Tech 21 Para Driver PRAISE!

[heavyfunkmachin]

Originally Posted by ::::BASSIST::::

Are you guys saying you can get the *exact same* tone out of the para driver that's in the VT? I owned the SABDDI & para driver years ago and I cant remember if they sound the same as the VT. I love my VT, but added mid control and DI is never a bad thing.

Well, you don't have a character knob so the EXACT same tome might not be the right words... very very close is more appropiate.

I only dislike the fact that the blend knob is not a blend of you ORIGINAL bass sound, since the eq affects both the driven tone and the clean tone and thats what you can blend...

I wish they made a programmable Para driver... as a mater of fact I know what I wish they made:

A programmable (at least 3 memories) Sansamp-ish/VT bass-ish analogic OD/Distortion pedal controls for:
Drive / Bass / Mid / Mid Freq / Character or Presence / Level / Blend (true no-effect-no-eq sound vs driven sound blend)
And if possible, in a Bass Driver Programmable footprint



THEN we would talk. Why doesn't such a thing exist?

[chessrocks]

Originally Posted by heavyfunkmachin

I wish they made a programmable Para driver... as a mater of fact I know what I wish they made:

A programmable (at least 3 memories) Sansamp-ish/VT bass-ish analogic OD/Distortion pedal controls for:
Drive / Bass / Mid / Mid Freq / Character or Presence / Level / Blend (true no-effect-no-eq sound vs driven sound blend)
And if possible, in a Bass Driver Programmable footprint



THEN we would talk. Why doesn't such a thing exist?

Because then people would only need to buy one pedal from them, and they'd have all kinds of other stock just sitting around.

[GLEN18INCHSPICA]

I have had a Para Driver in the past & now have had one again for the past 8 months or so. I have old buisness cards in excess where I've written down favorite settings for different tones I was trying to achieve & got it to where i might want to try a particular setting again in the future. The biggest weakness of this pedal is its strength for a knob twiddler like myself its vesatility. My current setting I logged today was similiar in tone to Eric A. of Janes or maybe Martyn Casey of Nick Cave/Grinderman. The settings are roughly Level 12:, Mids at 12: or a hair past, bass & treble 12: , Drive between the letters I & V of the word Drive, para mids on the h of 200hz lettering above & to the left of the dial, & lastly the blend knob is slightly less than 1/4 of the way from off. I really wish they had lines or #'s to line the dials up with!

[dStar]

I like them so much, I have two.

[Tupac]

How is it different than the BDDI?

[uglybassplayer]

Originally Posted by Tupac

How is it different than the BDDI?

The main difference is that the Para Driver forgoes the presence control and replaces it with mid and mid frequency controls.

[gidbass]

from what i have read, the gain structure is very different too. The paradriver is the RPM in stompbox form, and the BDDI is the RBI in stompbox form.

I have a BDDI on the way, and still want to try out the paradriver in the near future as well.

[uglybassplayer]

Originally Posted by gidbass

from what i have read, the gain structure is very different too. The paradriver is the RPM in stompbox form, and the BDDI is the RBI in stompbox form.

From a prior post by Tech21NYC...

"The midrange control on the Para Driver is before the SansAmp circuit. This is why the Para Driver DI is capable of more gain and distortion than the Bass Driver DI. It also means that adjusting the midrange will usually mean that you need to adjust the drive as well."

[gidbass]

so, i guess we are agreeing/saying the same thing then...

EDIT: And after reading your post, i really want to try the paradriver now....

[tech21nyc]

Originally Posted by Tupac

How is it different than the BDDI?

It is more of a "multi-purpose" pedal. It has a 4.7meg-Ohm input for use with acoustic instruments with piezo pickups. The sweepable mids as mentioned is before the drive control so it is capable of more distortion than the Bass Driver though it can be used for clean sounds by turning off the SansAmp circuit (blend control) or just reducing the drive settings.

It is more of a generic amp emulation and more open ended in that regard whereas the Bass Driver is designed to easily obtain that specific tone.

[AdamR]

You cant go wrong with any of their pedals IMO.

[GLEN18INCHSPICA]

I've gotten it wrong with all of their pedals, especially with the VT bass & Para driver my 2 favorite Tech 21 offerings. The combinations available & the way the knobs interact can make finding your happy place confusing. The blend, drive, & lows all interact with each other to fill out the bottom frequency's. there is a bit of a learning curve & taking careful notes & making minor adjustments has helped me in getting the sounds I try & achieve. The suggested settings have been all pretty much useless for me except the fliptop setting for the VT bass, that was my default starting point on that pedal. The Para Driver suggested settings are all shown with the blend nob full on I believe, & to me that just robs the pedal of all of its usefullness.

[Clarkybass]

Thread resuscitation here but I have just acquired a Para Driver and wondered if someone could recommend a Jamerson/Motown sample setting please? The deep tube setting doesn't sound very Ampeg B15-ish to my ears so I wondered if anyone has come up with a setting for 60s style funk? Thanks in advance