Max at [sfx] sound in London has made a very nice sounding stick preamp: http://sfxsound.com/sp2/
He's very good at custom projects, so he could build anything you'd like, and the price is reasonable. Great guy!

Something like this would also work: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MicPower2
Put it between the StepAbout and your R-Block with the appropriate cables and you'll be fine

There we go. Rolls, Audix and some other manufacturers also makes dual channel phantom power units. I actually have a similar box already. Found it an hour ago in the studio and remembered that a friend gave it to me some ten years ago when I had to do a recording that involved condensator mics out in the woods. It also runs on batteries. He did not want it back either. I had forgotten that I had it.

The ideal thing would be something like this but with tele plugs instead of canon. At least on the output side so fewer adapters would be needed when plugging into a amp, stomp boxes or a StepAbout.

Hi Tim,

if you step on the footswitch of the theMMamp, both inputs are summed to both outputs. I sometimes use that to get a mega-fat distortion sound by sending a signal to both bass and guitar amps.
(By the way, it can also be powered with a battery)

All the best,
Johannes

And how much is theMMamp cheaper than the StepAbout?

I bought mine in 2009 for 230 Euros, if I remember correctly. I don't know what the current price would be.

If what you do for a living is at all relevant, than you should know better than to ascribe the problems of bad product design to a useful feature.

Decent product design would make this no more difficult to manage than the "standby" switch on a tube amplifier.

I looked into this a while back (thankfully, there are times when my ridiculously complex gear research can help people):

Dual Channel Phantom Power:

• Samson SASPHANT
• ART Phantom II Pro
• Whirlwind MicPower 2

NOTE: The products listed all have switches to control either the unit as a whole or the phantom power output.

Yes, I do. Phantom power is not the cause of those problems: poor product design is. Shopping for equipment carefully and paying close attention to its use would prevent all of those problems.


EDIT: I know that the Whirlwind product was already mentioned; I included it so that the list would be as complete as possible.

Well. Product design COMBINED with phantom power is indeed a problem. Either you make the best out of it or you fight the technology. I prefer to make the best out of it myself. I run a run a professional recording studio with a SSL console and I do lots of gigs each year. And I've played Stick since 1987. So, honestly, shut the fuck off.

And just to sum things up. I´m sick and TIRED (!!) of Robstafarian and K Rex fucking insults and lack of know-how when it comes to sounds and other matters involving tapping instruments. NO! I won´t edit my first regarding this! Forget it! Fuck off! Either stick to the truth or fuck off. Enough now!

Two hours and 19 minutes of silence later...

Maybe it could be rehoused with different output jacks? There seems to be little wrong with the rest of the features, especially battery power. Two small preamps could be added in the same box maybe?