Guest subaudio Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 (edited) I'm currently busying myself with replacing all my bass gear after several years without any, a long story I wont bore you with. Anyway, I've now got two great basses, only another four to go to get my old numbers back, a cool Genz combo and I'm rebuilding my pedal board. My old pedal board was EBS pedals and a Tech 21 bass driver. I got the Bass driver as it was the go to di preamp/drive at the time but I was always underwhelmed by it. I bought one, then sold it, then bought another, but it never sounded great, sold it again. I was using it at the front of my chain as a drive pedal. So, flash forward to today and I'm busily researching pre amp di's and looking at the new VT deluxe among others, and have learned that it shouldn't really plug into the instrument input of an amp, it should go into the fx return or power amp input. Doh! I guess it's the same for all preamp di's too, as I also had the EBS Micro Bass II back then and was similarly underwhelmed with it going into the instrument input of an amp, they both sounded sort of "brittle" but no wonder. I was using them incorrectly. I did have a Boss GT6B that sounded so much better than two of the supposed best preamps, but I set the GT6B output to go into an amp, so the levels and filters worked optimally for that, no such switch on the pedal pre's so they always sounded less than optimal, because I was using them wrong. So, just thought I'd share my little epiphany and previous stupidity Edited January 27, 2019 by subaudio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Yep, into the return is best. Just double check your amp is eligible to bypass the preamp though. (some are, some aren't and some need a tweak). The vt bass is amazing. Itonically I've listed my ultra rare vt rack mount today in the amps and cabs for sale section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Dont agree, ive never used the FX loop on my amps for my BDDI, or any other pre amp. I prefer the extra flexibility themaps EQ gives on top. Sure, it might sound better, (didnt when i tried it once yesrs ago with my MB head), but ive never had a problem using mine in to the amps preamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrixn1 Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 4 hours ago, subaudio said: learned that it shouldn't really plug into the instrument input of an amp, it should go into the fx return or power amp input. Yes, exactly this; i.e. since your Bass Driver pedal is providing all amp and speaker emulation, that you should avoid all further colouration downstream in the signal chain. Taking this to the logical conclusion, you end up with a powered PA speaker (which is nominally perfectly flat), instead of a traditional bass combo or head/cab setup. Check out this thread: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/315455-interesting-frfr-story/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borntohang Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 I've used the VTDI straight into an amp for a few years now and had no major issues - the XLR routes out to front of house so they can do what they want with that signal, and then I just run into whatever bass rig is onstage and tweak the EQ appropriately for the room. The trick is finding your setting on the DI and then changing the amp settings to suit it rather than the other way round, or you end up chasing the soundman round with front of house tweaks vs your onstage tweaks... You have to have the confidence that it sounds good out front though. If you're not regularly playing through decent FoH rigs then into a poweramp or FRFR is 100% the way to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBod Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 Yep, I only found out recently (on here, from Tech 21) that they assumed you would run your amp from the parallel unaffected jack, and only give the treated signal to the PA. My soundchecks have never been long or sophisticated enough for that! I've always used fairly clean amps (SWR) and little eq so its never been a problem. But it does explain why all the suggested settings in the booklet (blend set 100% wet) were pretty much overblown and awful for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borntohang Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 44 minutes ago, BassBod said: Yep, I only found out recently (on here, from Tech 21) that they assumed you would run your amp from the parallel unaffected jack, and only give the treated signal to the PA. My soundchecks have never been long or sophisticated enough for that! I've always used fairly clean amps (SWR) and little eq so its never been a problem. But it does explain why all the suggested settings in the booklet (blend set 100% wet) were pretty much overblown and awful for me. That would be the sensible way to do it, but I like the sound of the preamp always in the chain! I get more compliments from sound techs regarding my sound than I ever did with my full rig and it's small enough to chuck in the bass bag. I'm seriously considering buying a second to run as a Wet/Dry rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 not to plug etc but the vt bass rack i have for sale does that and more. You can send the affected sound (sansamp) via XLR and JACK. (ie 2 outs). also You can send the unaffected sound (non sansamp) via XLR and JACK (ie 2 outs). as well as having a blend on the unit itself. Far more adaptable than just the in out of the pedal - which i also will be selling when i get a photo later today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 8 hours ago, borntohang said: I've used the VTDI straight into an amp for a few years now and had no major issues - the XLR routes out to front of house so they can do what they want with that signal, and then I just run into whatever bass rig is onstage and tweak the EQ appropriately for the room. The trick is finding your setting on the DI and then changing the amp settings to suit it rather than the other way round, or you end up chasing the soundman round with front of house tweaks vs your onstage tweaks... You have to have the confidence that it sounds good out front though. If you're not regularly playing through decent FoH rigs then into a poweramp or FRFR is 100% the way to go. That’s exactly the way I use my Para Driver, it makes gigging life so easy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest subaudio Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 7 hours ago, la bam said: not to plug etc but the vt bass rack i have for sale does that and more. You can send the affected sound (sansamp) via XLR and JACK. (ie 2 outs). also You can send the unaffected sound (non sansamp) via XLR and JACK (ie 2 outs). as well as having a blend on the unit itself. Far more adaptable than just the in out of the pedal - which i also will be selling when i get a photo later today. It looked looks great but I'm building a pedal board so I'll pass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodge_bass Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 On 30/01/2019 at 21:34, Lozz196 said: That’s exactly the way I use my Para Driver, it makes gigging life so easy. Me too. It means especially if you’re tourIng you can get the sound of the bass to the sound man and then tweakk the onstage sound as you need. Also means if you have awful backline as sometime happens you still know you’ve got a good sound going out FOH. And of course if it’s getting recorded as well you can rest assured it’s a good sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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