Overwhelming a small Ampeg amp

slobake · #1 11-07-2011, 01:25 PM

I was looking for some sort of overdrive for my Ampeg BA-108. I was trying out a Tech 21 SanSamp Bass Driver DI. It sounded good when it was plugged into a medium sizes SS Ampeg amp. When I plugged it into a BA-110 I thought the amp was going lot explode

. Just overwhelming noise no matter how I adjusted the settings. This is before I even hit the strings on the bass. If it did this got the B-110 I know it will do the same or worse to my BA-108.
I'm trying to get more sustain when I am playing. At this point I think I should drag my old Workingman's 15 out of storage. Or save my coin for a new amp and forget about pedals.
Anyone else ever experience this?

rratajski · #2 11-07-2011, 02:36 PM

Save up for a better amp or get a really cheap overdrive, like a Proco RAT or something from Behringer.
Craigslist is also a great place to find cheap pedals.
A sansamp bass driver doesn't really do "overwhelming" with anything, so it may have been your amp's eq/setup.

G3Mitch · #3 11-07-2011, 04:24 PM

it seems the vt bass is alot for my small 100w orange to handle.. have to have amp eq settings way down if im trying to play with a drummer, guitar etc.

tech21nyc · #4 11-08-2011, 11:28 AM

Our SansAmp pedals are amp "emulators" that are designed to sound like a tube amp in in its entirety. Preamp, power amp and speaker system. This may be a bit much if all you want is overdrive though they can be used in that capacity.

Our Red Ripper is a bass specific distortion effects unit and may be a better choice if you are not looking for amp emulation.

If your amp is being overwhelmed, it could be that you are trying to superimpose the sound of one amp on another. The best thing to do in this case is to set the amp you are using for more of a neutral flat tone and use the SansAmp circuitry for your overall tone shaping.

If the amp is being overwhelmed in terms of the output level of the pedal, try using the low input on your amp, reduce the level of the SansAmp or use the instrument level setting on the Bass Driver.

G3Mitch · #5 11-08-2011, 01:15 PM

thanks tech21nyc!
i do use mine for more of a tone shaper rather than overdrive. sounds awesome to, just took a little fiddling around to get it right!

slobake · #6 11-09-2011, 08:56 AM

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll check out the Red Ripper and the pedals rratajski suggested.