harryharold Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I'm currently trying to decide which of these units to buy as i think i'm need of a little hifi signal processing. What i really want is something with an eq to tame/enhance my lovely passive bass which also has the option to provide a little bit of driven distortion, not all out fuzz, i have other pedals for that, but just enough to sound like a nice gainy amp being driven a bit. I'm going to try the bassgallery tomorrow where they hopefully have the tonehammer and BDDI in, but i was also wanting some opinion on various DHA pedals. Have been looking at either the dual bass or the eq bass drive but was wandering about how well they could be used as a selector between a nice clean preamp and a dirty driven one. Quite like the look of the tonehammer though it is a little more pricey that the other two (obviously want the programmable BDDI for switching capabilities), what is the general opinion on these units? and is there anything that ive missed out? Oh suppose i should give details of my rig. Bass is a home built 5 string, very heavy, ovankol body, with a basslines MM pickup. This goes through a few pedals, all analogue, true bypass, currently a bluebeard fuzz, EHX bassballs, and currently sourcing an ampeg scrambler. Then into a markbass little mark 250 head powering an oldish ashdown ABM410. Cheers Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dubs Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Sounds like you need some hands on experience of the options available. I’d say the BDDI would be a good choice from your description of what you need from it because it sounds great (like an overdriven valve amp) and has a blend control which means you can dial in/out as much or as little of the overdriven/fuzz sound that you want. The blend means that you can dial in a very subtle overdriven sound that doesn’t dominate your overall sound and tone, and this sounds like what you’re after? Regardless of what I say, there’s no substitute for hands-on experience of a few different things so you can make a judgement of what’s best for you. Some people think the BDDI is a load of shyte, I think it sounds the mutts, but it may not be right for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisyjon Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Have a look at a MXR M80 D.I.+ if you can. It has a nice EQ section and switchable distortion which can go from mild to extreme distortion. I have, and use, one and can't speak highly enough of it. What I would say is that I've found it to sound wierd on its own but sounds perfect once in the band environment. JTB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryharold Posted February 13, 2009 Author Share Posted February 13, 2009 mmmmm not sure about the MXR, will attempt to demo one of them as well, will see what is best for my bass. the only thing is that i'm not sure i'm going to be able to demo any DHA stuff, anyone know of anywhere in london where this is possible??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 If you can afford it try the EBS Microbass II Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 The Hartke VXL is good value, and different again to both the Sansamp and MXR, althought it shares many of the same features. The EBS looks good as it has two genuinely discrete channels which can be run A/B or A+B... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 I used to have a DHA VT2, and I've not encountered anything since that can add the same great sounding shimmering harmonics over my sound. The VT1-EQ-Drive looks great, I'd go for it if the bulk of it and the heavy power supply aren't an issue for you. I want to pick up another one some day. For me though, I wanted something smaller and 9v powered (I know the DHA can work at 9v but really sounds best at 12v) and settled on the new Sansamp VT Bass, which I much prefer over the older BDDI. People are going nuts over this pedal, there's a huge thread over at Talkbass where people are wetting themselves and talking about it like it's the messiah. It's not the messiah, it's a very naughty pedal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauBass Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 (edited) If it was me I'd recommend the Sansamp Para Driver over the BDDI, very similar units but the Para Driver has the mid controls, mids and mid frequency, which makes a whole difference. The BDDI soops a lot the mids and makes your bass dissapear on a band setting whilst, with the Para Driver and the mids control, you can avoid that scoop and bring the bass more upfront. I have also owned the MXR and I found the clean channel very useful but I didn't like the distortion because of the preset Eq curved. No experience with DHA but between the other two units I'd go with the Sansamp Para Driver. Edited February 14, 2009 by PauBass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 [quote name='PauBass' post='409234' date='Feb 14 2009, 07:53 AM']If it was me I'd recommend the Sansamp Para Driver over the BDDI, very similar units but the Para Driver has the mid controls, mids and mid frequency, which makes a whole difference. The BDDI soops a lot the mids and makes your bass dissapear on a band setting whilst, with the Para Driver and the mids control, you can avoid that scoop and bring the bass more upfront. I have also owned the MXR and I found the clean channel very usefuk but I didn't like the distortion because of the presetted Eq curved. No experience with DHA but between the other two units I'd go with the Sansamp Para Driver.