BDDI and modulation - examples?

[PatrolOfStroll]

Yesterday, I finally took delivery of my first physical effects unit, and it's the venerable, dare I say LEGENDARY, SansAmp Bass Driver DI (v2). Playing around with it using phantom power, I'm extremely pleased. It's every bit as good as people say, and I immediately feel that "impossible to get a bad sound out of it" quality that people ascribe to it. I can get such a huge range of tones out of it by playing with the knobs, and the way that such different sounds are almost never unpleasant to me feels outright magical. It's unbelievably satisfying to find spots in the Drive knob's range where I can get a distinct difference in dirt between using fingers and using pick. I definitely think I made the right choice, between this little box of tricks and a multi-FX unit. I almost pulled the trigger on a Boss GT-1000CORE, and though that seems to be an extremely good unit, I'm glad I went this way instead. I love the simplicity and versatility of this thing and I think I would've got lost in menus and parameters on something more complicated; I would've had a much harder time truly "sculpting" a good sound by a natural process.

Anyway, now that I'm situated with it and pleased with the sound, I'm beginning to consider the other effects I may use with it once I'm a few more paycheques into my new work. I don't want a super heavy pedal set-up. I don't have a strong urge for more out-there effects, nor some of the classics of bass like touch wah or synth pedals. When I've played around with delay on bass, so far I've found it gets messy and oppressive very quickly, and so I don't feel a draw to delay like I would if I was on six-string for my own sound. I've found myself most enjoying reverb at rather subtle settings, and I decided that the settings I liked are so subtle that I can more-or-less forgo them in the name of money and future pedalboard space, at least for now. I'm picturing a PT Nano board, or maybe a Nano+ at a stretch.

So, basically, what I have in mind for sounds I'd enjoy playing with is as follows:

- A tuner, probably the Pitchblack X Mini or a Polytune 3 Mini;

- An octaver/pitch-shifter of some description, an OC-5 or an EHX Pitch Fork look like good shouts;

- Fuzz, I have my eye on the EQD Hizumitas, since it looks great, has a tone filter that's calibrated in a way that seems very usable for bass, and based on demos I listen to, seems to sound great for bass in practice, too.

These can (and probably should) go in front of the BDDI no problem. But, it leaves one major favourite effect of mine in a tough spot! Like so many others, I LOVE a good bass chorus tone. And, I know this is a common dilemma, but using the XLR out from the BDDI precludes using a chorus in the "correct" conventional position of coming after a preamp (which is also the recommended approach listed by Tech 21, of course).

So, this is all a long-winded way of getting to my ultimate question! Does anybody here know of any demos that are out there that showcase the sounds of a chorus effect placed BEFORE a BDDI? This seems to be a common solution to the dilemma, to just put it in this less ideal spot and deal with it. But I haven't been able to find any examples to hear how this compromise sounds. Ideally, I'd like to hear a direct comparison of the same chorus on either side of the BDDI, but just being able to hear the sound of a chorus before would be extremely helpful, too.

The other obvious solution would be to just use 1/4" Out from the BDDI into a chorus, and have a separate DI box afterwards, rather than using the BDDI's XLR. It incurs a little more cost and potentially a little more board space. Though, for the timebeing, I'm not even going to be using any setup somewhere where I should expect I will truly need DI Out... but I get a bit neurotic about wanting my setup to be "complete"!

Rambling over. Feel free to chime in if you have any experience of your own even if it's not with a demo example at hand, I'll be thankful for any sort of help and opining.

 

[winston]

For about 20 years I’ve had a Tech21 BDDI or ParaDriver as the last box in my chain for SVT-ish girthy grind. I have run chorus, flanger and phaser pedals into it and it sounds fantastic. I have tried running modulation after it and that sounds great as well. Compared to guitar, modulation FX (especially phasers with many stages) can wash out bass (even with clean blends) and I find having the SansAmp last helps me counteract this.

Don’t worry about what you “should” do, and you may be surprised with the results!

 

[prndltech]

I own and love a bddi v2 and if it’s in use, it’s the last pedal in the chain. I’ve always been a tuner, compressor, whatever else goes here, then preamp and/or DI out kinda guy. There’s really no right or wrong, try swapping stuff around and find what works for you.

 

[Smurf-o-Deth]

Personally, I prefer modulation into dirt (rather than the other way around).

 

[tech21nyc]

Prevailing wisdom for effects placement with our SansAmps is that effects like OD, Fuzz, dist, compression etc work best in front of the pedal and time domain effects like reverb and delay work best after. In general most bass players don't use reverb and delay. Effects like chorus, flange, trem etc come down to personal preference. It's always best to experiment.

If you need to place effects after our DI pedals you must use the 1/4" output. There is no law that says you must use an XLR output to a mixer. The law that does need to be followed is that the output impedance of the effects going into the mixer must be low impedance. If your effects are not properly buffered or true bypass, you will need a buffer after them. If you need an XLR connection, any inexpensive DI box can be used.

For example:

Bass>comp>fuzz>Bass DI 1/4" out>delay>reverb>DI>mixer.

 

[amper]

Using the BDDI as the last pedal in your signal chain is effectively the same thing as running your effects into the front end of an amp. Using the BDDI early, with effects after, is the same as putting the after effects in the effects loop of an amp, but this will require a separate DI at the end of the chain, if you want to run direct to PA or recording console. Although any plain old DI box will work for that, might I suggest the Tech21NYC Q\Strip? That will give you several additional measures of control over your DI tone.

Here's the next configuration of my pedalboard that is in the works:

 

[amper]

Oh, and by the way, I do also own a Boss GT-1000Core. There's absolutely no reason you can't use that in conjunction with the BDDI and/or Q\Strip.

 

[PatrolOfStroll]

Oh, and by the way, I do also own a Boss GT-1000Core. There's absolutely no reason you can't use that in conjunction with the BDDI and/or Q\Strip.

Mean reason would be my budget! But in principle you are correct, haha.

 

[PatrolOfStroll]

Prevailing wisdom for effects placement with our SansAmps is that effects like OD, Fuzz, dist, compression etc work best in front of the pedal and time domain effects like reverb and delay work best after. In general most bass players don't use reverb and delay. Effects like chorus, flange, trem etc come down to personal preference. It's always best to experiment.

If you need to place effects after our DI pedals you must use the 1/4" output. There is no law that says you must use an XLR output to a mixer. The law that does need to be followed is that the output impedance of the effects going into the mixer must be low impedance. If your effects are not properly buffered or true bypass, you will need a buffer after them. If you need an XLR connection, any inexpensive DI box can be used.

For example:

Bass>comp>fuzz>Bass DI 1/4" out>delay>reverb>DI>mixer.

Thanks kindly! It's pretty reassuring to hear from the horse's mouth, as it were. And I salute you for a fine product beautifully made, I purchased new rather than used and I don't regret it one bit.

 

[amper]

Mean reason would be my budget! But in principle you are correct, haha.

I got an unexpected end of year bonus from my boss that enabled me to buy it.