sansamp: vt bass vs. bddi

[mattq]

so i've recently come to the realization that i'm going to need an "amp in a box" kind of thing. i've used the programmable bddi and it sounded great, but i don't have enough room on my board for that guy. i was all set for bddi, but then remembered about the new vt bass pedal. i'm used to running a yba200 tube amp with a big cab and i play mostly rock stuff. i already have a fulltone bassdrive and a little big muff, so i have the overdrive stuff covered. so which one of these would get me closer to a big tube amp sound if i'm in the "go straight into the board" kind of scenario?

[EricF]

I don't think the VT Bass has the XLR out connection. If you're planning to use it as a DI, the BDDI would be a better call. Sonically, either one will give you a tube amp sound.

[dannybuoy]

I'm having trouble making the same decision! VT Bass has a mids knob and a character knob, but doesn't have the XLR out or paralell out, blend or presence knobs. I guess I need to A/B them but I can't get a VT Bass to try out over here yet.

[mattq]

Originally Posted by EricF

I don't think the VT Bass has the XLR out connection. If you're planning to use it as a DI, the BDDI would be a better call. Sonically, either one will give you a tube amp sound.

wow, i really didn't do my homework on this at all, did i? problem solved! definitely the pedal with the xlr out

[Timi]

You know, if you prefer the VT you could just tape it to a DI box....

[kringle77]

Trust me, you want the VT BASS instead. It sounds way better. It does better clean or distorted tones way better than the bass driver. In fact, I'll bet that once the vt gets out in circulations, the bass driver sales will plumet. All you need is a simple Male xlr to male 1/4" adaptor form www.partsexpress.com and your all set. It's around 2 or 3 bucks. That being said (hm hm, Clears throat) I believe that the bass driver sounds like a turd! Read my review on the Bass VT.

[ehque]

Originally Posted by kringle77

All you need is a simple Male xlr to male 1/4" adaptor form www.partsexpress.com and your all set. It's around 2 or 3 bucks.

While that might be true in certain applications, i would not trust the pushing off my signal from FOH to the mixer at the back, to a pedal not explicitly designed to do so. I'm not sure, just me.

[Parabolic Box]

Originally Posted by kringle77

Trust me, you want the VT BASS instead. It sounds way better. It does better clean or distorted tones way better than the bass driver. In fact, I'll bet that once the vt gets out in circulations, the bass driver sales will plumet. All you need is a simple Male xlr to male 1/4" adaptor form www.partsexpress.com and your all set. It's around 2 or 3 bucks. That being said (hm hm, Clears throat) I believe that the bass driver sounds like a turd! Read my review on the Bass VT.

A transformer-isolated DI box may be better than just a cable converter.

And, yeah, I do agree the BDDI sounds like pooh. I don't even put blend at half-way now because of it.

I should have bought the Para Driver.

[dannybuoy]

IF the output from the VT Bass was balanced (which I don't think it is) then you could get an adaptor with a TRS (stereo jack plug) at one end and an XLR socket at the other. But as far as I know the output is a simple unbalanced connection using a mono jack plug.

I plan on getting one and mounting it on top of a Radial ProDI or JDI. That way I can then either use it live with the DI after the VT Bass, or for recording I would put the DI before the VT Bass so I could record 2 channels, wet and dry. Then I can mess around with plugins like Guitar Rig and AmpegSVX on the dry channel so I could compare the sound of the VT Bass and mix and match them.

[bassforce]

I have almost the same problem. I have lotsa space, but I don't need XLR, which one should I buy :
VT ?
Programmable ?
Box of carrots?

?

I wan't to have great sounding, tube-like sound. Three canals seems a nice oportunity, but I prefer to have one great than three fair sounds

[DosiYanarchy]

Originally Posted by ehque

While that might be true in certain applications, i would not trust the pushing off my signal from FOH to the mixer at the back, to a pedal not explicitly designed to do so. I'm not sure, just me.

the VT bass is a preamp, and can be used to drive a power amp, and can be run to a mixer to, dont under estimate the volume this thing can push out. Yes it doesnt have an XLR but it is designed to be sent to mixer like the BDDI (if thats what you were worried about)

i much prefer the tone of the VT BASS, i find it MUCH more versatile than my BDDI was and i find the overdrives more useful, i was really impressed with my BDDI, but i really feel this thing P1sses all over it. i always had trouble making my sansamp 'pop-out' in a mix, but now its all good, and sweet tone too.

oh and heres why i prefer it WITHOUT the XLR:
i found that running pedals (mainly fuzzes/ODs) into the BDDI changed the character of the effects so much i had to run them AFTER the BDDI, but of course that means that live i would either have FOH not running my effects, or getting a second DI box for the end of my signal chain, i always felt guilty having the XLR out on the BDDI, but not wanting to use it coz of my other fx, now its all different, i'll set the VT BASS up for unity gain, run it at the front of my chain, and put everything else after it (the manual suggests running fuzzes before the VT, but again it changes the character of your well loved pedals into something else, but as long as you have unity gain, it wont freak other pedals out).

i tell you VTBass into a B:Assmaster - SICK

[dannybuoy]

Same here, the lack of XLR means nothing to me because I want to run modulation and delay after the VT Bass. This is how you would do it with rack gear and an FX loop, i.e. certain fx going after the pre-amp's colouration. I'm also considering stereo modulation into a stereo memory man into a Radial ProD2 stereo DI box.

