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Alternatives for Sansamp DI/preamp boxes

MovingPitchers

MovingPitchers

Jun 9, 2013
8,501
12,002
Canada
#1
My Sansamp is good but I just can't seem to dial in the tone I want.

Current setup: Geddy Lee---Tuner---Sansamp----Fender Rumble 40.

The Rumble 40 gives me a growl and warmth that I haven't seen in a small amp like that before. I love the raw sound of it but 40W is 40W and won't give me an extra oomph.

This is where the preamp comes in. While 40W is loud enough to shake the walls in my church, I feel like it's not enough. XD. You can never have too much power, eh?

Any alternatives for the Sansamp? I have a three-channel programmable model that has served me well.

The first channel is a clean boost sound with a little bit of drive in it. Not too much, but very slight.

The second channel is pure Geddy Lee R30/Snakes and Arrows Tour sound. Lots of drive. Lots of bass. Lots of growl. Much wow. Such bass. Very distortion.

But I need something....better. I just can't seem to put my finger on it. Ask away at what I want. Honestly. I really can't remember or know exactly what I want.
 
#2
I was in the same boat as you recently and tried out a SansAmp VT Bass, Ampeg SCR-DI, Electro Harmonix Bass Metaphors and Aguilar Tone Hammer- all of which I was comparing against my programmable BDDI (same as yours).

If I was building the smallest board possible, for my taste, it would be a tuner and VT Bass. It has all the goodness of the BDDI but with mid control and more snarl to the overdrive. Not as modern sounding or glassy though and harder to get sitting right in the mix (as the BDDI is almost frighteningly easy). An in-between may be the Paradriver, but I've not used it myself.

For at home convenience, the SCRI-DI could be a good option due to the aux in and headphone out. Similar ballpark tonally to the VT (duh) when clean but not as much bite in the overdrive. It does have a separate switch though so you can turn it on/off on the fly and a blend knob. Again, easier to use than the VT also.

Bass Metaphors is a preamp, compressor and (switchable) drive in one. It wasn't my favourite in any aspect, but for someone after a complete home demo or gigging solution on the cheap (which it is) it could be a good option. Honestly though, I didn't really like it.

My favourite was the Tone Hammer, which now resides on my board. I actually sold my BDDI to a friend an hour after taking this out of the box. As a single unit, I still prefer the SansAmp pedals, I think they do a better job straight in while being dead simple to use. The Tone Hammer won me over with the way it treated my existing pedals though. I found all the others I tried did strange things to my fuzz and made my overdrive a little clanky, while the Tone Hammer keeps my tone intact while adding some EQ so you've still got a bit of control before the sound guy gets it. Not as coloured and lacks the amp/cab emulation, but better suited to my board. Three out of four of my effects pedals are now Aguilar, and I'm worrying that I may be becoming a bit of a fanboy!
 
#3
Venom of God said:
I was in the same boat as you recently and tried out a SansAmp VT Bass, Ampeg SCR-DI, Electro Harmonix Bass Metaphors and Aguilar Tone Hammer- all of which I was comparing against my programmable BDDI (same as yours).

If I was building the smallest board possible, for my taste, it would be a tuner and VT Bass. It has all the goodness of the BDDI but with mid control and more snarl to the overdrive. Not as modern sounding or glassy though and harder to get sitting right in the mix (as the BDDI is almost frighteningly easy). An in-between may be the Paradriver, but I've not used it myself.

For at home convenience, the SCRI-DI could be a good option due to the aux in and headphone out. Similar ballpark tonally to the VT (duh) when clean but not as much bite in the overdrive. It does have a separate switch though so you can turn it on/off on the fly and a blend knob. Again, easier to use than the VT also.

Bass Metaphors is a preamp, compressor and (switchable) drive in one. It wasn't my favourite in any aspect, but for someone after a complete home demo or gigging solution on the cheap (which it is) it could be a good option. Honestly though, I didn't really like it.

My favourite was the Tone Hammer, which now resides on my board. I actually sold my BDDI to a friend an hour after taking this out of the box. As a single unit, I still prefer the SansAmp pedals, I think they do a better job straight in while being dead simple to use. The Tone Hammer won me over with the way it treated my existing pedals though. I found all the others I tried did strange things to my fuzz and made my overdrive a little clanky, while the Tone Hammer keeps my tone intact while adding some EQ so you've still got a bit of control before the sound guy gets it. Not as coloured and lacks the amp/cab emulation, but better suited to my board. Three out of four of my effects pedals are now Aguilar, and I'm worrying that I may be becoming a bit of a fanboy!
Click to expand...

Well I don't have any other pedals except the tuner. I am looking into the Tone Hammer but I am also considering the VT Bass. The one thing that sucks on the PBDDI is no mid knob...which sucks!!! So I might get the version that is one step up from it.
 
#4
MovingPitchers said:
My Sansamp is good but I just can't seem to dial in the tone I want.

Current setup: Geddy Lee---Tuner---Sansamp----Fender Rumble 40.

The Rumble 40 gives me a growl and warmth that I haven't seen in a small amp like that before. I love the raw sound of it but 40W is 40W and won't give me an extra oomph.

This is where the preamp comes in. While 40W is loud enough to shake the walls in my church, I feel like it's not enough. XD. You can never have too much power, eh?

Any alternatives for the Sansamp? I have a three-channel programmable model that has served me well.

The first channel is a clean boost sound with a little bit of drive in it. Not too much, but very slight.

The second channel is pure Geddy Lee R30/Snakes and Arrows Tour sound. Lots of drive. Lots of bass. Lots of growl. Much wow. Such bass. Very distortion.

But I need something....better. I just can't seem to put my finger on it. Ask away at what I want. Honestly. I really can't remember or know exactly what I want.
Click to expand...

I use an rbi and instead of having multiple channels like the programable version I keep it always set the same (all the eQ at noon, presence at 11oclock, gain set for a little bit of grind, and blend a noon) and use other pedals in front of it to alter the tone. I've used the rbi for years and have figured out a few intesting tricks with it. For one the additional ins and outs are very useful in the studio. For example I can run the dry 1/4 out to my SWR head for a totally different sound. Pedals in front of the rbi can also have different effect on the tone. For example my compressor pedal I actually use more for sustain and clean boost more than real compression. I use a chorus or a modulated reverb which do a nice jobs of cleaning up the rbi, but I think one of the most overlooked features of the RBI is the fact that you can use any other pedal pre using a Footswitch. This to me makes it much more interesting than the programmable versions because instead of being limited to sounds the sans amp can do, you can use anything. For example if you want to use an aguilar tone hammer or a eden wtdi or EBS microbass or Darkglass b7k or whatever for a separate channel you can actually run them into the RBI and bypass the RBI with a foot pedal. Which may sound like a bit of a hassle, but if you position the footswitch for the RBI so you can hit it and the preamp pedal of your choice at the same time in one stomp it's awesome.
 

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