More on Chron's sound! Sansamp RBI?

[Chronicle]

Alrighty then! Now I have my eye on something else for my grit sounds. For the new guys to my predictament, i will be getting a GK 2001RB[http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ead?sku=482514 ] and have an extensive pedalboard[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...8/DSCN1335.jpg ].

Right now I have the Sansamp PBDDI as my gritbox blended with the BC VFB-2. Once i get the GK, I'll be saving up for some other effects. One of them is a Fulltone GT-500, I wish we had soundclips of this monster! What i was going to do is have the GT-500 act as a gritbox blended in and then hit Boost for when i want distortion.

But then i came across the Sansamp RBI, would that be a better choice for grit and still keep my effects from being wierded up by the after-effect/blended-effect of the grit? Yes i know both will have a different sound, but with the blending grit- it kinda disrupts the rest of the effects.

[Chronicle]

Bump so i have a thread to watch in math class later

[JanusZarate]

Well, here's the thing... your RBI would be post-effects. It's a much different scenario than what you've got now, and you'd have a new blending dilemma to deal with.

How exactly did you plan on setting it up?

[bassgod0dmw]

Are you planning on getting the GK from MF? Might I suggest rmcaudio.com. They are like $400 cheaper from them...

[Racermech]

You still haven't gotten the GK yet have you? From what I hear, this this has a lot of grit available depending on how you run it. Before buying another preamp, I would wait and hear what the GK has to offer.

Also, from my own experience...bedroom volume is terrible to be able to judge grit and tone. My Mesa BB750 is so-so at lower volumes, but kicks down the tone/grit when pushed a little bit.

Boo has a good point...how would you run the RBI is you got it? You have said before that you weren't impressed when your effects went through your grit.

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by bassgod0dmw

Are you planning on getting the GK from MF? Might I suggest rmcaudio.com. They are like $400 cheaper from them...

IIRC from his previous threads, that's where he had originally planned on getting it from.

Originally Posted by Racermech

You still haven't gotten the GK yet have you? From what I hear, this this has a lot of grit available depending on how you run it. Before buying another preamp, I would wait and hear what the GK has to offer.

I suggested that to him before, but there's nothing wrong with checking out other possible alternatives as well, especially since he's into the whole Tool / SansAmp distortion thing.

I still owe Chronicle some mic'd 2001RB distortion action... I'll try to do something this weekend!

[Chronicle]

Hehe i knew you'd come to my rescue mystic! ;D


Anywhos, i'm getting a used GK2001 from someone for 900$- it looks to be in mnt condition so it's all good.

I want the grit on all the time but without disturbing the effects' sounds. So if the GK's grit is enough- prehaps this will work out well.
What i thought was since the RBI is a rackmount, i can run it in the GK's effects loops to have that grit running in the GK. Yes, i know to wait for the GK grit but i'm just expanding my possibilites and ideas if something doesn't 'fit my fancy.'

[Chronicle]

I also want the GT-500 because i've heard it's a super crazy beast of a pedal. It looks awesome too. It would be cool for a grit pedal cause i'd have the Distortion set for grit and then hit boost for an actual distortion. Am i right? ;o

[The BurgerMeister]

hmmm... i'd say you use the "boost" side of the GT-500 for grit and kick in the "distortion" side for the craziness. the "distortion" side can't really do grit... it's pretty nuts even at the lowest settings. but there's good grit available on the "boost" side (just turn the "drive" knob up and keep the "level" at about unity). remember that both sides have a huge amount of volume boost available.

[assboglin]

Personally I think you're overcomplicating things. First of all, if you want grit all the time, the ideal source for it would be your amplifier. You need to see the the GK will do that for you, and if not, perhaps you need to consider a different amp.

But if that's not the route for you, and you want your grit to coexist with your other effects, I don't think a sansamp is the way to do it. I'm personally not a big fan of the way sansamps interact with other effects. Is that what you're referring to by effects weirded out? I think there's better, more natural options out there for your needs.

Furthermore, there's options out there that won't require a blend to retain low end, and while useful, a blend can sometimes overcomplicate your signal, which is less than ideal when you want to run other effects.

And for the GT-500, the distortion side is a hi gain distortion, so you're probably not going to get grit out of it at all. The boost side will probably give you more than enough dirt for your grit, and you could use the distortion side for distortion, which makes a lot more sense then trying to use the distortion side for grit and the boost side for distortion, stacked gain or not.

But that being said, I personally wouldn't count on the GT-500 to hold the bottom or sound like a distorted bass rather than a distorted guitar. After all, it's a guitar distortion pedal, and even though there are EQ's on it, they are designed to boost the low end of a guitar's frequency spectrum, not a bass's, so you end up sounding more like a guitar and competing with guitarists over their frequency spectrum rather than fitting into your own niche. Something to consider and be wary of.

[Chronicle]

Hm very interesting comments. Though i know the GT-500 is for guitar frequencies, the buzz going around makes me think of the Sansamp GT2. A guitar pedal but sounds killer on bass.

But with the GK's effect's loop, can't i run the RBI/PBDDI/GT-500 in it to make the desired grit?

[assboglin]

Running the effects in the effects loop just puts them between your preamp and power amp, which is at line level. It won't necessarily make everything fall into place for you any better than running them before the amp, it's just another option to try, but I don't know if the Fulltone is even designed to handle line level signals.

And no offense to jetpackbassist, but he does work at Guitar Center. Selling music gear is his job, of course it's going to sound good when he's talking about it.

[ihateusernames]

A GT2 sounds awesome on bass, especially direct recordings. I'd not suggest any distortion box in the effects loop of an amplifier, they typically don't sound best there. Of course, you can sometimes bypass the preamp with a preamp of choice (the RBI you mention for instance) by inserting into the return of the amp - using it like a seperate power amp.

[Chronicle]

Interesting, interesting. So making it a seperate power amp would actually make the RBI the actual sound or something?

[assboglin]

No, the RBI cannot function as a power amp, but it can function as your preamp. The difference is you'll just bypass the preamp on your amplifier so it won't affect your sound, only the Sansamp will, which could be good or bad depending on your preference.

[JanusZarate]

Originally Posted by assboglin

Running the effects in the effects loop just puts them between your preamp and power amp, which is at line level. It won't necessarily make everything fall into place for you any better than running them before the amp, it's just another option to try, but I don't know if the Fulltone is even designed to handle line level signals.

+1. The signal output is much higher, and in terms of impedance, much different. Not necessarily line-level with all amps, but definitely not instrument level.

The RBI runs comfortably before other preamps and in amp effects loops, but it's best suited in terms of the resulting sound, IME, in a standalone preamp => poweramp setup running a separate cabinet.

If you want to get the general idea of what that sounds like, borrow or rent somebody's poweramp and change your SansAmp PBDDI to the "line level" setting for the output you intend to use (probably the 1/4"). Plug it in and give it a whirl with your favorite cabinet.

[idoru]

If you want a rack-mounted distortion, get the RPM. The mid control affects the gain structure like the ParaDriver DI & the LM300's second channel. Serious girth is achievable

[Chronicle]

Ohh I see now. So if i don't like the preamp of the GK, i can use the RBI, right?

[The BurgerMeister]

Originally Posted by assboglin

And no offense to jetpackbassist, but he does work at Guitar Center. Selling music gear is his job, of course it's going to sound good when he's talking about it.

ouch.

i thought i was just giving an honest assessment based on my experience with the GT-500.

actually, i'm not sure if i should feel offended or flattered....

[Chronicle]

It'll make you feel better if you post clips of the gt500 :P