguilar) at around 500hz and beef up the low mids on my EQ pedal sometimes. I wish this preamp had a Low Mid 100hz-400hz control and a separate 500hz-900hz control. Otherwise, this unit kicks butt! The lows and the highs are super easy to control.

I use this Preamp as my main source of tone. Slap, Pick, Fingers. Does it all well. I would describe this unit as warm, fat, smooth, growly, and always punchy. Excellent treble on this bad boy! So quick and smooth (Not once was it harsh). This unit really reacts to the dynamics of your playing, I have too much fun with that... The low end comes on in a big way on this unit, and sounds focused.
I Play Heavy Metal and Classic Rock (Pantera, Metallica, Sepultura, Fear Factory, Lynnyrd Skynnrd, Black Sabbath). You are probably wondering why I did not get an AMPEG SVT of SOME KIND. I was not at all impressed with the SVT. I did not get the sound I wanted with that amp alone so I decided to keep looking. I love the classic rock TUBE SOUND that was found on almost every rock record from the 60's to the 80's You know: easy to hear, punchy, in your face.... That is what I get from the Aguilar.
My Rig includes an AMPEG SVP-BSP (I use the Distortion only) Aguilar DB 680, QSC PLX 2400, Ampeg 810E, and my Bass: Warwick Corvette Standard 5 String. To my Surprise, this rig gives me a bright, punchy, and low sound that I was looking for. The Aguilar has a nice smoothe tube growl built into it that sounds awesome. Even when the preamp is growling, the clean tone stays with the growl and still sounds complete. I found that most tube amps (when they growl/overdrive, Ampeg SVT....) there is some degree of tone change to accomadate the new settings. Not with the Aguilar though! It may be growling at you, but the sound will keep it's original cleanliness. I feel that this amp is limitless in sounds. If you are covering a wide range of music and need tons of sounds, this is the unit to buy. If you only play Rock/Metal and love that sound, buy Ampeg's stuff
The sound I want changes every week, and the Aguilar can handle that, the Ampeg SVT just can't. Rock bass, Clean Bass, Punchy bass, Jazz, Rap, Metal, Slap, Soloing, Need I say more. I wish it had slightly more growl but that would require Power Tubes and more money, so I mix in Distortion (not too much) and it is all good. Last thing, the FX loop works extremely well. I mix in distortion with my Clean sound and this unit delivers. I have two sounds simultaneously coming through one 810E! No sound loss at all when doing that.

Combines sound beautifully, stays cool in a rack mount unit. A fan never hurts though, I have one running just because. It has never once overheated (without fan). Steel chasis, it's a strong unit! Aguilar says this unit is built for the rigors of the road. Very cool.

10 year warranty, and aguilaramp.com sells the tubes if you need them to be replaced (they should last a while). No other company gives a 10 year warranty... Awesome

It's got a lot of good stuff. I will never part with it, I get all the sounds I want. Paired with a Mos-FET amp this thing is freakishly loud. I love this PREAMP! Buy it if your tone preference changes often (like mine) and you will finally be satisfied. Low Points:
The footswitch is an extra $100, I paid so much for the preamp and the footswitch should come with the product, you know what I mean?
Can't have it all I guess....
The cost is the lowest point here. I wish it was cheaper. Was it really worth it? Yes, the sound achieved by this unit CAN NOT be replicated by any other product on the Market. I will be happy forever.... Got money?????

Purchased for bass guitar preamplification. You can run a line out to go directly to recording medium, mixing board, or power amp. Also you can vary the line level to match the studio's level. It has volume, master volume, bass, trebel, bass boost, treble boost, and parametric type EQ. It has send/return capability. This works great for bass as well as clean, warm jazz guitar. This is mated very nicely with the Aguilar 728 poweramp though this is not an orphan product without the Aguilar poweramp especially in the studio. By the way there is nothing illegal about running an electric guitar through this preamp, I've gotten some great tones especially running to the Aguilar poweramp driving 2x12 celestons.

Sounds are great. There is enough tonal variability to change the color of the sound without letting venture into law-law land. It is near imposible to get a bad tone from this preamp.

I have never had a problem.

Frieldly folks who seem to care.

This is a bomb proof great piece of equipment that only has one rival as far as I am concerned, the Manley VoxBox.

10 stage , all tube, dual FULL-parametric EQ, full-range and bi-amp outs for use as a live pre-amp, XLR line out with a 5 position switch for output levels, from +4dBv for recording to -40 pre and post eq for live boards.

I use this with a Spector fretted 4 and a Spector fretless 5 that has the Aguilar on board pre-amp. This pre amp gives you a very basic great sound with emphasis on the low mids that make a great bass track sit in the mix perfectly or will rattle your bowels in a live useage. Has the perfect 3rd octave distortion that makes tubes sound like they do!

Built very well, stainless steel chassis. They warrantee this for 10 years.........

Very personal customer support. Very concerned about their product.

They are undoubtably the best pre-amps I've ever heard for live or studio use. I got rid of all my effects as this was the ultimate tone I was looking for. This all comes with a price....they are expensive, but the hand crafting and reliability and sound are worth any price.