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Aphex Bass xciter DI?

#2
It can do the job, but I have issues with mine since I put an SPB-3 high output p-bass pickup in my bass. The hot signal now overloads the input and causes an unpleasant distortion when digging in hard (which I do a lot). There is an active/passive switch, but if you put it into active mode it drops the signal by a large amount at both DI and amp outputs. If you have a bass with a lower output signal and don't put any volume boosting pedals in front of it you will be fine but maybe a decent dedicated DI would have more headroom.
 
#4
i too use the aphex bass xciter, but only for the coloration (gotta have that big bottom subharmonic synth layer!), as the DI kinda sucks IMO on it. with passives it seemed alright, but i think i fried it when i plugged my active basses it, instrument jack works though. i use the DI on my SansAmp instead. (btw, i usually run amp-less on stage using: washtub bass/bass banjo (both passive) > aphex bass xciter > sansamp > pa)

oh, word of advise, do not run your bass xciter pedal AND also an aphex 204 (the rackmount unit the pedal is based on) on the bass signal going through the PA. man does that get muddy and boomy! happened at my last show and my bandmates were all looking around going ***?! what happened to the bass?! it was like a sea of murky sub dub bass with no definition, you could feel the bass, but not hear it.
 
#5
I use the Bass Xciter DI at my church, and it works ok, but if I had the money to spend again, I would probably go with an MXR M-80 for straight DI. At the time, though, I was in the process of revamping my rig a bit, and I thought that it would work for me. It is nice to be able to send the optimized signal through the PA if the house sound system isn't great, though.
 
#6
dannybuoy said:
It can do the job, but I have issues with mine since I put an SPB-3 high output p-bass pickup in my bass. The hot signal now overloads the input and causes an unpleasant distortion when digging in hard (which I do a lot). There is an active/passive switch, but if you put it into active mode it drops the signal by a large amount at both DI and amp outputs...
Click to expand...
Yes - I love mine, but it always goes after an always-on compressor. I use a passive Peavey bass, but without the peak limiting, even it will distort the input.

I love the tone, though. B. Bottom is always set 6, 6; highs are usually adjusted 6½, 6.

~~~~~off-topic~~~~~
I recently was surprised with the success I had using my headset mic (cheap - an SM-10) into a matching transformer > CS-3 > Xciter. Nice - it came out of my GK/JBL bass rig - along with the bass, thanks to my LS-2 - very nicely; highly-comressed, with the amp behind me, without much feedback trouble! That SM-10 has some bad low-end rolloff, but the Big Bottom made it sound rich.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joe
 
#8
Yeah the input/output levels are a bit whack. My active Peavey does fine though with the input set to active, even tho the house mixer then needs an extra 10dB of gain (but quiet signals are why mixer pre's have 60+ db's of gain...)

Ya know what this pedal is perfect for? Gallien-Krueger amps: because the boost knob comes right after the fx loop to compensate for low-output pedals! I also hear lots of GK (and Ampeg) users saying their D.I's are noisy/hissy so the Aphex bypasses that problem too. THIRDLY, the Aphex gets that Eq & compression in between the GK eq frequencies--perfect. And the battery lasts for like 500 hours of use too.

(I also just sold my GK, so pm me if anyone wants my Aphex for cheap.)
 

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