Tech21 GED-2112 - question

[Wiggybass]

Hi all

Does anyone have one of these and if so are they using it with the approved rear patching hack that allows a combined signal to appear at one output?

The very helpful folks at Tech21 told me...

If you’d like a “quick” method for mixing the channels, you can run a short cable from the Deep section’s 1/4” Output, set for 0dB (button pushed in) to the Effect Return with the 50/50 mix engaged (button pushed in).  Then run from the Drive section’s 1/4” Output to your amp, and/or the Drive XLR Out to the PA.

Start with both Level controls at 12:00.  The Drive Level will now serve as a “master volume”, and the Deep Level will allow you to “blend in” the clean signal.

...but I'd really like to hear from someone who's used it like this before I raid the piggybank.

Many thanks!

Wiggy

 

[Daz39]

3 minutes ago, Wiggybass said:

Hi all

Does anyone have one of these and if so are they using it with the approved rear patching hack that allows a combined signal to appear at one output?

The very helpful folks at Tech21 told me...

If you’d like a “quick” method for mixing the channels, you can run a short cable from the Deep section’s 1/4” Output, set for 0dB (button pushed in) to the Effect Return with the 50/50 mix engaged (button pushed in).  Then run from the Drive section’s 1/4” Output to your amp, and/or the Drive XLR Out to the PA.

Start with both Level controls at 12:00.  The Drive Level will now serve as a “master volume”, and the Deep Level will allow you to “blend in” the clean signal.

...but I'd really like to hear from someone who's used it like this before I raid the piggybank.

Many thanks!

Wiggy

 

@NancyJohnson I'm sure you've done this, is that right?

[NancyJohnson]

2 hours ago, Daz39 said:

@NancyJohnson I'm sure you've done this, is that right?

Yep, it works fine from the blend perspective, yes.  Still a little flummoxed as to why there wasn't simply a button on the facia to achieve this; yes, I know it's Geddy's design etc. but not all of us are running stereo set ups.

[Wiggybass]

That's great, thanks very much! I'm trying to de-pedal my rig and get everything into a rack, otherwise I could just take the outputs into a Boss LS-2 and mix them there but it's just more stuff to carry around, more wires, more outboard PSUs etc.

Before it shipped I'm certain I read somewhere that production models would have a switch to route both preamps to a single output but I guess they just never got round to it. As you say, not many of us run stereo systems and to be honest I know that when playing live GL's bass takes up five channels on the mixing console, so there's a lot more going on there than just the two outputs from his SansAmp anyway.

So all the other controls still work as they're supposed to? The saturation control still works on the Deep side and the respective controls for the Drive side do what's advertised?

Thanks again, really appreciate your help on this 👍

W

[ubit]

There's a new pedal version coming out, the Ged YYZ, which should make things much easier

[Adethefade]

My two-pennorth.

I got one of these a few weeks back. Firstly I racked it up and tried it through a good 2-channel power amp and and two Aguilar 12” cabs. I don’t use backline unless a dep  job comes in, it’s usually IEMs and direct to the console, but I was interested to hear it through an amp setup. I then set up my usual gigging configuration with IEMs and tried it like that. In both situations it absolutely blew me away. I’ve now gigged it a few times - It’s hands down the best preamp I’ve used. Our sound guy said it sounds huge. I use Stingrays and it seasons the sound without changing it; I just get more warmth, more dynamic, more sustain...just great.

I plugged up my ‘70s Jazz, brought up the drive control and it was instant ‘Moving Pictures’, a sound I’ve been after all my life. I’d recommend the GED 2112 to anyone - it’s not just a ‘Geddy Lee’ sound machine, it’s a great versatile preamp.

I use the two-channel setup because it’s no real hardship for me, but if that’s a problem there’s an internal jumper that you can move which sends both channels down both outputs. It’s not a hack, just an option. Not sure why it’s not in the user guide.

i hope that’s of some use to you guys.

Ade

 

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by Adethefade

[dannybuoy]

I hope they add the 'tight' button from the pedal to the rack version. It's too bloated/fuzzy otherwise if you have a hot bassy bass like my 1025X. An adjustable HPF knob for the drive channel instead of the switch would be even better @Tech21NYC!

[Tech21NYC]

Sounds like a good idea. I will pass it along to our design team.

[dannybuoy]

Cool! I like the tight switch but sometimes feel it's too extreme and I have to compensate by boosting bass and backing off the blend.

[Cuzzie]

Snap from NAMM

[NancyJohnson]

2 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

Snap from NAMM

Honestly don't understand why Tech21 didn't bring out the Ged2112 in this sized unit to start out with!  Two or three years of reinventing.

Anyhoo, just buy a dUg, folks.  It'll do pretty much everything a GED will do and a load more.

[Cuzzie]

 

https://youtu.be/6Ic_aMkK1EM

[NancyJohnson]

12 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

 

https://youtu.be/6Ic_aMkK1EM

While he has decent chops, Tim Starace kind of represents everything I absolutely detest about these guys who are, in the nicest possible way, just playing someone else's lines.

That smugness on his face, the look that shouts either look-at-me-I-am-so-in-the-groove-it-hurts or did-someone-just-fart?-oh-that-was-me-and-doesn't-it-smell-awesome?  Sigh.  

I would sooner see Geddy (although understandably he's dealing with the loss of the new guy at the moment) or at least see ol' Timmy doing his own lines rather than gurning his way through whatever he's playing.

Anyhow.  Go buy a dUg.  It'll do everything here and more.

