TC Electronics Spectradrive.

[dannybuoy]

I find it much better to test a pedal at home, with my bass/pedals/amp/cab with the option of a free return, than limit myself to mainstream items stocked in shops, having to travel there and test with limited time in less then ideal conditions with a less generous return policy. 

When it comes to basses and cabs though, I would much rather test in person since they are more of a faff to post!

[dave_bass5]

2 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

I find it much better to test a pedal at home, with my bass/pedals/amp/cab with the option of a free return, than limit myself to mainstream items stocked in shops, having to travel there and test with limited time in less then ideal conditions with a less generous return policy. 

When it comes to basses and cabs though, I would much rather test in person since they are more of a faff to post!

Yep. I was really happy when PMT opened up just down the road, but ive been in there almost  dozen times now and they never have what i want, but can get it in.

[The59Sound]

I guess I'm lucky seeing as Bass Direct is 25 minutes away... still stand by my comment.

[dave_bass5]

20 minutes ago, The59Sound said:

I guess I'm lucky seeing as Bass Direct is 25 minutes away... still stand by my comment.

Not disagreeing with you at all, just saying that in my experience what sounds great in a shop hasn't always sounded great when used with a band. Id rather have the option to try out in that context and be able to send it back if it didnt work. Still, at least you can get a good idea of what something can do with real hands on testing. 

Edited April 18, 2018 by dave_bass5

[CameronJ]

So this thread seems to have died of natural causes. Anyone else pick one of these up?

[krispn]

Yup negative opinions on a forum has sunk more gear than the Reich!

[dave_bass5]

What are the negative opinions? I know i said it wasnt for me but I don’t think i ever said anything negative about it. 

I don’t recall anyone else buying one and i doubt very much if any of my posts would put someone off if they needed what the SD has to offer. 

EDIT: just remembered someone else did buy one. 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2018 by dave_bass5

[Jimryan]

7 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

What are the negative opinions? I know i said it wasnt for me but I don’t think i ever said anything negative about it. 

I don’t recall anyone else buying one and i doubt very much if any of my posts would put someone off if they needed what the SD has to offer. 

EDIT: just remembered someone else did buy one. 

 

 

Yup, that be me.  Still use it and love it.  Had a play last night for a quiet practice as the Mrs isn't well.  Depending on the provided back line I might use it tonight at a gig too.

[dannybuoy]

I rate the Spectracomp very highly, and as long as I could find a light drive to my tastes, the cab sim sounds decent (not overly dark or coloured) and the headphone amp is as loud and clear as my Bighead, I could see myself acquiring one of these down the line too.

[krispn]

I’m just saying your views were that it didn’t work for you but a lot of people jump on that. I’ve said that you were the only person qualified to give a first hand opinion as you owned it. However some folk align with that and bias that to their opinion. All just observations👍🏽

[CameronJ]

5 hours ago, Jimryan said:

Yup, that be me.  Still use it and love it.  Had a play last night for a quiet practice as the Mrs isn't well.  Depending on the provided back line I might use it tonight at a gig too.

How’s the headphone amp section? As @dannybuoy says, if it’s on par with PJB BigHead quality then it’ll be ideal.

[Jimryan]

23 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

How’s the headphone amp section? As @dannybuoy says, if it’s on par with PJB BigHead quality then it’ll be ideal.

I like it, but then again the only thing I have to compare it to is my TC BH550.  It does what you want, it reproduces the sound well and with a play around with the compressor toneprints, you can get a decent volume out of it too.

 

Personally I’ve found the headphone amp better in a live monitor situation than I have as a headphone amp on its own (weird I know).  

 

Im aware that this isn’t much help, but makes perfect sense to me.

[CameronJ]

11 minutes ago, Jimryan said:

I like it, but then again the only thing I have to compare it to is my TC BH550.  It does what you want, it reproduces the sound well and with a play around with the compressor toneprints, you can get a decent volume out of it too.

 

Personally I’ve found the headphone amp better in a live monitor situation than I have as a headphone amp on its own (weird I know).  

 

Im aware that this isn’t much help, but makes perfect sense to me.

That makes sense. Am I to assume then that the available headphone volume isn’t great unless the compressor is turned up?

