It almost fulfill my dream of getting the preamp from the Ampeg B1 in a pedal.
I miss Ampeg, for sure I will get this.
I miss Ampeg, for sure I will get this.
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All-New Ampeg SCR-DI!
- Thread starter CharlieC
- Start date
Good price point. Good features. Word on the street is that the tone is just average. I'll reserve judgement until I play with one. Made in China (no surprise). Would like to see it compared with a bassbone OD or a V2
Average tone? That's disappointing. Where are you hearing these reviews?
Of course! It's an Ampeg!!
Seriously though, I've been contemplating a DI for a little while and almost grabbed a used programmable BDDI a month or two ago. Went ahead and bit the bullet and just pre-ordered the Ampeg. Kind of surprised it took them so long to get in on the action.
A Google search for "NAMM 2015 Ampeg" resulted in this today and I hope it can drive a power amp!
Why the hell would you want that when you could have a Tech 21 dUg head? IMHO the pre-amp/DI/overdrive stomp box market is super saturated at the moment and there are better choices than the Ampeg SCR at a similar price point. Of course, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Tech 21 stuff. The bass chorus is amazing, especially with the detune function.
The new Boss BB-1X has piqued my interest more than the Ampeg SCR me-too piece.
Maybe be wants the Ampeg tone in a stompbox format. Why the hell would you compare a $200 pedal to a $1800 amp? ? Tech 21 makes great stuff, I use two of their pedals at every gig. They sound fantastic, but neither sounds like my old Ampeg SVP, maybe this pedal will.
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why would i want it?? coz it is 199 with aux in and headphone out and i live in a shared apartment where volume of my 10 watt bass amp is too loud for my housemates. i love tech 21 stuff i have 2 of them, the paradi, vtdi, and used to have the bddi but man for the price and feature of the SCR-DI its really hard for me to control my gas..
So, you ended up with one of the first production units, huh? Nice. They got those out quick. Please tell us all about the A-B process, your first-hand experience that lead you to make your comment and elaborate on what exactly the "better choices" are.
Haven't had the opportunity to listen to a production model yet, but a few friends whose ears I trust and who work for NAMM member companies checked it out for me at the show. A small sample size, but their consensus is the SansAmp VT Bass and even the Catalinbread SFT sound more three-dimensional and detailed than the Scrambler DI. They did, however, dig the the mid controls on the Ampeg. A minor annoyance regarding the demo unit they examined was the need to unscrew the bottom panel to swap the battery or set the -15dB pad jumper.
The snarky rejoinder about not having A/B'ed for myself was deserved and I'll happily eat that crow.
Interestingly, I thought the EQ sections would be much more similar to my SVP-Pro preamp, which I use a lot in the studio but has since been retired from live use. Doesn't seem to be the case, though:
SVP-Pro EQ centers and ranges:
- Bass: +/-12dB @ 40Hz
- Mids: +12dB/-15db @ 220Hz, 450Hz, 800Hz, 1.6kHz, or 3kHz
- Treble: +/-12dB @ 4kHz
- Ultra Low: +3dB @ 40Hz, -12dB @ 500Hz
- Ultra High: +8dB @ 8kHz
- Bright: +7dB @ 2kHz
- Bass: +/-14dB @ 40Hz
- Mids: +5dB/-11db @ 500Hz
- Treble: +16dB/-15dB @ 4kHz
- Ultra Low: +1dB @ 40Hz, -10dB @ 500Hz
- Ultra High: +5dB @ 8kHz
As the owner of several BA amps, I can safely say that you'd assume wrong
As the owner of several BA amps, I can safely say that you'd assume wrong
I stand corrected!
Where would you say the mid-emphasis for your Ampegs is? Upper mids to get that aggressive pick tone? Something like the Eden XLT hump around 100Hz? Or 400-500 for punch? Something else entirely?
