The Official SansAmp VT-Bass Owners Club!

[pbassnut]

Originally Posted by kenstee

Is there REALLY a substantial difference between v1 and v2? Is it worth upgrading?

I'm really glad I got the V2 version as I don't really care for the 10" speaker emulation all that much and therefor need to have the speaker emulation defeat switch.

[seang15]

Originally Posted by TimWatson

Another upright gig. This time went straight to PA, no amp. Jazz trio and it wasn't that loud. Iran through all my preamps. And the clear winner was the VT deluxe. Of course the always on f-deck was there. Can't live without that. weird because everyone says the VT should not be a good match for upright.

Others were the Fishman pro EQ platinum, Baggs para-EQ, and f-deck>MXR 10band EQ. The MXR came close, but the VT was the clear winner. Here are my best settings here.

Did you run the fdeck through the preamp?

[TimWatson]

Yes. Fdeck always first. I set it and leave it. That way bypass is awesome too. The HPF really cleans up the signal and the buffer loads the pickup to get the best signal coming out of the bass. It clears up the low end so much you have to try it to believe it. I am getting a second one for doubling. 2 basses, 2 settings.

[seang15]

Originally Posted by TimWatson

Yes. Fdeck always first. I set it and leave it. That way bypass is awesome too. The HPF really cleans up the signal and the buffer loads the pickup to get the best signal coming out of the bass. It clears up the low end so much you have to try it to believe it. I am getting a second one for doubling. 2 basses, 2 settings.

Hey, thx for the reply. I have one and love it. So you will use it on electric? What does it do for slab IYE?

I am also thinking the reason the VT is said not to be so great for upright is due to impedance mismatch. Which, the fdeck does a great job of eliminating that problem

[ShowKing]

Originally Posted by pbassnut

I'm really glad I got the V2 version as I don't really care for the 10" speaker emulation all that much and therefor need to have the speaker emulation defeat switch.

Does the speaker sim defeat simply turn the vt bass into a transparent eq pedal?

I heard v2 also has a tamed down treble.

[pbassnut]

Originally Posted by ShowKing

Does the speaker sim defeat simply turn the vt bass into a transparent eq pedal?

I heard v2 also has a tamed down treble.

The 10" speaker emulation is much like a bright switch ... one that I don't want engaged all the time. It sounds like a lotta folks use their VT Bass Pedals as an EQ pedal into the front end of their amps. I use mine as a standalone preamp into the poweramp in jack on my Ampeg B2-RE or the line in jack on my Ashdown ABM 500 EVO Series II heads. It sounds wonderful all by itself, IMHO.

[TimWatson]

Originally Posted by seang15

Hey, thx for the reply. I have one and love it. So you will use it on electric? What does it do for slab IYE?

I am also thinking the reason the VT is said not to be so great for upright is due to impedance mismatch. Which, the fdeck does a great job of eliminating that problem

I have used it with upright and love it. Even better after the fdeck.

[tallchris]

I had the early version of the VT Bass for a while before they had the speaker simulation kill switch. It sounded fine, but I could never get it to sound as awesome as my V4-B or the 70's SVTs I've played through. I think the Rusty Box gets closer to the 70's Ampeg sound, or at least the tone I get out of those amps.

But, it could totally be me. My friend (and fellow forum member Snowblinder) in Louisville uses one in front of an 800-RB and it sounds awesome, just as good as his MTI-era SVT.

Would still like to try one with the speaker simulation turned off. I don't really like the sound of 8x10s anyway, so maybe that was part of my issue.

[GregT]

Last night I filled in playing bass for a local band. My Precision through a Sansamp Programmable Bass Driver straight into a QSC K12. It was the best bass tone I have ever had. I wanted to keep it pretty simple. From now on, it is what I intend to use unless I want to bring a Ksub also. I know this is all about the VT, but I just wanted to say the all the Sansamp stuff is great. I use the Blonde and Liverpool live for my guitar and the Programmable Bass Driver for my bass all at the same time for our little two piece band. Sansamp stuff sounds so good that I actually had local musicians thinking I was running loops. I am still thinking about the VT for when I am playing bass only like last night.

