Rocktron Blue Thunder Bass Guitar Preamp

The Blue Thunder is loaded with 128 professional Presets custom designed for bass. The Blue Thunder has a selectable Hi-Pass Effects Filter that allows you to determine the frequency range being passed through the digital effects, delivering lush effects that won’t muddy up your low end. Custom voiced bass effects including flanger, phaser, tremolo, delay and reverb.. Rocktron's Dynamic Compression is included and has also been specifically engineered for bass. If that’s not enough, Rocktron's Multi-voiced delay and chorus are again specifically voiced for bass use in live and recording situations. http://www.rocktron.com

 

Want some distortion? The Blue Thunder rolls out built-in distortion designed specifically for bass which can be added to your dry bass signal and effect path independently as desired.

Rocktron's unique signal routing allows you to choose between an analog direct feed, or full effects routing. The Blue Thunder has a most powerful and flexible tone shaping tool with Rocktron's SIMbiotic  4-Band Parametric EQ consisting of two sections of band limited parametric EQ – "BASS" and "PRESENCE" along with two sections of FULL BASS Paremetric EQ sections – "MID" and "TREBLE". Speaker Exciter with Sonic Clarity and Sonic Boom controls allows you to record direct, but also adds a new dimension of tone to your live sound.

Whether using the Blue Thunder with a power amp and speaker cabinets or while recording with the CABINET SIMULATOR engaged, the Speaker Exciter offers yet another extension of tonal expression allowing you to choose the speaker type (8", 10", 12", 15") then giving you even more tonal possibilities using the SONIC BOOM and SONIC CLARITY 

In regards to the CABINET SIMULATOR, when active the outputs are specifically conditioned for direct recording to produce a virtual miked cabinet response. This allows you to connect directly to a PA system or recording equipment – leave that heavy cabinet home! Cabinet Simulator works in conjunction with the Speaker Exciter to deliver lifelike direct recording.

Separate Input and Output Level controls on the Blue Thunder accommodate all kinds of basses with active and passive pickups.

Rocktron’s unique signal routing allows you to choose the signal path type for the direct mix – Analog or Digital. For Effect Loop Routing – you may want to use the Blue Thunder in an effects loop of your existing preamp – in this case you can route the direct signal around the DSP by setting the Direct Path option. With Direct Path Analog, your direct signal is untouched and then mixed with the DSP effects only. With Direct Path Digital you are using the Blue Thunder as a dedicated preamp.

The Blue Thunder incorporates Rocktron’s award-winning digital HUSH® noise reduction.

• All presets on the Blue Thunder are user programmable and can be restored to original factory settings.
• A Tap Button for "Delay" and "Rate" control is on the front panel and is MIDI programmable. The Blue Thunder has full MIDI capabilities (use the optional Rocktron MIDI XChange, MIDI Mate or All Access footcontrollers). Using a MIDI footswitch and expression pedal will allow real time control of virtually all effects parameters.
• The Blue Thunder uses 24-Bit Internal Processing via Motorola DSP Engine for Double precision 48 x 48-bit multiply with 96-bit result.

There’s never been a tool for bass quite like the Blue Thunder. 

Specifications

•  Maximum Input: +20dBu
• Maximum Output: +20dBu
• Nominal Input Range: +4dBu to
• (16dB Headroom) -21dBu
• Input Impedance: 470K ohms
• Output Impedance: 120 ohms
• Dynamic Range: 104dB (HUSH IN)
• 94dB (HUSH OUT)
• THD+N .009%
• Dry Frequency Response (10Hz to 30kHz) ±.25
• Wet Frequency Response (20Hz - 19.5kHz) ±3dB

Owner's Manual [PDF, en]