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, krispn said:

I’m just saying your views were that it didn’t work for you but a lot of people jump on that. I’ve said that you were the only person qualified to give a first hand opinion as you owned it. However some folk align with that and bias that to their opinion. All just observations👍🏽

Ok, fair enough. I do agree that negative posts can have a negative effect on what the sheep buy lol. 

Looking on the various Bass forums it does seem that many potential owners feel that TCE need to allow users to edit the tone prints. I suppose that’s quite a big negative on paper, although i wonder how many people really bother to edit these TP pedals. 

Cameron. The headphone out is very powerful with the right pair of headphones. I had no issues running mine in to my Sen 25’s and never got anywhere near half way on the master output. This was with the Comp set to around 10 o’clock, without the OD engaged. 

This whole experience has definitely wetted my appetite for a BH550 though. 

[dannybuoy]

'The right pair of headphones' is the sticking point. Mine are harder to drive than some (Beyer DT770 Pro 80ohm version) but I love the way they sound and the Bighead drives them much better than any other headphone out I've found on an amp head or preamp pedal.

[CameronJ]

3 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Ok, fair enough. I do agree that negative posts can have a negative effect on what the sheep buy lol. 

Looking on the various Bass forums it does seem that many potential owners feel that TCE need to allow users to edit the tone prints. I suppose that’s quite a big negative on paper, although i wonder how many people really bother to edit these TP pedals. 

Cameron. The headphone out is very powerful with the right pair of headphones. I had no issues running mine in to my Sen 25’s and never got anywhere near half way on the master output. This was with the Comp set to around 10 o’clock, without the OD engaged. 

This whole experience has definitely wetted my appetite for a BH550 though. 

I have to say I’ve owned several TC pedals and have never been arsed to edit the prints. I just find a ready made one I like and play.

Thanks for clarifying the headphone amp situation, I’m pretty tempted to just buy one now as pretty much all the questions I had about the unit have been answered. I’ll be running either a pair of Sennheiser Momentum Wireless (in wired mode) or Sony earbuds. Neither of which are particularly difficult to drive. Happy days!

[krispn]

I think the revisions to the app may allow this. I’m keen to see how it works out. Patch swapping among users etc feels like the current model for such endeavours. 

[CameronJ]

Also @dave_bass5 I loved my BH800. It’s the reason I know the SD will work for me tonally!

[dave_bass5]

My Sen HD25’s are 70ohms and bloody loud with anything. With my Zoom B3n i have the master on 18/100 and it’s just right. 

[dave_bass5]

1 minute ago, CameronJ said:

Also @dave_bass5 I loved my BH800. It’s the reason I know the SD will work for me tonally!

And its having the SD that i know a BH head will work for me. I really did like the SD, its just that I didn’t have space for it on my board and preferred my BDDI as my only preamp. 

[dannybuoy]

8 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

My Sen HD25’s are 70ohms and bloody loud with anything. With my Zoom B3n i have the master on 18/100 and it’s just right. 

Only had the B3 and B1on but struggled for enough volume with both on maximum!

[dave_bass5]

Just now, dannybuoy said:

Only had the B3 and B1on but struggled for enough volume with both on maximum!

Wow, those headphones really are hard to drive then.

[CameronJ]

27 minutes ago, dannybuoy said:

Only had the B3 and B1on but struggled for enough volume with both on maximum!

That’s a sad state of affairs. Those cans of yours are power hungry!

[CameronJ]

Good news. One of the folks over on Talkbass has said:

”I asked TC Electronics about custom TonePrints with the Spectradrive.

They plan to make the Spectradrive work with the Editor, but are having technical problems. They’re working on it.”

[Al Krow]

So following Cam's scoop about falling TC prices, which has set off a flurry of buying;  this pedal has come down to £137 (from it's previous £199) and a few folk are dipping their toes back in.

I've seen a couple of comments about the headphone out and the drive being a bit 'meh'.

@dave_bass5 and @JohnR grateful if you early toe-dippers could confirm a couple of points for me, please:

a) is the headphone out noisy or only just on a a few unlucky faulty ones? If it is noisy, that's a deal breaker for me as I'd be primarily looking to use this as a compact headphone amp / DI (which joking aside about the Zoom B1on looking like a toy, the availability of "emergency" DI out is another factor in the SD's favour as the neither the Zoom B1 or it's wonderful big brother the B3n have)

b) is the toneprint editor available for the drive?

Edited October 3, 2018 by Al Krow