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Tech21 prototype dUg pre-amp pedal.


Painy

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I`ve just got one, am not sure on it yet, but as am off to a festival now will have to have a good play when I get back. I`m pretty much there with the sound I want from it, and certainly for overseas gigs it will make travelling with gear easier so I`m reckoning it may just work. But the real try out is rehearsal next Tue, that`s what will make my mind up.

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@Lozz196 you are an experienced guy and way better than me, but it is worth having a proper tinker and time to bed in with it.

It is really sensitive to different basses as well, and you can IMO get a good clean tone and kick in the distortion circuit and have a good time there without further dial twiddling.

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2 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

@Lozz196 you are an experienced guy and way better than me, but it is worth having a proper tinker and time to bed in with it.

It is really sensitive to different basses as well, and you can IMO get a good clean tone and kick in the distortion circuit and have a good time there without further dial twiddling.

This. @Lozz196, even if you're underwhelmed by it at rehearsal, persevere. It's not hard to get a great sound, but it needs time and tweaking to get 'your' sound. But I reckon it's in there.

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I had another long play with my Hohner this time.

What I found was I have my drive sound I love with the distortion, but just rolling the tone all the way off then gave me a sound with less top end fizz, and a very nice clean sound with enough brightness to pop through.

Good alternative to trying to find a setting which works ‘clean’ and dirty

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41 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Are you using it in front of your main amp or as a preamp?

Preamp, so in truth it should be fairly transparent; I've not utilised any amplifier's pre-stage for over a decade - I've always used either the effects return or like now, straight into a power amp. 

I love what it does, although it has to be said it's a little unusual to have to roll off the top.  I've used a bunch of TEch21 gear and still run a GED and a BDDI and bothe these are fine/normal.  The dUg is simply over-bright. 

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14 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Preamp, so in truth it should be fairly transparent; I've not utilised any amplifier's pre-stage for over a decade - I've always used either the effects return or like now, straight into a power amp. 

I love what it does, although it has to be said it's a little unusual to have to roll off the top.  I've used a bunch of TEch21 gear and still run a GED and a BDDI and bothe these are fine/normal.  The dUg is simply over-bright. 

Forgive the generalistation but does turning down the high control not tame the brightness? Not sure what you mean by the GED and BDDI being 'normal', surely they are all voiced differently?

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4 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Forgive the generalistation but does turning down the high control not tame the brightness? Not sure what you mean by the GED and BDDI being 'normal', surely they are all voiced differently?

Question 1) Yes (the unit isn't faulty).
Question 2) Yes, I know, otherwise they'd only make one unit, wouldn't they? :)

When referring to the GED or BDDI (or the VT Bass or the VT Bass DI or the GT2 or the RBI or the Landmark 300), I really couldn't be any more specific.  All these units will give a robust tone with very little in the way of swings in the tone knob positions; I've tended to find that with Tech21 gear (in general) is neither whumpy or toppy and there isn't much of a requirement to have great swings in the tone knobs position(s) for cut or boost.  Small adjustments have always been the name of the game and it doesn't really matter which bass I'm using either.

The dUg just seems to buck that trend; it's just bright.  If I set the unit to his personal setting from the manual, I still feel the need to roll back the treble from that position.  It's really not a problem.  It's just an opinion.

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1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

The dUg just seems to buck that trend; it's just bright.  If I set the unit to his personal setting from the manual, I still feel the need to roll back the treble from that position.  It's really not a problem.  It's just an opinion.

The curse of the signature pedal I suppose. Tailored for one person's specific needs. I have the high knob around 1 o' clock, and that's plenty of top! I wouldn't want to push it much higher. I am keeping the drive around 12 though. I imagine the highs could get a lot more glassy with more drive.

I haven't had the joy of trying the GED sadly. One day!

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It’s so bass dependent, I have my high 1-2 o’clock, mids 2-3, low 3-4, drive and chunk about 5.

For me it works, and I get a sound I like clean as well.

Rolling the tone off in dirty mode helps to keep the drive but tame the high.

You are right though, it is bright, and can be a bit teeth chattering fingers in a blackboard on its own, but in a mix it does blend nicely

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I got the dug pedal a few weeks ago. Took it on a private wedding gig the same night playing funk/modern r n b stuff... I hadn't really spent any time with it prior to this and it was a good learning curve, I was on in ears so that helped me dial it in throughout the gig. Nobody said anything about the completely different tone I usually have from my trickfish DI out despite starting off with way too much gain!

 

What surprised me was how much low end this pedal has, it was huge! Also the compressor I found doesn't need too much to work and sound natural... This is probably bass dependent. I already use a muira comp in front of it which does hardly any compression just enhances the tone.

 

Since the gig I've had an afternoon to further mess with settings and I've found a really nice ampeg svt tone that bites when you dig in or also with just a bit of break up. It is a bright pedal but you can dial it back using the high/treble control as if you were filtering it off in a mixing/studio environment.

 

What I love about this pedal is that I can hear my basses through the pedal compare to previously sansamps. You can push the midrange back in to the tone if needed. Also with the bddi I found the presence control almost plastic and fake sounding and drive too wooly when pushed which is something I don't experience with the dug. It has a really nice clarity and the drive holds it self together instead of turning to fuzzy mush. Used to run a b3k into a bddi with very little drive on the DG just to sharped up the bddi.

 

Closest thing I can relate it to is a loud ampeg svt vr with the hi and lo switches engaged in a conservative setting and then you can gradually push it into dug territory!

Also the DI out just works and sounds good, no DSP etc which I have found weird in the past especially when your tone from your cab is drastically different to what is out front with how much drive/gain is audible.

 

Anyway there's my thoughts / praise.

 

Not 100 percent on tuner yet but a nice addition

 

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24 minutes ago, Tech21NYC said:

What are you plugging the pedal into?

Back of a Matrix GT1000 poweramp into a Barefaced Big One (15/6) enclosure. 

Now don't get me wrong, I adore the unit...I didn't actually think anything would supersede the RBI and the n you bought out the GED and then you trumped that with the dUg.

Edited by NancyJohnson
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Usually the issue of brightness is exacerbated when going into the front end of an amp or using full range speakers. Going directly into a power amp as you are doing is the preferred method. Are you using an active bass or passive? Have you tried using the XLR out on the DP-3X? That output is a little darker.

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I must say I`m surprised by the comments of lots of low-end. In order to replicate the sound of my Para Driver, where I have the bass on about 2 o`clock I`ve had to have the bass on the dUg on full, and even then it doesn`t seem to have the same "muscle" to it. Could be frequency difference I suppose. Not taking a pop at the pedal though, it`s a nifty little guy but ultimately I just prefer the Para Driver so dUg is taking a trip back to the shop.

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10 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I must say I`m surprised by the comments of lots of low-end. In order to replicate the sound of my Para Driver, where I have the bass on about 2 o`clock I`ve had to have the bass on the dUg on full, and even then it doesn`t seem to have the same "muscle" to it. Could be frequency difference I suppose.

That's odd. I keep the lows around 1 and that's pushing it! I did suspect you would return to your trusty Para Driver, it seems to be very 'you'!

Edited by Cosmo Valdemar
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