Sansamp BDDI and power amp?

[Fuzzbassr]

I've gotten to the point that I've fallen completely in love with the clean sound from my Ag DB750 but feel like I have to completely re-eq it to get a dirty sound I like with a pedal. I have a sansamp Bddi and an extra Ampeg 4x10 so it has me thinking about doing a seperate rig for a dirty channel... I know that the RBI sounds great with a poweramp, but I already have the pedal, leading me to the question of if anybody here has ever tried the pedal with a poweramp and how did it sound? I was thinking about running the BDDI and maybe an eq with a power amp for a dirty rig and using an aby so I can switch between them or even blend them... Ideas?

[craig.p]

One of my rigs is a BDDI into a power amp into a pair of Avatar B212s. Works like a champ.

If you blend the two rigs, make sure you go through a polarity exercise. In other words, you want to make sure the AG rig is operating the same polarity as the BDDI rig so they don't cancel on blend. There should be tons of info on this board WRT checking polarity of dissimilar rigs operating together.

[pablomigraine]

I ran this rig for years with great success. I had the Sansamp PBDDI, a heavy-duty Crest power amp and either an Ampeg SVT810e or Berg NV series. So long as you have you "Mic/Line" switch set to "Line", the pedal should have no problem driving most power amps, and will work perfectly plugged directly into the FX send jack on your DB750... just be careful to gain match so you dont have a huge volume drop or spike when you switch.

Here's how you do it: plug your bass directly into the Sansamp. Run a line from your Dry out on your Sansamp to the front panel input of your DB750. This takes the pedal effectively out of the circuit. Run the Wet or main out from the Sansamp into the FX return jack on the back panel of your DB750. Turn your front panel SEND knob fully counterclockwise, and the RETURN knob fully clockwise. This gives you an effective 2nd channel.

However, my honest recommendation to you (which will be totally flamed within the next 5 posts) is as follows;

If you really love the sound of your DB750, sell it. Replace it with a Genz Benz Streamliner 900. You'll have an almost identical tone with normal gain settings, have a whole host of grittier tones available that you didnt have with your DB750, have shed about 38lbs, two rackspaces, and have enough cash left over to buy a new bass. Then run the Bass driver in the loop of the STL900. You'll be a happy happy camper I promise.

[Fuzzbassr]

Damn, you guys rule... Thanks for all the info, I'm gonna mess around with it tonight after work...

[tech21nyc]

Originally Posted by Fuzzbassr

I've gotten to the point that I've fallen completely in love with the clean sound from my Ag DB750 but feel like I have to completely re-eq it to get a dirty sound I like with a pedal. I have a sansamp Bddi and an extra Ampeg 4x10 so it has me thinking about doing a seperate rig for a dirty channel... I know that the RBI sounds great with a poweramp, but I already have the pedal, leading me to the question of if anybody here has ever tried the pedal with a poweramp and how did it sound? I was thinking about running the BDDI and maybe an eq with a power amp for a dirty rig and using an aby so I can switch between them or even blend them... Ideas?

An easier solution would be to use the BDDI and your amp's preamp section with an A/B selector in conjunction with your efx loop. This would be more economical and less to gear to lug around. The only extra gear you would need is an A/B box. This is the one I like to use since it uses optical switching and is very quiet. Whirlwind Selector AB Pedal at AmericanMusical.com

From what I read in the DB750 manual, the efx loop can be configured for series operation. What you would do is plug your bass into the input of the BDDI. Then take a cable from the parallel output of the BDDI and send that to the input of the DB750.

Next take the efx send of the DB750 and run a cable from that to the A channel of the A/B box. Now take a cable from the output of the BDDI and send that to the B channel of the A/B box.

Finally run a cable from the I/O port of the A/B box and send that to your amp's efx return jack. Make sure the BDDI is engaged. Now when you toggle between the A and B channels of the A/B box you have two discrete channels.

[alec]

Originally Posted by pablomigraine

Here's how you do it: plug your bass directly into the Sansamp. Run a line from your Dry out on your Sansamp to the front panel input of your DB750. This takes the pedal effectively out of the circuit. Run the Wet or main out from the Sansamp into the FX return jack on the back panel of your DB750. Turn your front panel SEND knob fully counterclockwise, and the RETURN knob fully clockwise. This gives you an effective 2nd channel.

Thanks, this is a great idea! Even just as a way of using the fx loop blend to mix some clean into a VT Bass Dlx.

[Fuzzbassr]

And that, my friends, is why with support like that I will continue to use Tech 21's products

[Alex1984]

The VT Bass and PBDDI are indeed great products!

[chaosMK]

I've run into the same situation- awesome clean vs dirty sounds require totally different EQ. I haven't done it yet, but I dream about getting a second dirty rig all the time. Then I think about what a pain it would be to transport and how much it would cost. It would be killer live though.