Surprising discoveries (Sansamp Para + 800RB)

[takeout]

I've been playing an 800RB for over a year now, and I've always had a love/hate relationship with the EQ - I never could seem to get exactly what I wanted. I'd fart out the low end before getting what I wanted, or I could never get the highs and hi-mids into the "Goldilocks" zone - they were always too hot or too cold. I've heard other guys nail awesome tones straight into the amp, so I figured I was doing something wrong or my amp had an issue somewhere, or my cabs weren't a good match (Mesa Diesel 15's).

I've had a Sansamp Para laying around for a while, and I finally decided to run it into the return, bypassing the GK preamp and only hitting the Boost and Master sections. I started with the "SVT"-like setting and went from there. The surprises:

1. The EQ section was far easier to dial in. I also got far more clean gain out of it. This killed my suspicion that my speakers were on their last legs.

2. The sound I settled on actually involved rolling the emulation Blend all the way off. There was a weird woofy low-mid thing going on with it all the way up.

The tone had more focus, a great usable edge, and I could get screamingly loud. At our last gig, I had pants flapping in the crowd (if you heard my guitar player, you'd understand why this was necessary).

So, you stumble upon things sometimes. Just a reminder to try things you might not otherwise - you might end up getting "the tone" everyone else chases.

[4Mal]

You might like running it straight into the front end of the amp - set the 1/4" output as Inst level out using the Inst/Mic/Line switch. Just leave the EQ in the 800 flat.

I like the slightly Ampeg'ish flavor the ParaDriver brings to the GK sound in a rock setting. With my basses and rig it works really well. I run the blend quite low, the drive up between 9 & noon depending on how raunchy/grindy I want - clearly that isn't much. I tend to leave all the tone controls straight up as on my setup (GK MB2-500 & as 12/6 cab) I don't need a lot of EQ except to deal with the room.

The GK 'flat' setting - all controls at noon, contour & presence off - is a slight scoop so you might add a little mid to get back to flat - or not depending on your taste.

[takeout]

"All controls" meaning Input and Boost as well?

I actually tried it once into the front end, but the results weren't as good. Maybe I need to revisit it.

[B String]

Originally Posted by takeout

I've been playing an 800RB for over a year now, and I've always had a love/hate relationship with the EQ - I never could seem to get exactly what I wanted. I'd fart out the low end before getting what I wanted, or I could never get the highs and hi-mids into the "Goldilocks" zone - they were always too hot or too cold. I've heard other guys nail awesome tones straight into the amp, so I figured I was doing something wrong or my amp had an issue somewhere, or my cabs weren't a good match (Mesa Diesel 15's).

I've had a Sansamp Para laying around for a while, and I finally decided to run it into the return, bypassing the GK preamp and only hitting the Boost and Master sections. I started with the "SVT"-like setting and went from there. The surprises:

1. The EQ section was far easier to dial in. I also got far more clean gain out of it. This killed my suspicion that my speakers were on their last legs.

2. The sound I settled on actually involved rolling the emulation Blend all the way off. There was a weird woofy low-mid thing going on with it all the way up.

The tone had more focus, a great usable edge, and I could get screamingly loud. At our last gig, I had pants flapping in the crowd (if you heard my guitar player, you'd understand why this was necessary).

So, you stumble upon things sometimes. Just a reminder to try things you might not otherwise - you might end up getting "the tone" everyone else chases.

I've been shouting this combination for years on TB. I use my Para sometimes with my old 800rb, bypassing the GK pre, or with my AI Focus, going in the effects return and bypassing the preamp. The best is for backline. If I get an amp I don't really know or don't have time to eq, (SWR 900) I bypass the pre in about 10 seconds... Viola! The soundman and I both love the sound. A simple, great sounding piece of gear that's worth its weight in gold.

[GLEN18INCHSPICA]

Just wanted to ad to this thread. I had been using the Para driver into the effects loop for the past several months as I didnt like them together as much. Last nite & today I have been using it into the front end of the 800Rb & have been gettin a great Jimmy Bain/Klaus Flouride/Mike Dirnt kind of picked tone. I have the Para Driver set with the mids around 400-500 hz & the blend nob almost all the way off, drive around 11:00, mids 12:00 & bass & treble pulled back just a bit. The Para Driver ads that little bit of mids to the 800RB that I like & some warmth.