V-Tone Bass BDI21 : Very handy bass gear

What I like:

--Very good signal-to-noise ratio. I was expecting such a low-priced item to be hiss prone.

--An excellent active DI and very good preamp for clean to warm sounds. Don't increase the gain too much to get distortion. It doesn't sound good distorted.

Not so great:

--Limited EQ controls, bass and treble only. A parametric Mid Frequency control would be great, and its perfectly doable even at this price point. Witness the acoustic guitar version of this preamp also made by Behringer: lower price with the Mid control.

--Harsh distorted sound when gain is pushed past 2 o'clock or thereabouts. You'll need a separate pedal for useable distortion. But I never heard distortion pedal that sounded good on bass.

I recommend it, a preamp is necessary for decent sound with electric guitars when not going through an actual amp that's being mic'ed. The price is right. I'm using it with both my basses and my electric guitars. Works great with both kinds of instruments at low- to mid-level gain settings.