I wrote this for another site in English, so I won't translate it, sorry.

I've been needing a preamp as a signal booster for my bass (to feed the signal into my sound card) for a long time now and I have tried three solutions so far:

- Dunlop MXR 10-band EQ (it's got separate gain and volume controls and can boost the signal quite significantly apart from EQ-ing of course).
- EHX Battalion and
- Palmer Pocket Amp Bass.

I'm writing this as a comparison of the three, so that people who don't want to spend a lot of money know what they're useful for:

Palmer Pocket Amp Bass:

Pros: 1. Clean, transparent boost with good dynamic retention and enough dB gain for my purpose. I have it at 75% which is the point where most amplifiers produce the least distortion.
2. The knobs are generally not overly sensitive (they're quite sensitive) which is very good as you can easily find your sound and then return to it without any issues.
3. Very useful EQ: The bass roll-off curve doesn't start too high so you can remove some bass without taking away useful frequencies. The mid-sweep is also very good, you can apply some boost/cut and then sweep the frequencies to find the "sweet spot" of the sound. You can't do this with fixed frequency controls.
4. The "presence" button is actually a compressor which is completely opposite to the Battalion's: It's very useful and can be as subtle as you want.
5. I liked the distortion sound, (not so much the fuzz) better than what the Battalion offers.
6. I like the LED input that changes colors to show how strong the incoming signal is, very useful for basses with strong preamps - it informs you if the incoming signal is more than what it can handle.
7. The headphone line/in + I/Os are very useful for playing along to a backing track without using a computer (just the smartphone is enough) and more than that, finally I'll be able to try out new basses in stores against backing track pieces which is necessary because experienced players know how different things can be when you play a bass alone on an unknown amp versus when you bring it home/studio and try it with the rest of your music in the usual setup you have. This helps a lot.

Cons: 1. In the EQ section, the "highs" knob could start affecting frequencies a bit lower, it only affects very high frequencies.
2. The distortion blend knob could be a bit more sensitive at lower positions - there should be a more progressive blend at the beginning of the curve. Maybe the blending function in sound style could be better than linear.
I don't like the cabinet sound in general and I have no experience with the cabinet sims, so I can't comment on those, I don't mind them being there, I just can't say if they're good or not.

Dunlop:

Pros: Completely silent operation, increasing the high frequencies doesn't cause any noise at all. The EQ is naturally very good, it's 10 separate bands and you can adjust your sound with great precision.

Disadvantages: The volume button seriously compromises the dynamics. The pedal essentially functions as a compressor if the intensity is anywhere above -6Db. So, if you want to maintain your dynamics, you have to have the intensity knob at -9 or -6Db and the Gain knob at +6 or +9Db for compensation. Therefore, it can't really function as a signal booster without the compression phenomenon. I'm disappointed that so many people praise this pedal without noticing this annoying result that ruins the bass articulation.

EHX Battalion:

Advantages: 1. Good dynamic preservation. You don't have unwanted compression or sound muddiness like with the Dunlop.
2. Nice options for EQ placement.
3. The addition of low and mid EQ adjustment and high mid adjustment is welcome and a decisive advantage compared to other preamps.

Disadvantages: 1. Not transparent. The high frequencies weaken and the bass sounds somewhat muted. It's not serious, but it's definitely noticeable. This is my main concern with the Battalion.
2. The line-out signal doesn't have enough push. You have to use the XLR and the additional volume button that accompanies it.
3. The compressor is completely useless. It's so annoying and flattening, there's almost no point in the compression adjustment knob producing any useful compression.
4. I didn't really like the distortion sounds. I found them too extreme for my preference, but I only use distortion discreetly to add some sparkle to my bass sound and make it stand out more in the mix. However, the blend knob helps significantly.

Overall, this pedal follows a raw approach, which possibly aims to play metal or other really hard music genres or simply impress critics.

In the end, I sold/returned the Dunlop/EHX devices and kept the Palmer as it became clear to me that it's designed not to impress but to genuinely help and assist the musician in real-world scenarios and situations. It provides high-quality amplification and everything about it shows a high degree of thoughtfulness, especially regarding real-world usefulness, with a very good balance between subtlety and power in its adjustments. It is by far the best for my needs and tastes, which include funk, a little dance, some fusion, and a lot of alternative rock like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Smashing Pumpkins.