One thing I'm not sure of is whether I should go for an active or passive DI; I'm thinking passive will be best for this setup; either Radial JDI/JDI Duplex/ProDI/ProD2.

What's convinced me to go down this route is that I usually use other people's amps at gigs and their quality varies. There's not enough room for every band to bring their own amps on stage, or enough time to set them up and do changeovers in between. Last gig I played at the amp died and we all had to go direct to the PA. Everyone sounded weak except for me as I had my Zoom B2 in the gig bag, I used the Ampeg model and it sounded awesome. I'd like to do this wherever possible now if the PA can handle it, so that I can get 'my sound' wherever I go and get my stage sound to match the FOH sound. I'm hoping the VT Bass sounds even better and will be easier to tweak on stage (the B2 is a PITA for live tweaking).

[stflbn]

I'd like to add in that the Sansamp PSA is pretty damn cool. no, it doesn't have the traditional Parametric mids that people expect, but it's Buzz, Punch, and Crunch knobs specific raise or lower Bass, Mids, and Highs, so you can raise whichever to any point you want until you start getting distortion in that area. You can do alot with those 3 along with the standard bass and treble knobs.

[GreyBeard]

Originally Posted by kringle77

Trust me, you want the VT BASS instead. It sounds way better. It does better clean or distorted tones way better than the bass driver. In fact, I'll bet that once the vt gets out in circulations, the bass driver sales will plumet. All you need is a simple Male xlr to male 1/4" adaptor form www.partsexpress.com and your all set. It's around 2 or 3 bucks. That being said (hm hm, Clears throat) I believe that the bass driver sounds like a turd! Read my review on the Bass VT.

I have the programmable BDDI and I agree that I can't get a sound from a BDDI I like better than my un-effected tone. To my ears it 1) sucks the MIDS out, 2) the presence adds KLANK and 3) the drive adds FUZZ. If you have a really honky sounding amp I guess it might improve the sound but, I don't see how it can help a good sounding rig to start with. I have heard some clips of the VT in a direct comparison with a Ampeg B-15on this forum and the tone is quite impressive.

[CrackBass]

vt all the way. better sound, period. don't sweat the xlr, get a passive di and call it a day.

[bassforce]

I have programmable bddi, and I need nothing else. It suits my needs both live and in studio. But there's nothing better than a tube amp
My verdict - I won't change it

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by GreyBeard

I have the programmable BDDI and I agree that I can't get a sound from a BDDI I like better than my un-effected tone. To my ears it 1) sucks the MIDS out, 2) the presence adds KLANK and 3) the drive adds FUZZ. If you have a really honky sounding amp I guess it might improve the sound but, I don't see how it can help a good sounding rig to start with. I have heard some clips of the VT in a direct comparison with a Ampeg B-15on this forum and the tone is quite impressive.

And in a few hours, hopefully you'll hear a direct comparison with the VT and a 1969 SVT! Sorry about the test last night...I never could get rid of the ground loop. But it does show that the VT is quite impressive. I would have liked a DI built-in, but that's not a big deal compared to the tone it puts out. I never liked the BDDI, but I love this pedal.

[kringle77]

I told you Jimmy. The VT plugged into a crown xti-2000 into my nv610 sounds pretty convincing. It doesn't have quite the low end of an actual svt but otherwise can be almost indistinguishable. With a good parametric eq like the ashly pqx571, I think that you could get most of the tube sounds that anyone would be after. Once the band starts gigging again at the end of the month, I may just use that very rig. Of course I will have a modded version of the ABM500 as well as a re-modded pearce G1 to put through it's paces as well. When does it end?

[gibsualdo]

Originally Posted by GreyBeard

2) the presence adds KLANK and 3) the drive adds FUZZ.

Some of us happen to like KLANK!

Mine only really gets fuzzy, or more like plain distorted than fuzz, after around 2 o'clock. But I'll admit, it's impossible to get a totally clean sound, free of soft overdrive, if I use a high output active bass.

I'm really hoping they bring out an amalgamation of the VT Bass and PBBDI, sometime in the not too distant future. Basically a VT Bass, with blend, 3 presets and XLR out.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by kringle77

I told you Jimmy. The VT plugged into a crown xti-2000 into my nv610 sounds pretty convincing. It doesn't have quite the low end of an actual svt but otherwise can be almost indistinguishable. With a good parametric eq like the ashly pqx571, I think that you could get most of the tube sounds that anyone would be after. Once the band starts gigging again at the end of the month, I may just use that very rig. Of course I will have a modded version of the ABM500 as well as a re-modded pearce G1 to put through it's paces as well. When does it end?

Well, it looks like the revolution is beginning so no telling where it ends. And yep, you were right about the VT. It's just that modelers have been claiming tube-like tone for years and nobody's really delivered until the VT IMHO, so naturally I was skeptical. Not so skeptical anymore. I can't say it's JUST like a tube amp, but certainly close enough for gov't work.