SansAmp Bass Driver DI noise levels

magic papa · #1 11-16-2009, 07:56 PM

G'day All,

I've just got the SansAmp programmable bass preamp and generally I'm mighty impressed with it. Puts so much character into the sound that I'm wondering how I ever did without it.

There is one small glitch however.

The manual as well as the reviews suggest also that it's as quiet as it ever gets. Mine however produces a considerable amout of noise when the "drive" control is cranked up (as per "solo" or "crimson" setting).

I realise that it is difficult to describe the level of noise in words, but in my case it's debateable whether "solo" or "crimson" settings are actually useful at all because of the noise. The pedal sounds an absolute killer on the "SVT" setting.

My question (to the other owners of this preamp) is: is it happening to you too? Basically I'm trying to ascertain whether the item is faulty or this is just the way it is.

I'm happy to accept that this's normal and this preamp has a bit of noise in certain situations, although I will boldly repel any statements that it's dead quiet.

Thanks and regards

MP

Kenner · #2 11-16-2009, 07:59 PM

It'll have everything in the world to do where your presence and blend knobs are at. the higher those two are the hotter the hiss

Kenner · #3 11-16-2009, 08:00 PM

On my preferred settings, it's very quiet.

John Bigboote · #4 11-16-2009, 08:05 PM

In my experience, the suggested settings aren't too useful, i.e., the effects are overkill. Particularly true of Drive and Blend settings. Tech21 would have you dime the Blend at all times, when I prefer it at 50% or lower. Bottom line: I would ignore what they recommend, and spend a bunch of time experimenting to see what works for you. The units can definitely be noisy depending on how you set them up, despite what they say in the manual. OTOH, if you love those two settings and they're too noisy for you, time to look for something else for your signal chain.

HTH,

-jb

magic papa · #5 11-16-2009, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenner

It'll have everything in the world to do where your presence and blend knobs are at. the higher those two are the hotter the hiss

Yes, same here. Presence increases the hiss.

Have you tried the "solo" setting from the manual? That's basically drive, presence and blend to the max. Is it still a useful sound on yours? It's not really on mine.

Kenner · #6 11-16-2009, 08:12 PM

Nah, I did like John said and locked my self in my room and found 3 liveable settings based on which of the 3 bands I'm playing with. And you gotta be willing to adjust a bit depending on the stage you're on............I don't solo much, cept in my room.........

GreggBummer · #7 11-16-2009, 08:21 PM

As others have stated, the presence knob will add hiss.

I use the blend knob with great care. I like to blend my at 50/50 for the most part.

The settings in the manual are a good starting point, but you have to play around with this unit to really get a feel for what everything does. Those knobs are really sensitive, a little bit goes a long way.

The manual gives the advice that you should run the unit directly into the return of your effects loop. I do this on my practice amp (180W Behringer), and it sounds great. I don't do this on my live rig (Peavey Tour 450 w/ Hartke 410).

My favorite settings are the "clean boost" with a little drive.

magic papa · #8 11-16-2009, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Bigboote

(...) Tech21 would have you dime the Blend at all times, when I prefer it at 50% or lower. (...)

Thanks, I think this actually answers my question. It doesn't look like the item is faulty.

I thought the blend knob mixed the dry signal with the wet. So setting it to low is almost like not having the preamp at all. It may be quiet, but it's your bass and amp that are quiet, not the preamp.

Only with blend at max you can hear the true sound of the circuit. And that is pretty hissy IMHO.

rodl2005 · #9 11-16-2009, 08:29 PM

I've not found hiss/noise a prob with mine at all. But I've NEVER used ANY of the 'suggested' settings. I've just found what works 4 me & gone with these. IIRC my blend is varying between about 40% - 75%

magic papa · #10 11-16-2009, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreggBummer

(...)The manual gives the advice that you should run the unit directly into the return of your effects loop. I do this on my practice amp (180W Behringer), and it sounds great. I don't do this on my live rig (Peavey Tour 450 w/ Hartke 410). (...)

