Dont believe everything you hear. You have an opinion too.

[Anesthesia]

first off the Sansamp VT bass, i have seen rave reviews about this product and was recently chasing a good overdrive/distortion pedal. i played one of the vt bass pedals and i dont know if it was the head(ashdown mag300), cab(hartke vx410), or my bass('81 Ibanez Musician), but it sounded worse than some of the behringer pedals i have heard.

of course this is my opinion. i found it to be a very digital and horribly nasal. i played with the settings for a bit but couldnt find anything as good as what i was expecting.

i played with a few different pedals including, the t-rex bass juice, the vt bass, fulltone bass drive, and a few others i cant remember.

what stood out the most was the Bass Juice. it had such a variable tone with the drive side on as well. got some good crunchy distortion from it down to a mellow accent on other settings.

now if it didnt cost me $500AUD to get my hands on one locally i would buy it in a heart beat. (dont really have the funds or motivation to order one intl either).

i ended up buying a second hand Boss ODB-3 to pair with my modded big muff and they sound awesome together.

when i get a new job i will be looking into the bass juice.

Rod

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by Anesthesia

i found it to be a very digital and horribly nasal.

Not doubting your experience, but it's not digital, and sounds very far from digital or nasal to me. Naturally that doesn't mean it has to sound "good" to everyone.

[groooooove]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Not doubting your experience, but it's not digital, and sounds very far from digital or nasal to me. Naturally that doesn't mean it has to sound "good" to everyone.

agreed..maybe it actually WAS your other gear? but if you found the pedal for you, jump on it when you have the funds.. its about making yourself happy, not about abiding by the laws of talkbass.com that "for dirty, you must purchase a VT bass"

[JimmyM]

Ya, considering the VT isn't digital at all, I'm surprised you hear a digital sound out of it. But hey, if you don't like it, you don't like it. To me it's the next best thing to a real Ampeg tube amp, but not everyone likes that tone.

[icarussmicarus]

Last time I checked, aside from the occasion tool/muse ripoff, everyone here is rocking a different board to the next guy.

In general we are quite aware of the subjective nature of all pedals.

Also as a fellow Perthian - buy from the internet. Always.

[Anesthesia]

Originally Posted by groooooove

agreed..maybe it actually WAS your other gear? but if you found the pedal for you, jump on it when you have the funds.. its about making yourself happy, not about abiding by the laws of talkbass.com that "for dirty, you must purchase a VT bass"

Originally Posted by bongomania

Not doubting your experience, but it's not digital, and sounds very far from digital or nasal to me. Naturally that doesn't mean it has to sound "good" to everyone.

Grooooove man, thats exactly what i set out to discover (happiness is expensive sometimes) and im not bagging the vt bass but it just wasnt my cup of tea.

and for it sounding digital it could just be that my bass doesnt like the vt for some reason.

but we all live and learn. i hope someone takes from this its not always about how well something is hyped (good or bad), you really need to find out for yourself.

Rod

[MIJ-VI]

Different gear for different ears.

--------

For pick-played overdrive, the VT Bass makes my 'VI (bridge + mid p/u's) sound like a cross between a raunchy Jazz Bass and a snarling Strat.

For finger-style clean tones, a well-tweaked VT' underpins every single note with that Ampeg-like, round & even, sealed 8x10-ish cab thump while remaining defined and articulate for arpeggios and chords.

The Tech 21 SansAmp VT Bass is the most musically useful pedal I've ever purchased.

[air_leech]

surprised too that you found the VT to sound digital considering it's an analog design.

to it's defence I should state that I recall the TalkBass VT mob has steered people looking for an OD pedal away from the VT numerous times, it cant get as dirty as most OD pedals (I have the Fulltone Bassdrive mosfet pedal for that), IME it wont take you northern than Cream or Grand Funk.
the real story behind the VT is how well they packed a late 60's SVT rig and a Portaflex amp into one small affordable pedal. that's what I bought it for and it kept me happy for the three weeks I've owned it (havent played without it since it arrived in the mail).

[stoneboy26]

It took me forever to find a sound I liked out of the VT ebcause every little tweak made such a big difference!! First time, I hated it. Next time I liked it a little more and a little more. Soon it was my sound, now it is used as a OD pedal in my rig.