Well the good thing about this tone stack is it's simple but pretty versatile. I tend to kick a little extra low mid by cranking the bass knob a bit and I use enough 500hz to where I can hear myself in the mix...I scoop it ever-so-slightly but it's not really a noticeable scoop. But it's only the center frequency and it affects a lot more than just the 500hz center, so to me it's pretty versatile for a 3-band fixed EQ.I stand corrected!
10 watts is too loud? It's been a while since I had roomies and an amp that small, although my sig other wishes she only had to contend with 10 watts. My GK 2001RB and two RBH410 cabs showed up yesterday. To say that GK underrates their power amps is a gross understatement. Out of control, stupid loud. But musical. My cats all dove for cover when I slapped the low B.
If you've got a decent pair of headphones, you might consider something like a PreSonus Audiobox. It's an audio interface with a USB interface, but works well as a standalone instrument or line level input box and headphone amplifier. With that, you can plug in anything you want, use your headphones, and even send the signal to a DAW. It's like $99.00. It's part of my gear collection and super handy for auditioning stuff.
Wonder how hard it would be to treat your room on the cheap to trap some of those bass frequencies.
How's the Para DI sound compared to the BDDI?
Hmmm...thanks for the info. If you push 500 too hard does it get honky or is that more of a problem around 1-2kHz? I've always had problems getting "girth", punch, and sparkle (to quote T.M. Stevens -- "ass and glass") without my tone getting a little too boomy or honky. I realize what sounds great soloed is inaudible in a band setting, but even in a band, the honk is just a little too much and the note definition too cloudy.
I suppose you could get honky if you want, but I try to set it on some non-honky sounds
I don't get the Ultra Low switch. It changes the exact same frequencies as the bass and mid knobs, correct? How is engaging it any different than turning the two knobs?
You just hit a switch and you can go from that ultra-lo sound to your regular sound in a couple milliseconds. Me, I never use the ultra-lo, although on some amps under some conditions I've found I like the ultra-hi.
A lot of amp makers have their own versions of Ultra Low. SWR has their "Aural Enhancer", GK has "Contour", Trace-Elliot has "Pre-Shape", Eden's got "Enhance", Markbass has the "Variable Pre-shape filter". To varying degrees, Ultra Low and its ilk all create a mid-scooped, "smiley-eq" filter in the signal path. Think of Marcus Miller's sizzly, deep, scooped slap tone (though less scooped than you'd think). Getting mids to speak well on a bass is hard -- at least I've found that to be the case. Usually that's where you find and solve issues like honk, cloudiness, nasal, etc. But, mids (especially the low mids) are where the meat of your notes are, so cutting too far back may sound awesome soloed, but make you invisible in the mix.
The Ultra-Lo switch on the Ampeg is probably the most basic (terrible pun intended) control. You're right -- it just boosts and cuts at two different frequencies to get a more scooped tone. It's on or off. GK and Eden have a variable pot that gradually increases highs and lows while decreasing the mids. They can be useful for quickly getting a great tone in a few contexts, but IME players tend to get too aggressive with the setting and instead of clear, punchy bass that sits well with the band, you wind up with the dreaded boom and click. So the player mistakenly cranks the volume instead of using the EQ to boost the mids and cut back on the bass. I did this when I started out and until I figured out how to make an EQ work for me, my tone was crap.
The short answer to your question is that the Ultra-Low, Enhance, Contour, etc. are designed to be a single control to help dial in a good tone quickly.
As an aside, parametric and semi-parametric EQs have always been better for bass applications than shelving controls. Again, that's just my opinion.
Yah man i am currently using an audio interface for practic, which is what kept me from pulling the trigger on buying the ampeg di. Yup 10 watts is too loud, used to have the gk mb200 and i think i only turn on the amp less than 5 times when no one is around at home.
The bddi sounds more scooped to my ear in any settings, even the recommended mid boos setting (cut bass and treble up up the gain), the Para driver sounds better on my guitar than on my bass though and it's flexibility from its parametric mid is sweet.