I personally found feeding the poweramp directly from the preamp a bit awkward. Can't get used to the volume adjustments on the stompbox. When you switch programs you need to jig the knob to catch up every time.

What works best for me is to set the level so it's exactly the same as not having the preamp and feed it through the amp's preamp. This way signal gets a bit of tube treatment. I use it with Mesa M-Pulse with all controls flat and just a bit of compression on. Sounds great (except for hiss).

BTW, Mesa preamp is dead quiet. No hiss at all, nothing. Hence my concern about SansAmp

ReillyReilly · #11 11-17-2009, 04:48 PM

Yeah, I just got one myself and figured out right away that it takes a little f***n with to find and fine tune a setting that suits your bass. Once you do it is rather sweet. I think the DI is the best pedal related thing I have ever invested in.

GreggBummer · #12 11-17-2009, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magic papa

I personally found feeding the poweramp directly from the preamp a bit awkward.

I agree. My little practice amp still allows the master volume to work when I plug the SANSAMP into the effects return.

What makes the BDDI so great, is that I can dial in a good tone on each channel and plug into to anything (Rig, practice amp, house PA, recording board) and I have a "known quantity" as far tone goes. I just have to tweak what ever I am plugged into. I have each channel set up for a different bass. One for my Jbass, another for the Pbass, the last is for the Tbird. Works for me.

magic papa · #13 11-17-2009, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreggBummer

What makes the BDDI so great, is that I can dial in a good tone on each channel and plug into to anything (Rig, practice amp, house PA, recording board) and I have a "known quantity" as far tone goes. I just have to tweak what ever I am plugged into. I have each channel set up for a different bass. One for my Jbass, another for the Pbass, the last is for the Tbird. Works for me.

Yeah, that was one of the reasons I got this preamp. You can take your tone with you wherever you go. I can't use the effects loop on my amp because it defeats the volume knob, but running it with clean gain and all tone controls flat achieves pretty much the same thing.

Mobile Sprout · #14 11-18-2009, 07:31 AM

I've gotten a lot of use out of this pedal. As others have said, the blend knob is your friend. I mainly use mine as a dirt pedal for metal sounds. It does hiss somewhat on those settings... but you're applying distortion - what did you expect?

Tip: I find its very easy to over mid-scoop yourself with the treble and bass knobs (mainly the bass knob). I found that I was getting a little lost in the mix some of the time, backing off on the bass knob and increasing the level control fixed the problem.

Even better tip: Also, it isn't immediately obvious that only the drive (and speaker emulation), and presence knobs are contained within the "blend". The bass and treble knobs affect the clean sound too. I generally get my best dirt sounds with both "drive" and "presence" relatively high BUT with "blend" much less than noon.

Medford Bassman · #15 11-18-2009, 09:54 AM

I like the SVT setting but I back off the "blend" knob to about 50%. I think more is over kill and more hiss.

I like a little grit but I find with too much blend it's just too much on most songs I play.

Mobile Sprout · #16 11-18-2009, 10:12 AM

Another good tip: since the drive knob adds a ton of volume vs the clean signal, you'll need to reset the blend knob with any changes to "drive". In other words, 50% blend is not the same with Drive at 10% vs 70% on.

With the drive set super high for my gritty tones, I generally have the blend knob at like 9:30.

magic papa · #17 11-18-2009, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mobile Sprout

Another good tip: since the drive knob adds a ton of volume vs the clean signal, you'll need to reset the blend knob with any changes to "drive". In other words, 50% blend is not the same with Drive at 10% vs 70% on.
(...)

Yeah, I noticed the same. The more drive the less blend there should be. Played a bit with the settings and I think I started to get the idea.

So far I found that the factory "SVT" setting with a bit less treble is the best for me. I play Stingray through M-Pulse; both bass and amp are very clean and articulated, so the pedal adds nice fat to it.

I've just ordered a doublebuck Warwick, can't wait to check how it's gonna sound through this setup