Yes, there are a lot of people on here who play one, but here is only a small percentage of the bass playing world in all honesty and there are a lot of players out there who use nothing at all!

Having said that, I have played through the bass Juice before and that is an awesome pedal!! Something that you certainly can't go wrong with in my opinion.

I also play a LittleMark II which took me 6 months to find a tone that I liked before I purchased it!!

[phatbass30]

when i first got my VT i had the chance to compare it side by side with a Tone Hammer. and like others here, i didn't like the VT and i was quite disappointed because i can't buy the TH since i just got the VT.

after few weeks of using the VT, i finally found my sound. then i went to the same shop to compare the VT and the TH again. and voila! i liked the VT more than the TH!

point is, it may take some time to get use of the sound, to get your own voice with a gear. but at the end if its not for you, then its time to replace it. YMMV

but i still love my VT and i can't gig without it. i use it for clean warm tube sound, not for dirt. i got my BB to cover my dirt. my VT makes me sound good anywhere i gig.

[K2000]

I think everything in the signal chain is a factor... your bass, amp, speaker cab, etc.

For example, a pedal that sounds harsh with your roundwound strings might sound just right with my flatwound strings.

Even the volume you play at can make a difference. Some guys are home players and don't play at high volumes. I think many (if not all) pedals sound different when played at 'bedroom' levels.

[Jazz Ad]

I'm one of the few on the board who much prefers the tone of the BDDI to the VT Bass.
To me it sounds much more natural and organic.
So yeah, to each his own.

[smo]

Yay! Show some love for Perth boyz!

Sounds to me like a combination of things - equipment and what you wanna hear.
And like K2000 said - the volumes you play at have a big play in this in my experience.

I personally find a lot of fuzz pedals to have a different character at home, compared to band volumes.
I don't know why the ODB-3 gets bashed so much 'round here, it's a pretty versatile pedal, works great with passive and active bass, has a blend and sounds pretty good with tube amps - and it's cheap.
Mine got replaced with a VT....

As far as buying here in Oz - check out some of the stuff made here Anesthesia.
MI Audio and Chunk make some awesome pedals - and there's quite a few other's that make some cheap pedals like Morrison Audio Effects that are worth a look.

Good Luck

[Anesthesia]

hey smo. rockin it out in perth town

i know i said digital sounding, not sure if its the correct term for it but it sounded really weak to me. as i said and others have pointed out it could be a gear thing more than anything else. i have been looking at and playing as many pedals as i can get my hands on. i hear you guys about taking time to tweak it, but i seem to know from a decent play with gear if a pedal is suitable for my needs. it just didnt tickle my fancy.

on the other hand the other pedals i tried not just the T-rex, were quite good. the fulltone sounded good and verstaile with its different transistor switch, the ODB-3 is just a good solid rockin pedal nothin special but sounds good. also tried to ebs multi drive and that just didnt do it for me either.

Rod

[fishsticks]

voodoo labs sparkle drive!
that should cover all your od/ distortion needs!

[Thunderscreech]

Originally Posted by Jazz Ad

I'm one of the few on the board who much prefers the tone of the BDDI to the VT Bass.
To me it sounds much more natural and organic.
So yeah, to each his own.

I do too, but I think that's more a functionof the BDDI being given as a trade and me not having to buy it than anything else, but the VT (to me anyway) has too many knobs. Plus I started on the Bheringer BDI21, so go figure.

[Spacelordmother]

Originally Posted by icarussmicarus

...aside from the occasion tool/muse ripoff...

ZING!

[McDreads]

the combination sparkle drive/vt bass rocks......

[Crabby]

I bought the VT bass twice and returned it both times. I really wanted to like it but it just wasn't for me. I ended up with a Fulltone Fatboost III which I use to provide a slightly dirty warm tone and I love that pedal. I can totally see why the VT is so popular but I go for a very different tone generally so I know its just my taste as opposed to the pedal not being any good. Its obviously good at what it does as so many love it.

[kevteop]

I've had three Sansamps and never kept one for more than a couple of months. I sort-of like that rock bass sound sometimes (especially on The Jam, Attractions and Smiths tunes), but I've never really had a use for it myself.