Anyone not like the Tech21 VT bass pedal?

Crabby · #1 11-11-2008, 02:24 PM

I bought one of these last weekend and managed to pick it up before the price jumped from $165 to $195 Cabnadian. I have owned and sold three different bass Driver DI's in the past and thought maybe this one would be a keeper.

I'm just not sure. I play a Stingray into a Shuttle 6.0 and use Eden cabs. My tone is growly and punchy. For overdrive i use a Fulltone Bassdrive which really works well for a grindy subtle overdrive.

In playing with the VT pedal, I have so far found ot frustrating that the slightest tweak of any of the knobs makes such a dramatic difference to the overall sound and volume level. When I first took her home, I used the manual to set the knobs for the SVT setting and when I turned the pedal on, the extreme volume spike almost blew my speaker cones out the front of the cab! Not good. I actually thought the unit was defective as the boost is so rediculous. I cant understand why all the factory duggested settings provide such an inseane boost.

So after dialing the level control down to almost zero, I was able to recreate the bass Driver DI sounds quite well but also able to dial in the mids which I could never do on the original pedal. But no matter how much i tweak and tweak, I still prefer the sound i get when the VT pedal is turned off.

I also found the bypass to have a slight effect on my tone. My tone was punchier and brighter when plugging the bass directly into the amp. Also having any extreme settings on the VT pedal caused there to be a bleed through while in bypass mode. I was actually getting signal clipping when playing with the pedal turned off!!

I don't think there is any defect with my unit as much of the reviews and info here on Talk bass seem to acknowledge the boost issue.

I really want to like this pedal but I just don't think I need it and the benefit of having a simulated tube like growl tone seems a bit redundant given the gear I already have.

Am I missing something here or have others felt the same way after trying one of these out?

fenderhutz · #2 11-11-2008, 02:25 PM

Try a passive bass.

stflbn · #3 11-11-2008, 02:31 PM

Their settings are insanely loud for me also, but I play all active basses. If you feel the volume knob needs to be higher just roll all the EQ knobs (Low, Mid, Treble) back even amounts and raise the volume knob.

I like the big variance in Character Knob myself. It allows me to tailor different amp characters as needed outside of my standard Active Bass/NeoPak/210's setup.

SteveC · #4 11-11-2008, 02:33 PM

I don't like it. But I don't like the typical "Ampeg" tone either.
Never really liked the SansAmp as much as the rest of the world seems to, either.
I guess I am more of a "modern" tone guy. I like my SS amp and clean signal.

stflbn · #5 11-11-2008, 02:35 PM

I'm not an Ampeg guy, but there's times when I'd like that sound. The VT-bass gives it... and others if you dial it in.

bassman1185 · #6 11-11-2008, 02:39 PM

I really don't want to come off as a douche, but it seems like pretty basic knowledge that you should turn the volumes on any unfamiliar pedals all the way down before you turn them on. You can never really trust any factory "presets" to have a consistant volume when a pedal is on vs. bypassed.

With that said, Tech21 is pretty clear that the VT bass has enough output to drive a power amp. That means it puts out a line-level signal, which is 20 DB or so higher than a typical bass output. Again, I don't mean to be rude, but I would chalk the volume issue up to operator error.

Same goes for the "touchiness" of the knobs. Every review I've read on it has said that the knobs have a LOT of impact on the tone, which is not surprising, given the wide variety of tones that the VT bass is designed to deliver.

Crabby · #7 11-11-2008, 02:40 PM

I have tried out my passive Jazz as well and results are so far the same. I have 30 days to return it and really want to be sure before doing so. There are so many rabid fans of this pedal out there right now that I feel like I'm missing something.

Crabby · #8 11-11-2008, 02:46 PM

haha you said "douche". I was fully aware from reading the little manual before turning on the pedal that the controls would have a huge effect on the tone, but I was not expecting the factory suggested presets to be set up to have such an insane boost built in.

The main reason that the sensitivity of the knobs concerns me is that in the real world, levels get moved, pedals and knobs get bumped and I'm not interested in hunting for that "sweet spot" my making minute adjustments to my pedals in the middle of a soundcheck or gig.

I tend to like very simple pedals that have one inherrant good tone, so i find this "teakers pedal" a little frustrating. Although it is fun to sit and play with as there are many different sounds available.

As you can see, I'm still on the fence about this baby.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassman1185

I really don't want to come off as a douche, but it seems like pretty basic knowledge that you should turn the volumes on any unfamiliar pedals all the way down before you turn them on. You can never really trust any factory "presets" to have a consistant volume when a pedal is on vs. bypassed.

With that said, Tech21 is pretty clear that the VT bass has enough output to drive a power amp. That means it puts out a line-level signal, which is 20 DB or so higher than a typical bass output. Again, I don't mean to be rude, but I would chalk the volume issue up to operator error.

Same goes for the "touchiness" of the knobs. Every review I've read on it has said that the knobs have a LOT of impact on the tone, which is not surprising, given the wide variety of tones that the VT bass is designed to deliver.

stflbn · #9 11-11-2008, 02:53 PM

Then this pedal probably isn't for you. If you 'need' or 'want' different Ampeg tones then you'll need to learn the pedal, it's nuances, it's 'character' that lives in the character knob.

Sounds to me like you've made your own decision on it and just haven't come to terms with the fact that you're not wanting to spend time with the pedal. It scared the bejeezus out of you when you started it up initially, you didn't like the presets, and you don't really need the sounds it shines at giving.

Somebody will gladly buy it for what you got it for I'm sure... or you can pay to return ship it.

.

Crabby · #10 11-11-2008, 04:21 PM

Could be I'm just impatient. I have been messing with it this afternoon and am getting a better feel for dialing in Ampeg like tones. I've been using a fretless jazz as my test bass today as the original Bass Driver DI would suck all the growl out of this particular bass. Not the case with the VT pedal. Its easy to retain a lot of the mids and the slight overdriven sound compliments the growly fretless tone quite nicely.

Still not sure if I actually "need" this pedal but I can say for sure that it seems like a much improved version of the original Bass Driver DI.