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B15ish pedal

#41
pudgychef said:
Then a Zoom B1ON might be a fun and useful tool and is only $50...definitely get B15 (and others) enough for home use, has a rhythm tool, headphones, bunch of effects.
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Admittedly, I've been stubborn and uppity with digital stuff. I need to change my attitude. It's been a while since the crappy korg multi effect I had 17 years ago. Haha! My other issue is that I'm simple minded. I like to see a knob and turn it, as opposed to dealing with menus and things like that. I'm going to check out Zoom stuff and keep an open mind.
 
#43
The guitar/bass driver doesn't have the tone stack of an B-15. This adds to the character of the amp, imo. The Ginger pedal at runoffgroove.com does, and also has the gain&volume control, plus some extra transistor stages.

The B15 is basically a copy of the Ampeg pre-amp circuit with additional circuitry for the D.I. which is the MOSFET and the Cinemag audio transformer. Without the MOSFET, the audio transformer would essentially need to be a large output transformer. Hence, the difference between the B15 and the REDDI (or at least the REDDI version I inspected). Of course, those vintage Ampegs never had MOSFETs.

So, if you want JFET based SVT-like pedal, your choices are:

1- A branded pedal like Caitlinbread.
2- The guitar/bass driver at guitarpcb.com if you like DIY and a Ampeg tone stack is not necessary.
3- The Ginger at runoffgroove.com if the tone stack is, and you like DIY.
4- And a couple of other DIYs that involve using perfboard and a drill.

If authentic tubey-goodness is your thing and you need an on-board DI:

1- Buy the B15 if you want the Ampeg tone stack, but don't mind the non-vintage MOSFET.
2- Choose the REDDI if you want to keep the impedence matching closer to vintage
3- DIY with one of the Ampeg clone pedals that are floating around the DIY forums. You'll even find one with a tube rather than a MOSFET for impedance matching.

If you like modelling amps, then you have some good choices that have vintage Ampeg models.

I should say that to my ears (which could be faulty - YMMV), the solid states always seem to come up short when compared to the vintage Ampegs. What's missing for me is the unique compress, distortion, and response that Ampeg got out of the tubes with their circuit design. The runoffgroove designers tried to get close with the addition of the LED clipping diodes.

Does it work? Well, that subjective and you'll need to listen for yourself. I think it's an improvement, but still falls a little short and the tube based pedals/boxes get closer.
 
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#45
I'm pretty pleased with the VT bass for a B15 tone. I must admit using a Sadowsky Metro with stainless roundwounds therer are limits to how much old school I can get. In my practice space I find it a bit disapointing, but live in a real room it seems to pull it off.

I remember from the NAMM shows that the old "Swell" Pedals and the newer BOPA pedals from the same maker really NAILED it. But I have no idea if any are still available.
 
#46
People have different ideas in their heads of what a B15 is supposed to sound like... But if you want a mild overdrive that sounds great for an old school Motown tone, I own or have owned most things mentioned here already - VT, SFT, Beta, Ginger... But would recommend the Aguilar Tonehammer and Bearfoot Blueberry over them all, even though they aren't marketed as B15 clones.
 
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#48
birminghambass said:
Own the Ampeg pre pedal, VT, and Sansamp. None of them sound as good as the Catalinbread SFT for ooooold school Ampeg.
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While I will certainly agree with you on the SFT (or in my case, GuitarPCB Guitar/Bass Driver), I wish both the GBD and the SFT had midrange controls (more for a truer way to dial in the SVT-ness, IMHO!).
 
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#49
jj4001 said:
I have no idea what it's supposed to sound like, but I think the SolidGoldFX Beta sounds pretty similar to any B-15 I've played if you're open to a conventional OD pedal as opposed to a dedicated preamp. The other day I cranked the gain way up on the Beta and it was pretty much the same sound as the B-15 I used at a rehearsal recently that was really struggling to keep up with the band. I felt so guilty pushing that amp so hard. It was screaming bloody murder.
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I've never actually played a real B-15, but the Beta cops the amp emulation on Logic of a B-15 pretty well - I have the MKII which has the switchable preamp only section, and that is pretty dead on in tone rolloff and low-low mid bump. The gain knob is just a bonus.
 
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#51
CptRevell said:
I've never actually played a real B-15, but the Beta cops the amp emulation on Logic of a B-15 pretty well - I have the MKII which has the switchable preamp only section, and that is pretty dead on in tone rolloff and low-low mid bump. The gain knob is just a bonus.
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I was considering replacing my Beta because of that tone roll off, as much as I like the way it breaks up. A few rehearsals going straight into tube amps reminded me just how well it does BS-ing tube tone with my solid-state rig. I don't have the best ears or anything but the Beta sounds pretty B-15-like to me.
 
#53
Any Beta fans looking for a drive in the same ballpark but more tube like and with more flexible EQ, need try the Tonehammer.

The Beta sounds more like a very dark and bass-heavy tubescreamer style drive (I can almost match it using my BB Preamp with the bass boosted and treble dialed down) whereas the Aguilar sounds much more amp-like.
 
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