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Tech21 prototype dUg pre-amp pedal.


Painy

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4 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

Oh and I often tune drop D and half a step down so C# etc

The other day on the 4 string I was in B and the rest down 2.5 steps

Tuner lapped it up

I also have to drop D (C#) for several songs (although I have a Hipshot for that) and I have to drop it down to B for 1 song so I need a quick accurate tuner.

No plans to lose the Zoom yet - it’s a great pedal - I love the SVT sim and the Tubescreamer sim.

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4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Now that:

a) has gotta get the BCers prize for patience!

b) is clearly someone who is after Cuzzie's own heart! (Anyone who is a dUg Pinnick fan will be welcome at Cuzzie's hearth).

But don't get rid of the B3n just yet though (and if you've not discovered the free ToneLib editing software you're in for a treat)...I suspect it may yet give the dUg a run for its money :) 

dUg is my bass hero. Has been since I first saw King’s X in 1990 and saw a guy who played bass slung low and left handed just like me. I don’t have it slung low nowadays but I’m still a lefty 😉

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On 14/05/2018 at 09:26, Cuzzie said:

Been playing it a bit more, it’s getting a there, and trying to balance it across all bases and getting a setting to work clean and dirty and with a 12 string.

Current settings:

77A9E873-2DB1-46FB-BB2C-B8C7C55C2DDE.thumb.jpeg.832da703bb4e98f6e07e60b46a8ed152.jpeg

To be the Dogman........

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my sound engineer 

 

Feedback from your sound engineer wouldn't have gone amiss. :)

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On 15/08/2018 at 10:03, Cuzzie said:

Ha!

well she didn’t walk out in the first song, and put my bass higher in the mix

We need more sound engineers like her. In related news, and thanks to your feedback in particular, I've ordered a Dug and expect its arrival tomorrow. I hope that my own canine sound engineer is equally as supportive. 

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Nice work!!!

 

really hope you enjoy it and can’t wait to hear how you get on

My only absolute rule with this pedal is first try the presets in the manual and see what you think with all basses you have in both clean and dirty mode.

Then dial it all back to noon, put the manual down and tinker till you get what you like, it really gives an idea of how it works, and is a tinker mans pleasure. I hope you get there and once you get the sweet spot, only minor adjustments needed thereafter.

good luck!

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Another happy afternoon spent with the pedal. I'm tending to stay around the suggested Chris Squire settings. It's a tone I've been chasing for over 20 years, and here it is in a tiny little box. I'm laughing at how wonderful it is! 

As much as I love Dug's tone - and this pedal certainly nails it - it isn't a sound I would ever really use. This pedal is far more versatile than most Youtube demos suggest. There are a lot of variations of tone in this thing.

I'm seriously considering selling my EBS Billy Sheehan pedal. 

@Tech21NYC - bravo! 

Edited by Cosmo Valdemar
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It arrived this morning.

Following Cuzzie's advice (see above), I started with the Dug and Squire presets and tweaked to taste. 

Having done that, I immediately used the pedal to track some bass on a full band recording and found that all of my personal settings sit well in the mix. Really well. In fact, that's what this pedal excels at. And it really nails that Geddy/Squire/Entwistle/Dug balance between dirt and articulation. It's 'voiced' rather than being a neutral entity. But Sansamp fans/users will be used to that. And, ultimately, it's a voice that works. I'll be using tonight and across the weekend for a number of gigs. I'll bring my Bass FlyRig to A/B it with and will report back. 

I'm really pleased with this pedal. And I have some fine sources of dirt to compare it with: Rusty Box, SansAmp RPM, Bass Fly Rig, BDDI alongside a Keeley Modded Bass Rat.

I envisage that, once set up to taste, the pedal will fall into the 'set and forget' category and that my bass's volume knob may factor into the overall sound quite heavily as well. 

Watch this space for further details. 

Edited by denki109
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quick question - i tried a Bass Fly Rig and didn't really get on with it (i use a BDDI and RPM/RBI sometimes so i do like the general sansamp 'sound').  Apart from the sound (which I'd have to try but all the demos i've heard are good), it looks like this pedal uses those cheap, horrible, wobbly controls that are fitted to the BFR - it's really putting me off getting one.  How do they feel on this pedal ?  The BFR felt like a cheap toy compared to a BDDI or the other Tech 21 stuff i've had over the years

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2 Gigs Down with the Dug. 

Observations. 

