Walrus Audio Badwater Bass Preamp DI Direct Box Pedal

Consider this your next bass rig! The Walrus Audio Badwater is a bass preamp DI, optical compressor, EQ, and more all in one spectacular-looking enclosure.

Overview

The Badwater is a bass tone magnification device sonically highlighting what makes bass so crucial to music. The all-in-one bass pre-amp and DI features optical compression, overdrive, and a four-band EQ section. Enhance your bass rig's capabilities and dial in everything from warm cleans, gritty chords, punchy drive, or bright and crisp slap sounds.

The Badwater features an internal optical compressor. It's first in the signal path and is always on, though its strength is adjustable. Use the Sustain knob to add compression for long sustained notes and chords while smoothing out your transients. At a minimum, you will have a minimal effect, but as you increase the knob, you will hear more extended notes and squashed transients.

Give your sound some teeth by adding a subtle breakup or a tastefully driven distortion. Use the Voice toggle to select one of three options for how much low and high-frequency content is allowed into the drive section, then use the Blend knob to blend between your fully clean and fully distorted signal. Blend your clean and driven signal to taste for increased note clarity as the clean and dirty channels run parallel. The drive control also features a separate Level knob to boost or cut the drive signal.

Cover just about any musical genre needs with the extensive EQ options from the Badwater. Dial-in your base tone with boost/cut low, mid, and high frequencies, then zero in on your perfect tone by sweeping between 500 Hz to 2.4k Hz with the Low Mid… read more Frequency knob (LMF) or 3.5k Hz to 7.5k Hz on the High Mid Frequency knobs (HMF).

Badwater features both 1/4 inch and XLR out options, so you're always ready with a usable bass rig. Use the XLR to connect directly to the front-of-house or use the 1/4 inch out to run to and amp. Both outputs can be run simultaneously for direct and live amp stage monitoring. The Badwater Does not accept power from phantom power. Phantom power will be blocked out and not damage the Badwater, but it is best to avoid turning on phantom power when the unit is connected.

Features:

- Versatile and powerful tone sculpting tool for bassists of all styles.
- Optical comp for smooth added sustain.
- Blend-able drive control with three different voicing options.
- Boost/Cut EQ section. +/- 12dB on low and high controls and +/- 10dB on Mid, LMF, and HMF controls.
- Sweep 500 Hz to 2.4kHz through the Low Mid & LMF controls and 3.5kHz to 7.5k Hz on High Mid & HMF controls.
- Ground lift to isolate the GND pin on XLR to help reduce hum if present.
- 1/4in instrument signal & XLR line-level output options.
- Outputs run simultaneously for direct and on-stage connections.
- 300mA Power Req

Specs

Dimensions and Weight in Packaging
Base Item: Shipping Weight: 1.25 lbs; Shipping Dimensions: 6 x 5 x 3 in; Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 900-1066

Documents and Manuals

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 405-295-7847
Email: customerservice@walrusaudio.com
Web: https://www.walrusaudio.com/pages/contact

Reviews

(1 ratings)

Submitted September 4, 2023 by Russell

"Great pedal- ultimately not for me though"

Overall:

(see rating details)

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Written by one of our gear experts!

This is a great pedal- you essentially get three high quality effects- a compressor, an overdrive, and a preamp/eq all for the price of one. The compressor is the most impressive- you can set attack/release with internal trim pots, and it sounds great. It's very smooth and adds tons of sustain if you want, which is especially good for smaller or quieter setups, like for playing at home. The overdrive is pretty adaptable and relatively modern sounding. However, it sounds more like a wild fuzz at higher settings and can't get that tight, fizzy, grindy sound like you can get with Darkglass pedals, which is ultimately why I'm sending it back. It will be more than useful for 95% of players in any style. It really is very adaptable and does sound great. The EQ section could have been more smartly voiced, it only goes down to 500 Hz, and goes all the way up to 7.5 Khz. This is good if you want to boost things and bring out certain characters of your sound, but not good for cutting frequencies. Most bass players are gonna want to cut something out between 180 and 500 Hz or so and you can't do that with this pedal. Overall, this thing is a good one stop shop as far as preamps go. The sound and features make it a bargain; they could easily charge $300+ for this it sounds so good. If you're looking to define and refine your sound this is a great purchase; I think it beats out Sansamp or really anything else in this category.