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Darkglass B7K in live situation without amp

bhoff5150

bhoff5150

Jan 30, 2011
725
1,122
Lawrenceburg, IN (West Cincy)
www.flipsidecincy.com
#1
Looking for advice and opinions from those who have used this preamp. My band uses in ear monitors. I currently use an Ampeg V4b tube amp run through a Palmer for my live sound. However it would be nice to not lug around an 80 pound head every night. Enter the Darkglass B7K. Can you get a good tubey sound from this without putting it in front of an amp? How close does this get to an actual tube Ampeg? If I could flop down a lightweight pedalboard and send a signal direct to the front of house console I would be in heaven. I also own a rack mount Sandamp RBI and have found that to get somewhat close to the Ampeg but not close enough for me to stop lugging it around. Anyone use the Darkglass unit without an amp for their live sound?
 
#2
Hey! I know of some who've done it with good results!
I'd recommend starting on rehearsals through a PA so you can find the right settings for extended range speakers (you might need to dial down the treble for example). Combining the B7K with the Sansamp has been reported to work great also here on the forum (check the Darkglass club) so that might be worth the shot as well!

Try it out and let me know if you need some further assistance.
 
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#3
Thanks for the info. I currently run into a AB/Y box and send 2 signals to FOH. One comes from the Ampeg/Pamer chain, and the other comes from an Avalon U5. I get tube distorton from the Ampeg and clean bottom from the U5 and then mix the 2 together for the mains. It gives me a clear powerfull bottom end, but lets me "fuzz up" the mids and highs. Stupid qustion - there is no reason to run the B7K into the U5 right? I mean, that's the purpose of the B7K to get a great signal from a preamp and go right to the console. Also will the tone and distortion dialed in on the pedal go into the balanced out or is that signal taken out before the preamp? I would be pretty thrilled if I could lighten up my rig, however I won't sacrifce much tone to do it. I'm very intrigued as your demos are very well done on your website and the sound is fantastic.
 
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#4
bhoff5150 said:
Stupid qustion - there is no reason to run the B7K into the U5 right? I mean, that's the purpose of the B7K to get a great signal from a preamp and go right to the console. Also will the tone and distortion dialed in on the pedal go into the balanced out or is that signal taken out before the preamp?
Click to expand...

Hey! Yes my friend, whatever you hear on the 1/4" output jack you'll hear on the XLR since the latter is just a balanced version of the former ;).

bhoff5150 said:
I would be pretty thrilled if I could lighten up my rig, however I won't sacrifce much tone to do it. I'm very intrigued as your demos are very well done on your website and the sound is fantastic.
Click to expand...

Thanks again, yeah! I think it should work great! The only thing is that PA speakers have a way wider range than the speakers used in bass cabs, so the signal will have more treble than what you hear your bass cab, this should be easily fixable by cutting a bit the treble knob to compensate and recreate a bit of that bass cab response (they cut around the same frequency, 5kHz).

Regards!
D.
 
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#6
OP, did you ever try this? How did it work out?

bhoff5150 said:
I get tube distorton from the Ampeg and clean bottom from the U5 and then mix the 2 together for the mains. It gives me a clear powerfull bottom end, but lets me "fuzz up" the mids and highs.
Click to expand...

The B7K is ideal for this - with grunt switch to "raw" or "thin" and attack switch on "boost" the drive will saturate the top end but leave the bottom clean
 
#11
Darkglass blew the Sansamp off my board. Completely, and forever - I plugged it in again a couple weeks ago, and now I've got to figure out how to sell my BDDI.

If you're concerned the B7K might be a little raw/harsh/unfiltered for your direct sound...you might be right, depending on what you feed it and how you eq it. You can also go VMTD, which is warm as hell. The B7K can get tubey, the VMTD IS tubey.
 
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#12
CoarseBass said:
Darkglass blew the Sansamp off my board. Completely, and forever - I plugged it in again a couple weeks ago, and now I've got to figure out how to sell my BDDI.

If you're concerned the B7K might be a little raw/harsh/unfiltered for your direct sound...you might be right, depending on what you feed it and how you eq it. You can also go VMTD, which is warm as hell. The B7K can get tubey, the VMTD IS tubey.
Click to expand...

oh yeah, I think the DG pedals are sansamp killers!!! I'm about to use mine tonight for a gig with no amp for the first time(only used them in rehearsals) with IEM's...
until recently, I was using the DI for FOH and the amp as monitor, so I had to back off some treble and bass 1/4 turn now as the amp didn't give an accurate representation of the B7K...

I'd also like to add as someone who owned a SVTII non- pro, and currently a Fender PS300, if you turn up blend to 1:00 or more and keep drive off, it does sound very much like a cranked tube amp with slight breakup, but no, IMO it doesn't sound like an Ampeg, but it does sound like what I tried to get my ampeg to sound like.

so far it sounds great with IEM's and through pa monitor, I also switched from "grunt" to thin and I'm not decided on either "attack" switch, but I will add that with the sansamp I always disappeared in the mix, not the case with the B7K...

edit: one more thing, if you turn blend off it only add clean EQ (10:30 is flat)to your signal, which is how I used it at first, but I've fallen in love with the character I get with the blend up about 1:30-2:00
 
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#15
Crystalman85 said:
. if you want a direct box that sounds Identical to an ampeg rig like yours, I would suggest purchasing a tech 21 vt bass di.
Click to expand...

or on that note, ampeg is making a DI/preamp now for about the same price as the tech21, if not cheaper, that is if you really want that ampeg sound

edit: I might be wrong, but I imagine the vmtd might get closer to the tubes sound like others stated, and id take a DG over any tech21 or ampeg product
 
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#17
hintz said:
or on that note, ampeg is making a DI/preamp now for about the same price as the tech21, if not cheaper, that is if you really want that ampeg sound

edit: I might be wrong, but I imagine the vmtd might get closer to the tubes sound like others stated, and id take a DG over any tech21 or ampeg product
Click to expand...

That's interesting that ampeg is making a preamp pedal that's similar to the tech 21 vt bass. plus the vt bass emulates an ampeg svt sound. also the darkglass vmt and the vintage deluxe has a tube-emulated overdrive sound that's different from an ampeg svt type of sound.
 
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#18
Crystalman85 said:
That's interesting that ampeg is making a preamp pedal that's similar to the tech 21 vt bass. plus the vt bass emulates an ampeg svt sound. also the darkglass vmt and the vintage deluxe has a tube-emulated overdrive sound that's different from an ampeg svt type of sound.
Click to expand...

if I wanted the svt sound in a small/DI package, id go with the guys that invented that sound, I think ampeg is seeing how well tech21 us doing copying their sound....

plus the ampeg scr has ultra hi and ultra low switches, something the tech21 pedals don't...

the VT pedals seem cool, but id rather go to the source IF I wanted that tone!!

the only thing that tech21 has on either the ampeg or Darkglass preamp/DI's is the VT deluxe, only for the fact that it has 4 channels(which I really dig!) but I much prefer the dark glass b7k over the ampeg sound
 

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