[Cuzzie]

@NancyJohnson I reckon you may be the only person as wedded to dUg as I am

[NancyJohnson]

27 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

@NancyJohnson I reckon you may be the only person as wedded to dUg as I am

If you want versatility of the unit, go to Spotify and dial up Lutz/Nowherebound.  It's a combination of me going through a BDDI and the dUg.  There's a stripped back version of the album coming next week which is insanely good and the bass is even more up front.

[Cuzzie]

27 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

If you want versatility of the unit, go to Spotify and dial up Lutz/Nowherebound.  It's a combination of me going through a BDDI and the dUg.  There's a stripped back version of the album coming next week which is insanely good and the bass is even more up front.

I’ll check it out, I know just how good the dUg is, only thing better than 1 dUg is 2 or more

[dannybuoy]

@Cuzzie dug the dUg pedal so much he runs it into the dUg amp for double the dUgness!

Do you have the amp set for a relatively mild/flat setting when doing that? I would have thought that boosting into something bright and clangy with something bright and clangy would have sounded well bright and clangy.

[dannybuoy]

On 18/01/2020 at 13:44, NancyJohnson said:

While he has decent chops, Tim Starace kind of represents everything I absolutely detest about these guys who are, in the nicest possible way, just playing someone else's lines.

That smugness on his face, the look that shouts either look-at-me-I-am-so-in-the-groove-it-hurts or did-someone-just-fart?-oh-that-was-me-and-doesn't-it-smell-awesome?  Sigh.  

I would sooner see Geddy (although understandably he's dealing with the loss of the new guy at the moment) or at least see ol' Timmy doing his own lines rather than gurning his way through whatever he's playing.

Anyhow.  Go buy a dUg.  It'll do everything here and more.

Tim doesn't just do covers though, here's one of their originals:

I do find the gurns rather off-putting though, although I play like that too when nobody's watching! 😄

[Cuzzie]

7 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

@Cuzzie dug the dUg pedal so much he runs it into the dUg amp for double the dUgness!

Do you have the amp set for a relatively mild/flat setting when doing that? I would have thought that boosting into something bright and clangy with something bright and clangy would have sounded well bright and clangy.

I do love it!!

Key is I can go double mix, clean on pedal mix on amp, mix on pedal clean on amp etc. All different variations for tones, but in general it’s just a double mix!

[Cuzzie]

Oooo

 

just found a better lit one on the amp

[geddeeee]

I have the YYZ and DI-2112 pedals. I prefer the YYZ.

But both sound like crap to me with their awful drive emulation....

 

I have tried nearly every Tech21 bass pedals and rack units and to me they are let down by that crappy overdrive.

Played loads of valve amps in my day and NONE sound like what Tech21 are trying to say is 'tube overdrive'.

 

The problem for me is getting a slight overdrive which is truly dynamic to the way you play. Every time I have a heard a Tech21 unit it only seems to do cranked overdrive. More subtle settings show up the deficiencies of said drive.

 

Loads of people can make it work for them, but in the end trying to get a decent tone in a band mix situation is too annoying.

 

Best dynamic valve drive pedal I have used is the Darkglass Vintage Microtubes. Feels just like a real valve amp....

[Adethefade]

That's certainly not been my experience with the rack mount GED-2112. By far and away the best preamp I've ever used. It happily goes from clean to filthy and everything in between. Personally I favour just north of clean - a bit of drive as you've mentioned. I use Stingrays mainly but other instruments, including my Geddy Jazz, also work really well with it. I use it mainly with IEMs and no backline, but a decent bi-amped backline setup also works well. Maybe the pedals are of a different build.

[NancyJohnson]

My rack unit failed outside of the warranty period (see thread elsewhere); it still worked (in as much as it made a sound, but did not emulate properly), so it went off for repair, came back the same (the Tech21 appointed workshop clearly had zero idea of what it was supposed to do).

 

As a sucker for Tech21 kit, I went back for more.  Bought a dUg and shortly after it became available, a (BDDI-sized) GED2112-DI.

 

Happy with both.  It's odd, you can dial in GED-style tone-emulation from the dUg, but the Chunk button just elevates things.  The GED-DI is great, just different.

 

In closing, if anyone is considering a GED2112-DI, here's one bit of advice; pop an 18v power supply in your cart.  It sounds way better than a 9v one.

 

 

[Cuzzie]

Yep doesn’t work for some people, but…..my DP3X, PSA 2.0 and dUg Ultrabass 1000 amp covers a lot of ground and pleasing sounds 

[Tech21NYC]

My suggestion for end users of our products that either have not or regularly used vintage tube amps is to work backwards with the Drive control. Because our products are able to generate their distortion irrespective of volume level unlike their tube counterparts, it makes it easy to dial in too much distortion and compression. (This is common phenomenon with lead guitar players with channel switching amps. They dial in the distortion channel on their amps with enough gain to sound like a hive of bees that they get lost in the mix and when they switch to the clean channel it's actually louder than the distortion channel.) 

 

If using one of our SansAmp pedals you should set the volume of your amp with the pedal in bypass mode then continue to the next step. Once the pedal is engaged the Level of the pedal should match the Level of your signal with the pedal in bypass. Set your overall volume Level with the Drive at around 9 o'clock. This should be clean in most circumstances. Once the pedal is set for a clean Drive setting you can start incrementally increasing the Drive for the desired amount. At this point any increase in Drive should also increase your Level until you get around Noon on the Drive control. This means you will have to back off the Level slightly as you increase Drive.