[thehangingmist]

folks its just beyond me, how come there is no speaker sim defeat on the programmable vt deluxe??
i think the speaker sim switch is awesome as it gets rid of those nasty highs when hearing yourself through another cabinet with a hf horn on it! now getting the deluxe makes sense so i can have a bunch of different sounds but why why why theres no speaker sim off button on it!?

[JimmyM]

You could probably get Mike Putnam to mod one up for you.

www.putnamguitars.com

[hensonbass]

I am getting the best results from my VT Bass deluxe pedal by using a Lehle parallel loop pedal and blending a clean signal with the dirt from the VT. I feel like you get more of that old school grunt with clarity. I could never get that tone just running straight into the VT itself.

Anyone else doing this?

[old-fashioned]

Originally Posted by hensonbass

I am getting the best results from my VT Bass deluxe pedal by using a Lehle parallel loop pedal and blending a clean signal with the dirt from the VT. I feel like you get more of that old school grunt with clarity. I could never get that tone just running straight into the VT itself.

Anyone else doing this?

I would love to, but I don't have any equipment to blend the clean signal. Whenever I use the VT in a band mix I find myself buried down.

[mouthmw]

Originally Posted by varunkapahi

folks its just beyond me, how come there is no speaker sim defeat on the programmable vt deluxe??
i think the speaker sim switch is awesome as it gets rid of those nasty highs when hearing yourself through another cabinet with a hf horn on it! now getting the deluxe makes sense so i can have a bunch of different sounds but why why why theres no speaker sim off button on it!?

+1

I find the VT has its full magic with the speaker button. I have use for both speker sim on and off depending on how I use my VT.

[billoetjen]

Originally Posted by old-fashioned

I would love to, but I don't have any equipment to blend the clean signal. Whenever I use the VT in a band mix I find myself buried down.

Mike Putnam did a makeover of my VT original pedal. If I could do it over I'd get the speaker sim defeat. The separate wet/dry gain knobs help, but it's not the same.

[jphovercraft]

Originally Posted by pbassnut

The 10" speaker emulation is much like a bright switch ... one that I don't want engaged all the time. It sounds like a lotta folks use their VT Bass Pedals as an EQ pedal into the front end of their amps. I use mine as a standalone preamp into the poweramp in jack on my Ampeg B2-RE or the line in jack on my Ashdown ABM 500 EVO Series II heads. It sounds wonderful all by itself, IMHO.

Me too! Love it!

[McGryff]

Originally Posted by billoetjen

Mike Putnam did a makeover of my VT original pedal. If I could do it over I'd get the speaker sim defeat. The separate wet/dry gain knobs help, but it's not the same.

I just got a TC Electronics BG250, which has a nice tube emulation, but I haven't decided if the VT is better or not. I think a speaker sim button would be helpful since the BG250 is a 1X15, and I don't really want to try to make it sound like a stack-o-tens. I might get the Putnam mod done & see how that works.

[12bass]

FWIW, I modified my version 1 VT Bass with a speaker simulation defeat switch which employs a simple low pass filter to roll off the treble. This gives a flatter, more "hi fi" sound, instead of the bright and brassy speaker simulation which seems to boost the ~3 kHz zone. The sound is extremely bright if you bypass the sim completely (without a LPF).

[McGryff]

Originally Posted by 12bass

FWIW, I modified my version 1 VT Bass with a speaker simulation defeat switch which employs a simple low pass filter to roll off the treble. This gives a flatter, more "hi fi" sound, instead of the bright and brassy speaker simulation which seems to boost the ~3 kHz zone. The sound is extremely bright if you bypass the sim completely (without a LPF).

Huh, that's interesting! I may give the sim bypass mod a miss in that case. Does anyone know if the v2 sim bypass does the same thing? Brighter is certainly not what I'm after.

[12bass]

Yes, from what I understand Tech 21 added a LPF to their 2.0 speaker sim defeat circuit to tame the treble. Not sure how it differs from the approach I used.