Radial Tonebone Bassbone V2 Two-Channel Bass Preamp, DI & Switcher

Radial Bassbone V2: Two Basses, One Perfect Tone

The Radial Bassbone V2 is a two-channel bass preamp, DI box, and instrument switcher, built to let one player run two different basses through a single signal chain and switch between them with a footswitch. It gives each input its own path — Channel A takes a standard electric bass, while Channel B adds a high-impedance booster tuned for the piezo pickup of an upright — then feeds a three-band active EQ with sweepable mids, a high-pass filter, a footswitchable effects loop with wet/dry blend, and a transformer-isolated balanced XLR DI to front of house. For the doubling bassist who has spent years crouching to swap cables and re-dial an amp between electric and upright, the Bassbone V2 turns that scramble into a single, silent tap of a footswitch.

What a Bass Switcher and Preamp Does

A bass switcher and preamp sits at the front of your rig and does two jobs at once. As a switcher, it lets two instruments share one amp and one DI feed, so you can keep an electric bass and an upright plugged in at the same time and move between them instantly instead of unplugging and re-patching mid-set. As a preamp, it shapes and strengthens each instrument's signal — matching input impedance, adding EQ, and driving a balanced output — so both basses reach the amp and the mixing console at a consistent, usable level. The Bassbone V2 does all of this in one road-ready box, which is why it lives on so many pedalboards belonging to players who never touch just one bass.

Two Inputs Built for Two Very Different Basses

An electric bass and an upright are electrically nothing alike, and the Bassbone V2 respects that. Channel A is optimized for a standard magnetic-pickup electric bass, presenting the impedance those pickups expect for a full, natural tone. Channel B carries a dedicated high-impedance booster designed for the piezo pickup found on most upright and acoustic bass guitars, whose tiny, high-impedance signal goes thin and lifeless the moment it hits a normal input. By giving the piezo the ultra-high load it needs and a touch of gain, Channel B lets an upright finally sound like an upright — round, woody, and alive — instead of the brittle quack you get plugging one straight into an amp.

Three-Band Active EQ with Sweepable Mids

Because two basses rarely want the same tone, Channel 2 of the Bassbone V2 carries its own three-band active EQ with a sweepable midrange. Active EQ can both cut and boost each band, so you can add real low-end weight or pull out boom, lift the highs for definition or tame them, and then tune the mids exactly where the instrument speaks. The sweepable mid control is the key: instead of a fixed frequency, you dial the center point across the midrange to find the note where an upright honks or an electric loses punch, then boost or cut precisely there. It is the difference between EQ that fights the instrument and EQ that finishes it.

The High-Pass Filter and Why an Upright Needs It

Upright bass and hollow acoustic instruments are famously prone to low-frequency feedback — that runaway rumble that builds the moment stage volume rises, because the big resonant body picks up its own sound and loops it back through the amp. The Bassbone V2's high-pass filter is the cure. A high-pass filter passes everything above a set frequency and rolls off the deep lows below it, removing the sub-bass energy that feeds the feedback loop without touching the fundamental notes you actually play. Engage it on an upright and the boom, the stage rumble, and the feedback howl fall away, leaving a tight, controlled low end you can push to real volume.

A Footswitchable Effects Loop with Wet/Dry Blend

The Bassbone V2 includes a shared effects loop you can bring in and out with a footswitch, so outboard pedals — chorus, octave, drive, envelope filter — only touch the signal when you want them to. What sets it apart is the wet/dry blend: rather than forcing your whole signal through the effects, you mix the affected sound back against the clean, dry bass. That matters enormously on bass, where a fully wet effect can gut your low end and leave the band with no foundation. Blend to taste and you keep the solid, dry fundamental holding the bottom while the effect colors the top — the best of both worlds under one footswitch.

Clean Boost, or a Silent Stage Mute

A second footswitch delivers a clean volume boost — a lift in level with no change in tone — perfect for jumping out front on a solo or a busy chorus without reaching for your amp. And because Radial knows a working bassist's needs change, that same footswitch can be reconfigured internally as a silent mute instead, killing the output completely so you can change instruments, tune, or step off stage without a pop or a hum reaching the PA. One switch, configured the way your gig actually works.

The Transformer-Isolated DI, and Who the Bassbone V2 Is For

Everything the Bassbone V2 shapes lands on a transformer-isolated, balanced XLR DI output that sends a clean, hum-free feed straight to the mixing console, with a 180-degree polarity switch and a ground lift to phase-match your signal and kill any ground-loop buzz between stage and front of house — all across a full 20 Hz to 18 kHz response. It is built for the doubling bassist switching between electric and upright, for the two-bass player who needs different EQ on each instrument, and for anyone who wants to tune in silence and hand the sound engineer one perfect DI feed. If you play more than one bass, the Bassbone V2 is the command center that makes them all sound their best.