sansamp rbi

[goonerjoe]

Hello people,

I'm currently playing a jazz bass through a rack Ashdown MAG 300 head which is running through a 4x10 and (sometimes) a 1x15, also from the MAG range.

I want to 'beef' up my tone and have read good things about the Sansamp RBI. I presume I can use the amp for power, leave the EQ flat and use the RBI for tone shaping? Or would it be better just getting an RBI and a power amp?

I've heard the RBI can give a great tube tone, without the hassle of tubes.

Cheers for your help.

[jezzaboy]

If you plug the Sansamp into the amps Effects Return socket, this will by pass the eq of the Mag and you can use the Sa to shape your tone to suit and use the output knob to control the amp`s volume. I used to do this and it works a treat.

This may be a long shot but Uke on here [i]might[/i] be selling a sansamp soon. Might be worth sending him a pm.

[grunge666]

I used to use an RBI with my SVT3 and there were 3 workable combinations.

RBI > Power section
RBI > Effects Loop (this seemed to be a bit under powered and 'washy'(?))
RBI > main input (effectively using 2 Pre's - the tone combinations were endless!)

The RBI is a great bit of kit and I'd throughly recommend trying one out.

Edited February 18, 2013 by grunge666

[Wiggybass]

For my money, the best preamp / DI you can buy - obviously designed by and for working bass players. I use mine as a straight preamp, i.e. the effected unbalanced output goes into the instrument input of my Markbass head. You'll need to juggle the output of the RBI against the input gain of the amp to get the levels right but there's so much adjustment available that it's not a problem. With some fiddling about, almost any sound you'll ever need is in there with the exception of massive distortion / fuzz. Having two sets of EQ is also very handy (i.e. one on the RBI and another on the amp), and I tend to use the RBI EQ, input gain and blend to get the sound I want from my bass, then use the amp EQ to handle any adjustments I might need for the room.

The only thing it won't do very well is drive a power amp, it just doesn't have enough output (well, at least not for a pro-spec stereo power amp with a fixed input sensitivity of .775v RMS, which is pretty standard) but to be honest stereo power amps always sound too hi-fi and full-rangey to me. The RBI into the front of a Markbass sounds great to my ears, and I've tried the same setup into various rehearsal-room amps and it always sounds good.

The RBI also has a well thought out variety of balanced and unbalanced wet and dry outputs (ideal for connecting to a PA or for recording), a dual-level FX loop and even a rear instrument input connector. I've gigged mine for ten years and it's never missed a beat. If you find a used one then don't hesitate - it's the one piece of kit that I use for every gig without exception.