Al Krow Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 51 minutes ago, fretmeister said: The Spectradrive clean sounds seem really good. The drive though - sounds like derrière. I was all excited for a bit. Can you not toneprint the drive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 I think it's the nature of the drive - like an overdriven SVT with loads of flub and fuzziness rather than a genuine bass overdrive like a Pearce or DG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 On 02/10/2018 at 16:58, CameronJ said: Let us know what the PSU situation is with GuitarGuitar - I’m thinking of ordering mine from them. I just collected mine from Guitar Guitar and it comes with a standard UK power supply. The box also had clip on plates for other EU plug types. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Having had a few days to live with the pedal I have come to the conclusion that it's a great home practice tool but I would not want to use it in a live situation. I do like the tone, having owned several TC amps previously, I know how to make it work to get my tone. However, the deal breaker is the bypass mode which, unless I am doing something wrong, bypasses both tone and volume controls and sends full volume to my powered speaker which would be a nightmare in a gig situation if I activated it accidentally. I can't imagine any reason to have this feature in a preamp pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 1 hour ago, JohnR said: Having had a few days to live with the pedal I have come to the conclusion that it's a great home practice tool but I would not want to use it in a live situation. I do like the tone, having owned several TC amps previously, I know how to make it work to get my tone. However, the deal breaker is the bypass mode which, unless I am doing something wrong, bypasses both tone and volume controls and sends full volume to my powered speaker which would be a nightmare in a gig situation if I activated it accidentally. I can't imagine any reason to have this feature in a preamp pedal. Not sure that's particularly unusual John in terms of clean bypass for most pedals? I'd typically adjust the volume with the pedal engaged to be the same as what it is when by-passed so that I didn't get a volume spike or cut. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 I can understand your point but I had hoped to use it as a pure preamp in front of a powered speaker rather than a pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) 6 minutes ago, JohnR said: I can understand your point but I had hoped to use it as a pure preamp in front of a powered speaker rather than a pedal. John, sorry for labouring the point. But you also have volume controls on the speaker amp and bass, as well as the pedal so it should be relatively straightforward to ensure you have the bypass = engaged volume and the overall volume set as needed via your powered speaker or bass volume control, or am I missing something obvious? Edited October 7, 2018 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 As the Sub'N'Up and the mini are the same price, are they internally the same thing? I realise that there is a knob missing on the mini, but ultimately do they do the same thing apart from that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Krow Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: As the Sub'N'Up and the mini are the same price, are they internally the same thing? I realise that there is a knob missing on the mini, but ultimately do they do the same thing apart from that? @Dood has owned them both... The full fat version was previously about £10 more, before the recent price drop. Edited October 7, 2018 by Al Krow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 26 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: As the Sub'N'Up and the mini are the same price, are they internally the same thing? I realise that there is a knob missing on the mini, but ultimately do they do the same thing apart from that? 15 minutes ago, Al Krow said: @Dood has owned them both... The full fat version was previously about £10 more, before the recent price drop. Yes, other than the knob thing, I didn't detect any differences in them tonally. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Just pulled the trigger on a Vibraclone rotary speaker sim; it's the one sound that I LOVE but can't make at home unfortunately. Apart from mounting speakers on a bloody big motor and boxing them up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 16 hours ago, JohnR said: Having had a few days to live with the pedal I have come to the conclusion that it's a great home practice tool but I would not want to use it in a live situation. I do like the tone, having owned several TC amps previously, I know how to make it work to get my tone. However, the deal breaker is the bypass mode which, unless I am doing something wrong, bypasses both tone and volume controls and sends full volume to my powered speaker which would be a nightmare in a gig situation if I activated it accidentally. I can't imagine any reason to have this feature in a preamp pedal. Hi john. Without stating the obvious but using the level control you can set the SD to unity gain. Obviously there will be a difference on and off because of the EQ used, but you can still get fairly close to volume a good volume balance. In fact ive not managed to get the off state anywhere near the on state volume wise. Can i ask if you got a 3 pin PSU or 2 pin? I forgot to look