The volume and tone knob are your friends. And not just Facebook friends, either. And much more so than with any pedal I've come across before. If you dial up something OTT and dirty with the volume on full, you'll be amazed at how well the sound cleans up by backing off the volume and/or tone control(s). Thanks to the compressor handling the low end, you'll not experience any drops in bass frequencies when you're taking the volume on your bass down. In a way, I've been using the Dug in the same way that a guitarist handles their volume/tone controls while going through an overdriven amp. The clean/mix 'channel' change option has become redundant.

I've used a Fender Precision & Fender Jazz (both passive) and an Active P-Bass thus far with the gigs (I changed midway through the set) and found that minor tweaks were needed while going from one to the other. 

My fourth bass, a Rickenbacker 4001, hasn't been introduced to Dug yet. But that'll happen later on in the month at another gig. 

So far, Dug has been used to handle front of house via the XLR output and through a flat bass amp in tandem. The XLR sound is darker (in a good way) but still punchy. And the amount of treble on tap of a non-shrill variety is reassuringly abundant. I am a finger style player (I love the sound of plectrums but am just really dire as using them effectively) and this pedal really helps to add punch and definition but not at the expense of the all important fundamental. 

I'm playing across 3 different bands at the moment and it's going to be interesting to see how the Dug copes in more sedate settings. The channel changing option isn't ideal on the fly but works with 'compromise settings'. With 'Mix' engaged and making use of those knobs on the bass - a bounty of great sounds are available. 

For the uninitiated, I can't stress how important it is to hear Dug in a band setting. Some of the un-nice sounds that you might come across when playing solo payoff in the cutting through stakes in a big way. 

Dynamically unsubtle but infinitely tameable and controllable. 

@intime-nick The knobs are identical to the Fly Rig. But, I've used the BFR regularly for about a year before getting the Dug and haven't had any problems with them. I agree with how they feel toy-like but, thankfully, they've been trouble-free. 

Edited by denki109
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More feedback. 

Dug made its first appearance with an electro project featuring no guitars and loads of keyboards last night. They band noticed a difference straight away in my bass sound. 

"I can hear you more clearly. But there also seems to be more space for my keys". - The keyboard player

This non-bassist's feedback speaks volumes. 

I have found myself being more judicious with the bass settings on this unit. Much more so than on any other Tech 21 produced I've used. But, so what? It's a very different beast and I love the fact that it has a very distinctive voice. And one that just 'sits' really well in the mix. 

 

Edited by denki109
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  • 2 weeks later...

I've an unfortunate addendum to my Dug experience. 

The XLR output became intermittent in a very odd manner at a gig and I had to resort to using my FlyRig backup. It was as though only certain notes and frequencies were being allowed through. When I brought 'Dug' back home, the XLR issue persisted and I'll be exchanging the unit with a new one thanks to the good folk at Anderton's. I look forward to receiving a fault free Dug and reporting back. 

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Reunited and it feels to good. 

The good folk at Anderton's exchanged my faulty Dug unit with a brand spanking new one and it's working perfectly as it should. Very impressed with Anderton's service on this front.

In the end, my faulty unit's output problems spread from XLR to the main jack output. I think I was just unlucky as all of my Tech 21 products have been reliable despite a LOT of use. 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dug accompanied me to a very mellow gig last weekend. This involved a musical ensemble with a cellist and trumpet player in its ranks. Yes, it fell a wee bit into the 'niiiiiice' category for all you Fast Show fans. For this live outing, I used my Rickenbacker 4001 on the neck pickup for the majority of a gig. Needless to say, the chunk setting didn't feature heavily BUT it did make a brief but well chosen appearance. I used the venue's amp, set flat, and the XLR of the unit provided the bulk of the sound out front. It sounded absolutely great. The compression was really sympathetic to the 'Rick does an upright(ish)' sound that I was after. And, more importantly, I had a prominent low end thud with oodles of definition. Dug is not a one trick pony. And getting a miserable cellist to compliment me on my bass tone is a testament to that. 

 

Edited by denki109
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On 22/09/2018 at 14:21, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Well this is really something.

20180922_122558.jpg

I feel this was all my fault.

 

I run mine into the front end of my trickfish amp. Just letting the signal pass through the electronics in that amp warms it up nicely.

 

Has anyone though of running this is s blend pedal mixing the dug amp sound with the clean uncompressed signal of your bass... More like how bass would be mixed on a studio console type of thing?

 

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

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