Bass or Acoustic DI

[MerryPrankster]

I would like to know if someone has tried the bass and acoustic DI from Tech 21 on upright and if they have any opinions. The Bass has obvious advantages bieng also usable for electric bass. If the bass one works on upright it would be very nice.

[maxvalentino]

Well, I don't use them on URB, but I am currently using both the SABBDI and Acoustic DI in my rig for amplifying my Godin Acoustic/Electric bass gtrs, which are piezo equipped.
Both work great, and the, as noted, they BOTH work great with "tradional" bass gtrs (the Bass Driver is known for this, but the Acoustic DI, to some's surprise, works exceptionally well with mag PU basses.)

Oddly, in my quest for "tone" on my piezo A/E's I had given up looking at SansAmps, thinking they would be perhaps too aggressive for my applications. Quite to the contrary. The Acoustic Di has tremendous mic-style warmth, which very nciely takes away any piezo "chirpiness" you might have...and if you have none if adds some wonderful warm tones, like a tube mic would. The Eq is very flexible and musical..and the whole unit is dead quiet. I got to try one at a acoustic gig, where I borrowed one being used by a solo fingrerstyle gtrist,and used it for my own solo bass set.
Needless to say, I was impressed and went out looking for one right away.

Then..at a recent session, the engineer suggested I run through a SABDDI (Bass Driver/DI), a unit for which I had been previously "underwhelmed". Lo and behold! I was quite impressed. So...I went and got one of those too! And, I am now using both in my rig...and they sound great. Both work exceptionally with piezos, and have replaced, for the time being, my Raven Labs PMB and Avalon U5 as my main preamp/ DI...if only due to size/weight and simplicity of setup.

I do know that Chris Wood of MMW uses a SansAmp Bass Driver with his upright to apply some "hair and Grit" (as well as some Mingus-style grunts) to the tone..yet from my experience with it you should be able to get really good clean sounds as well.

Max

[winston]

I sometimes use the Bass Driver as a preamp with my DB. I've used it with Realist, Bass Max and Schertler Stat-B pickups. A lot of the time when I use it I'll keep it switched off for pizz and then kick it in for arco, letting me adjust volume/EQ (I have Spirocore Mediums which take a lot of effort to start with the bow and get pretty loud/scratchy). It's also useful for getting thumpy amp-like tones and a good tool to bring along when you'll be playing through a mystery PA or amp.

I haven't used the Acoustic DI but I had a teacher who used one with a Realist, and he really liked it. I think the input impedance is higher (5Meg vs. 1Meg. on the Bass Driver), which could make a difference depending on your pickup. The Acoustic DI has sweepable mids but no drive control or footswitch, and I believe it also lacks a phase switch. You can probably find either one used pretty easily for about $120.

[mchildree]

I've used both and currently use the Acoustic DI. The SABBDI did work well, but I find that the Acoustic DI is more flexible due to the midrange control. They do both work great for electric also.

As I stated in another thread, I know of a very busy sound company that services major acoustic music festivals, and they swear by the Acoustic DI. He says it is especially useful for pulling useful tones out of badly setup and horrible-sounding bluegrass basses.

[Touch]

I also have used the ADI. It works fine with my BassMax. I really like the sweepable mid. Very handy if you must play loud and it starts feeding back.

You might also look at the LR Baggs Para Acoustic DI. It has (2) sweepable mids.