at mine from Guitar Guitar (ill do it when i get to work), but the one i got direct from TCE earlier this year, which they said was the correct one, was a proper 3 pin plug with no slide off option for EU type plugs etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Hi. I got a 3 pin PSU which also had attachments to convert to European types. The point I was making, badly, is that I wanted a preamp in a pedal format and not a preamp pedal if that makes sense? My home practice signal chain is Spectradrive - Powered Event TR8 studio monitors. If/when I use it live I would use something like a QSC K10.2. I like to set the gain/volume at each stage to maximise headroom and dynamics. This means that my powered monitor volume is set relatively high and I dial in the required gain and control the overall volume from the preamp. In this scenario hitting the bypass switch will result in full volume being sent to the power monitor. I often used rack preamps with poweramps in the past and had thought I would get the same functionality with the pedal preamp format. None of the above is a dealbreaker for me as I only purchased the Spectradrive for home use anyway. Thanks John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 On 30/09/2018 at 21:54, CameronJ said: Sticking it on the knob Stickingit-on-the-Knob is a small village in Gloucestershire. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 45 minutes ago, discreet said: Stickingit-on-the-Knob is a small village in Gloucestershire. Is it bad that I googled that just to be sure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 1 minute ago, CameronJ said: Is it bad that I googled that just to be sure? No need, it's just down the road from Frisby-in-the-Nude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 (edited) I recently discovered that there is genuinely a village called Bell End in Worcestershire. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_End Disapointingly, despite wikipedia claiming that one of the local amenities is the 'Bell End service station' further research by myself has discovered that, for some reason, they actually advertise themselves as 'Bell service station'. Oh well. Edited October 8, 2018 by Cato 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 5 minutes ago, Cato said: ...despite wikipedia claiming that one of the local amenities is the 'Bell End service station' further research by myself has discovered that, for some reason, they actually advertise themselves as 'Bell service station'. I wonder why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 30 minutes ago, discreet said: I wonder why? They’re in denial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 10 hours ago, JohnR said: Hi. I got a 3 pin PSU which also had attachments to convert to European types. The point I was making, badly, is that I wanted a preamp in a pedal format and not a preamp pedal if that makes sense? My home practice signal chain is Spectradrive - Powered Event TR8 studio monitors. If/when I use it live I would use something like a QSC K10.2. I like to set the gain/volume at each stage to maximise headroom and dynamics. This means that my powered monitor volume is set relatively high and I dial in the required gain and control the overall volume from the preamp. In this scenario hitting the bypass switch will result in full volume being sent to the power monitor. I often used rack preamps with poweramps in the past and had thought I would get the same functionality with the pedal preamp format. None of the above is a dealbreaker for me as I only purchased the Spectradrive for home use anyway. Thanks John Cheers John. Makes sense. I checked my PSU and its the same as yours. Interesting how some shops have the correct one and some dont. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goingdownslow Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 Do Andertons know of this price drop... Spectradrive £215, most other dealers £137. https://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-dept/bass-guitar-effects/bass-overdrive-pedals/tc-electronics-spectradrive-bass-preamp-line-driver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 1 hour ago, goingdownslow said: Do Andertons know of this price drop... Spectradrive £215, most other dealers £137. https://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-dept/bass-guitar-effects/bass-overdrive-pedals/tc-electronics-spectradrive-bass-preamp-line-driver That’s strange. They seem to have dropped the price on most other TC gear they have in stock so perhaps it’s just an error. In any case, if you ring them up they’ll price match against the other retailers selling Spectradrives @ £137 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 So is the spectradrive similar to the front end of a TC amp? I am currently using my Ashdown CTM100, and I love the sound, but I do miss the versatility of my TC450 so something like that could be pretty handy on a board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CameronJ Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 21 minutes ago, Woodinblack said: So is the spectradrive similar to the front end of a TC amp? I am currently using my Ashdown CTM100, and I love the sound, but I do miss the versatility of my TC450 so something like that could be pretty handy on a board Yeah based on the intelligent EQ section of the BH series heads, which IMO are excellent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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