Tube Preamp Comparison: Noble DI vs Olympic Preamp 

Another excellent video from Ivan! The Noble seems to have a low end presence the Olympic does not have. But the Olympic competes and is half the price.

Love your vids~ you always give the strait truth. Greetings from Las Vegas

They both sound fantastic! I have the Olympic because I can't afford the Noble. I like that the Olympic is smaller and more versatile. I mostly play live, and in that context, I think the extra versatility of the Olympic is better for me. I use it with a Cali76 Compact Bass compressor and the combination of those two is great. The cab SIMs are wonderful and you can load any SIM into the Olympic, not just the ones that come with it. With enough tweaking, I think I can get it to match the Noble for tone. Not sure about feel because I haven't played through a Noble yet. Thanks for this video, great job as always!

I own both and I agree with Ivan: The Noble is a better DI... for clean sounds that is. I use it for when I want to have a really good, unaltered, unapologetic, direct, reference sound. For me the biggest difference between the two products is this: If you play with a distorted sound, the noble will most likely sound like a fuzzy DI without a cab and the Olympic will sound like a miked amp + cab. In that situation I prefer the latter. Also, the Olympic is a cool practice tool with a great sounding headphone output and AUX input. To be honest, after reading the Noble is supposed to mimic a B-15, I was kind of disappointed that it sounds this clean. If you own one: Try pushing the input by couple of dB, I like what I'm hearing there! Great video!

Finally!! Thanks man! 😄

Very nice stuff! Now... I want to hear the Olympic INTO the Noble! 😁

Excellent comparison. I think they both sound great. Where do you put either of these in your signal chain? Beginning or end?

Hey, Ivan great video! Where did you purchase Olympic? From Europe?

Great video!!

Man the only way I could tell the DIFF was in the solo section, and man they are really really close..which answers everything for me...great demo

Super late on this one, but thank you for doing a jazz and a precision bass for the demoes. I think if you have the noble, the olympic could be a solid backup option - and if you have the olympic, get a cheaper box as a backup. Super cool demo.

So difficult to tell the difference!!! They sound quite similar and both seem to enhance clarity beautifully. To me the versatility of the Olympic is a plus as an all in one option preamp. Either of them is pleasant to listen to anyway!

Ivan since you seem to have access to these high end tube preamps, is it possible for you to compare a few more with the Noble? Like the Monique Dove Cage, Arkham Oracle and WR Goliath. Thanks for what you do for the bass community.

Just found this! I've been a Shift-Line user for several years now and it's tough to wrap my mind around the concept of every playing live or living without it. I'm working on a small board right now for gigs where I don't need a bunch of pedals and outside of buying a second Olympic I'm not sure what to do!

Interesting. I don't think I've ever heard of the Olympic until now. And I thought I was the guy that knows about all the bass preamp pedals that few others do. Lol. But I'd like to share of few of the ones that I don't think many have heard of. There is the Suncoast, the Acoustic Image Flex (mostly for upright players). I haven't heard either of these but they both look pretty awesome. And of course, the Grace Design Felix is one that many forget about. It sounds insanely awesome! Is it just me, or does the Noble seem to be rather limited for 1200 bucks? I mean, no mids on the EQ and no volume on the XLR out. What's up with that? And has anyone here tried out the Mesa Subway+. I love how it has separate XLR outputs for pre/post rather than a switch, enabling it to be used as a DI and a true preamp simultaneously. Because in my opinion it's not a real preamp if if can't run a high-end poweramp (or powered speaker) with a balanced input or go "straight to tape" (the modern equivalent of which is an interface with no pres') without needing to run into a console or other type of pre first.. So, pedals like the Noble, as good as they may sound, are really just glorified DI's rather than true preamps! That''s why I think the Aguilar is so great for the money!

How do you get the hideous fret rattle string noise out of the glissandos?

I was rooting for the Olympic cause I own it... it still sounds great, but I can't deny the Noble was a step above. Something like a smoother but fatter and punchier low end, and more harmonics maybe? Cab sim or not, sounded like a well-miked amp. Time to start saving...

So this is a comparison between 2 currently unavailable preamps? I can’t even find an Olympic MkIIIS anywhere for sale and Nobles are a 10 month waiting list or almost 2k on the used market for a used (possibly abused) amp. I’d love to check out the Olympic but that doesn’t seem to be a possibility

So the Olympic is a bit more versatile. Which comes in handy for a studio musician or someone who has to switch between various styles. What's your opinion? Are you going to test the Markbass Vintage Pre soon?🙂

Why did you set the EQ on the shiftline like that? Flat means mid up full...

the Nobel has a lot more clarity and airiness and significantly more punch and in comparison I'm a bit shocked at how syntetically the shiftline sounds especially with the cab sims thank you for your test, it saves me a lot of money 😎 i stay with my Emperor from GP. but a test of the Markbass against Noble would be nice. but maybe Markbass would rather not do that and therefore you will not get an answer 🤟🤟🤟 and nice that you feel better again Greets Dieter

Great! Now how abt a helix stomp vs these 2? 😅

Interesting comparison. I think the Noble wins but its also over twice the money of the olympic. My Olympic just came in this week. Haven’t tried it live yet but I will this weekend. The Noble is just too much money for right now.

I love the Noble but at less than half the price The Olympic is a great choice.

Hard to hear difference within songs but isolated you can hear the difference. Both sound great. I feel the roundness of Noble bass is better but Noble more expensive and Olympic has cab sims. I have a noble ordered so I’ll say I like that better 😅😅😅

You never used the lo cut on the Noble. Basically the reason why it's is sought after.

Olympic with all those features, you get it for less than half the price. For recording the Ampeg PF50T is cheaper than the Noble.

The noble sounds fatter no matter the cab selection on the Olympic. I have a Reddi and it seems to do the same thing as the noble, it gives the higher notes a little more weight. It’s subtle and I’m not sure it’s worth the extra cash but that’s what I hear. The Olympic sounds great also and that is my next purchase. Thank you for the demo, great job!

Tone craft !!

Не слышу разницы) Зачем платить больше?

I have had both.....keep the Olympic

There i absolutely no reason to buy the 1000 dollar noble)