[/quote] Very timely recommendation as I've been looking at a new DI to replace my MXR M80. I was interested in the Tone Hammer beacuse of the variable mid frequency controls, but it's very expensive and uses an 18volt supply which means another wall wart. I've seen some details on the Para driver, but there's nothing like a real life recommendation/review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryharold Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 cheers with the comments, ive just got back from the bass gallery and....... well i tried the tonehammer and the BDDI and the tonehammer was far superior (for me that is anyway) as seeing as they were selling both for £179 i got the tone hammer. they also had the mxr DI there for the same price but i didn't bother. what really sold it to me was the switching options and the overdrive settings. i like being able to have all three options of bypassed, through the preamp, with the lovely gainy distortion. it was the drive settings that really won it over for me though, the tonehammer sounds amazing. to be honest the BDDI was probably a little easier to get a good tone out of when clean, probably due to the para eq on the aguilar needed a bit of fiddling with but when driven it was rubbish in comparison. the BDDI sounded all high end when driven and there was no deep throaty growl that the tonehammer had in abundance. really nice bit of kit. heavy, needs 18v, but sounds so damned powerful. bit pricey but got it from an awesome shop who have helped me out so many times and i think that was the first thing i bought from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 [quote name='harryharold' post='409600' date='Feb 14 2009, 06:04 PM']cheers with the comments, ive just got back from the bass gallery and....... well i tried the tonehammer and the BDDI and the tonehammer was far superior (for me that is anyway) as seeing as they were selling both for [b]£179[/b] i got the tone hammer. they also had the mxr DI there for the same price but i didn't bother. Bit pricey but got it from an awesome shop who have helped me out so many times and i think that was the first thing i bought from them.[/quote] Wow £179 is a steal given that the website has it at £259 I think. I would check but I can't seem to get to their website (again!). Yeah great shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr pablo Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 [quote name='ezbass' post='409929' date='Feb 15 2009, 10:35 AM']Wow £179 is a steal given that the website has it at £259 I think. I would check but I can't seem to get to their website (again!). Yeah great shop.[/quote] I paid £149 from the bassmerchant for my Tonehammer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toasted Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 They're all different flavours of the same thing - but I like the Aguilar tone so I'd probably go for the Tone Hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EskimoBassist Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 [quote name='jonthebass' post='408379' date='Feb 13 2009, 11:15 AM']Have a look at a MXR M80 D.I.+ if you can. It has a nice EQ section and switchable distortion which can go from mild to extreme distortion. I have, and use, one and can't speak highly enough of it. What I would say is that I've found it to sound wierd on its own but sounds perfect once in the band environment. JTB[/quote] +1 on the MXR, I use one and it's a great piece of kit. I use it as a subtle overdrive and to send a clean, EQ'd DI signal to FOH, and then another to my effects pedals, which are then sent to my amp and Mic'd and/or DI'd again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boneless Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I know the OP has already made his choice, but anyway... having never tried the Tone Hammer, I'd probably go for the MXR DI+. The BDDI sounds "boxy" to me, it just doesn't sound natural, the MXR DI+ is very nice indeed, a very modern sounding box though. The distortion is very nice, but it's more of a fuzz really. I really like the Hartke VXL as well, but it can get slightly hissy (nothing you can hear in the mix of a band, though). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorris Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 [quote name='harryharold' post='409600' date='Feb 14 2009, 06:04 PM']cheers with the comments, ive just got back from the bass gallery and....... well i tried the tonehammer and the BDDI and the tonehammer was far superior (for me that is anyway) as seeing as they were selling both for £179 i got the tone hammer. they also had the mxr DI there for the same price but i didn't bother. what really sold it to me was the switching options and the overdrive settings. i like being able to have all three options of bypassed, through the preamp, with the lovely gainy distortion. it was the drive settings that really won it over for me though, the tonehammer sounds amazing. to be honest the BDDI was probably a little easier to get a good tone out of when clean, probably due to the para eq on the aguilar needed a bit of fiddling with but when driven it was rubbish in comparison. the BDDI sounded all high end when driven and there was no deep throaty growl that the tonehammer had in abundance. really nice bit of kit. heavy, needs 18v, but sounds so damned powerful. bit pricey but got it from an awesome shop who have helped me out so many times and i think that was the first thing i bought from them.[/quote] just to agree that the BDDI is very good as an 'amp simulator' - I know about the mid scoop but that's usually what I'd set an amp to anyway - but not really good as a real 'distort / overdrive' box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katri Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 The BDDI colours your tone alot more than the TH because it is a tube emulation kind of thing whereas the TH is just an EQ in a box. I love both my TH and PBDDI but IMO they are slightly different beasts. If I had an amp which coloured my tone more I would be using the TH exclusively but the PBDDI adds some nice warmth to a SS amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnylager Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 [quote name='PauBass' post='409234' date='Feb 14 2009, 07:53 AM']If it was me I'd recommend the Sansamp Para Driver over the BDDI, very similar units but the Para Driver has the mid controls, mids and mid frequency, which makes a whole difference. The BDDI soops a lot the mids and makes your bass dissapear on a band setting whilst, with the Para Driver and the mids control, you can avoid that scoop and bring the bass more upfront. I have also owned the MXR and I found the clean channel very useful but I didn't like the distortion because of the preset Eq curved. No experience with DHA but between the other two units I'd go with the Sansamp Para Driver.[/quote] Glad you like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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