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5k rolloff in a DI

#103
So 2 1/2 years later and nothing has really changed, has it? Still pretty much the same choices and nobody's come up with anything new. Is this such a crazy idea to have a simple little 1590a speaker sim pedal without bundling the kitchen sink to it? I would think a lot of bass players would want one. Is it really that esoteric? I gave up on the idea but I sure wish some pedal builders would give it a thought and come up with something.
 
#104
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the Tone Hammer's AGS circuit is exactly that. It's a roll-off of the high end, and it slightly attenuates the sub lows, just like a speaker cabinet does. Doing one without the other doesn't really pull off the effect. If you run run the AGS GAIN completely off, there is absolutely zero overdrive, grit, compression, or anything else added to the tone. It does have an EQ, but set flat the response is flat except for the rolloff points. You can use the EQ after that to make adjustments, so it's an added benefit unless you really will never ever do that. You don't have to use it.

Jimmy, in the distant past you and I had conversations about the VT Bass in a thread, and that brittle, sometimes clanky high peak that was hard to dial out. The Tone Hammer with AGS engaged does NOT have that. You can boost highs, and it adds highs, not that brittle clank like the VT Bass. It'll add clarity and vintage glass instead of clickety string noise. The Bass EQ adds vintage beef, not modern boom. The VT Bass didn't do modern boom either, but if you dialed up the bass EQ it boosted low mids WAY too much IMHO. It started sounding muddy and less defined. The AGS does NOT do this. It adds beef in the 50-125hz range. Nice little hump you can dial up as much as you like. Big fat bottomed tone. If you want low mids, well that is what the variable mid control does. Or you can scoop the mids and get a nice modern rock sound on a P Bass without sucking all of the presence out of the tone as the VT Bass tended to do as you dialed that character control back. You can also boost upper mids for a nice tick-tack tone like Ms. Kaye has been doing for decades. Use the Treble control to even it all out. Unlike the VT Bass (which the treble control never really let you get a dark tone even when dialing it all the way off), the treble on the TH w/AGS acts very much like a passive tone control when cutting it deeply. Put you in Motown City just by turning that one knob halfway down or more. Then use the mid control to add/scoop mids, and the low end will be nice and tight like a vintage 15" bass cabinet.

It sounds KILLER through a REDDI, U5, etc. You don't have to give up your DI. Run the GAIN low on the TH and I can't imagine it not being what you are looking for. I use it for exactly this purpose. I know you and others in this thread don't want another preamp/EQ stage but I think you might be pleased with what the TH provides in that regard as it relates specifically to getting a nice vintage tone that isn't suddenly hyped up and in your face the second you turn it on.

I can show you some graphs if you want to see them. I posted some around here somewhere way back, but can't recall where. Folks are constantly flipping pedals around here and the TH is no exception. It would be so easy to try a used one and see if you like it.
 
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#105
Jason, I totally remember those graphs, and since then I have played the TH pedal at a store and it is nice and does exactly what you say it does. But I was really just looking for a standalone that's small enough to fit in a 1590a due to space considerations and not having to be married to a large pedal.
 
#106
JimmyM said:
Jason, I totally remember those graphs, and since then I have played the TH pedal at a store and it is nice and does exactly what you say it does. But I was really just looking for a standalone that's small enough to fit in a 1590a due to space considerations and not having to be married to a large pedal.
Click to expand...

Just ditch that GIGANTIC new Ampeg di & you'll have plenty of room for the ToneHammer! ;-)
 
#111
The Junction is not big, well not 1590a size, but still smallish. About the price, how much are they in the US? I got mine on sale for less than $100, which I consider a good price for what you get. Mind that any passive cab sim. contains RLC-networks, which are not cheap. Also, the DI part is transformer-based. A good audio transformer alone can cost in the $30-60 range. Add a sturdy metal box, switches and connectors...
 
#112
The Junction is $168 in the US. Not bad. Not exactly what I had in mind but looks quite doable for bass based on Invalid Link Removed . But more details about my hunt for a speaker sim are coming back to me, and I'm remembering that I eventually got very specific...like eventually I wanted it to have only XLR ins and outs so I could insert it after my DI line and leave my amp unaffected. Then I wanted it in a 1590a case. And I ended up forgetting about it because I decided I didn't want my upright to get a 5k treble cut. Still would like a little tiny box with a switchable speaker sim and nothing else in it, but oh well. I'll tell you though...Markbass is really missing the boat by making that mini booster they have with only the VPF. Blech. Who wants that? I want the VLE on a little pedal by itself. That was pretty sweet, that knob.
 
#117
Feral Feline said:
BUMP (sorry for all the LPF bumped threads from me, but I'm a researchin' schtuff and keep finding threads that have a resolution of sorts that hasn't been posted).

And three years on, JimmyM settled on a 1590a LPF from Broughton Audio.
Click to expand...
I can vouch for the Broughton. I have the HPF/LPF and it has a boost level on it too. Very nice touch. It does everything I have wanted, and is very reasonably priced, too.
 
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#118
Feral Feline said:
BUMP (sorry for all the LPF bumped threads from me, but I'm a researchin' schtuff and keep finding threads that have a resolution of sorts that hasn't been posted).

And three years on, JimmyM settled on a 1590a LPF from Broughton Audio.
Click to expand...
You know, I did a thread like this pretty much every year since this one, and it took 3 years to find someone willing to make a pedal similar to the VLE in a 1590a, and just as I predicted, they're selling for Josh pretty well, I'm told. I also got his HPF to control the house lows. The thing I like about this approach is being a tube snob, I don't have a SS preamp in between my bass and amp/DI anymore to give me the freq cuts I want, and it sounds even more tubey and natural now. Josh's pedals are dead transparent other than what you're filtering. I still love the preamp pedals for fly gigs where an all-in-one solution makes sense, but I'm always happy to up the tube snobbery when I don't have to schlep through an airport with a suitcase full of gadgets :D

caeman said:
Many moons ago, I had commissioned The Screaminator from SFX.
Click to expand...
Yep, and I was sorely tempted to get one a couple times.
 
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#119
you could easily mod your Reddi with a cap across the -/+ of your Reddi.

Heaven for bid anybody mod or even criticize the Reddi..

(an Ampeg svp with NOS RCAs into the Acme Motown DI crushes the Reddi) I know because both are in front of me right now.

I've mod'ed a few basses with pico fared caps to "dial them in". With some solid reference monitors and a set of roach clips, you can dial it in right where you need it.

Dig.
 
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