Aguilar Amplification TH Bass Preamp/DI

Aguilar’s bass preamp and DI, updated with a footswitchable Drive, sweepable mids, and a headphone out for silent practice.

The Tone Hammer has been a fixture on bass pedalboards and in gig bags for years, and it earned that spot by doing two jobs well: a musical preamp and EQ, and a DI clean enough to hand to any engineer. This is Aguilar’s updated version. It keeps that core sound and adds a more flexible Drive section, plus a headphone out and aux in for practice.

The EQ is where most of us spend our time. Bass and Treble are set at 40 Hz and 4 kHz, each with 18 dB of cut or boost. The midrange is fully sweepable from 180 Hz to 1 kHz with 17 dB of cut or boost, so you can find the frequency where your bass sits in the mix, or the one that is fighting the room, and move it. That sweep runs from low-mid weight at the bottom to growl and note definition near the top.

Drive is the big change. It now has its own knob and its own footswitch, separate from Engage, so you can set a clean tone and bring in grit only when the song asks for it. As you turn it up, the bass tightens, the treble smooths out, and the midrange focuses while the saturation builds, much like a tube amp being pushed. It interacts with the Gain knob, which leaves a lot of room between a little added warmth and a fully overdriven tone.

On the DI side, the XLR output has a ground lift and a pre/post switch. Pre sends your bass to the board ahead of the Gain and EQ. Post sends the fully shaped signal. The 1/4" output can drive a power amp directly, which makes the Tone Hammer a workable front end for a compact rig. The pedal runs on 18 volts, which gives it more headroom than a typical 9-volt pedal.

For practice, there is an 1/8" aux in and an 1/8" headphone out, with a Headphone Mix knob to balance your bass against whatever you are playing along with.