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dUg Ultra Bass 1000 - Tech 21

Took the dUg on that wedding last weekend and dialed in a mostly clean sound with just a little hair on top. Maple boarded P-Bass and a Baer ML-112-II finish the equation and I was
unbelievably happy with the results. I play in a 9 piece band with some insanely loud people(guitard, deaf keyboardist, diva female vocalist monitor) and even at 8 ohms the amp was loud, mean and low.
It seemed to carve out it's own sonic space in a cluttered sound stage, and I was able to hear not only the fundamental but a pillowy low end and a detailed crunch on top. Our soundman said it was the best
I ever sounded on stage and was easy to mix into the FOH.
At home I had more time to experiment with the sounds and got to play with some seriously over-the-top distortion, a very recordable traditional sound, and of course the suggested knob settings for Pinnick, Entwistle,
Squire, etc. My wife walked in and commented that the sound was "exciting" in a way my other amps/pedals combination were not. I find the amp has an immediacy, a quickness that reminds me of some of my favorite amps
like the EBS Fafner and Pearce's BC1 preamp. It sounds nothing like any of the many Tech 21 pedals and rackmounts I have previously owned, and IME this is a good thing. I have never fully fallen in love with the high end
on those devices, but I really like the way they speak on this amp. Sounds fantastic through my Baers, but I haven't any other cabs to try it through.

All in all I'd say it's a hit - can't wait to hear my 10 string through it with my power trio!

Peace
 
Good review!
That's great that it worked out for you, it really is a unique sounding amp. Did your sound guy experiment with running a line for each channel or one line from the blended out?

I also really like the Fafner and Pearce preamps and have owned both in the past, the dUg works better for me than those and they're both pretty great too.

We ran HandofSeven's 8 string through the dUg a couple weeks back, sounded HUGE. Let us know how the 10 string works for you.
 
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I just don't think I could currently justify spending that much on an amplifier, but (like others) I'd jump on a pedal version in a heartbeat!

I'd imagine that Andrew would be better placed to comment on that as he owns the Brimstone Audio crossover distortion. How do the Dug and the Brimstone compare?

Not like either of these products are easy to come by in the UK....
 
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I'd imagine that Andrew would be better placed to comment on that as he owns the Brimstone Audio crossover distortion. How do the Dug and the Brimstone compare?

Actually there's a few of us here who own the Brimstone XD and also own/owned/have extensively demo'ed the dUg (myself, BrBss, Husky123, Hand of Seven, sure I'm forgetting someone...).

I've never a/b'ed the dUg and the Brimstone directly. Now that you've asked I will though when I get a chance. If anyone has done so please chime in. From playing both, the dUg's voice is it's own take on classic Tech 21, where the Brimstone has less signature color to it's sound, it's very clean and clear in it's eq with smoother distorted tone and a really nice fidelity. I think the Brimstone is fantastic. Been a gushing fanboy of it on here since it came out.
But the dUg is something else. Being built from the ground up to provide crossover distortion there's a synergy to the dUg that's unlike any other amp/pedal. Whether you care for it's tone or not, I doubt anyone here has plugged into the dUg and thought it's sound was typical of an amp. It does not sound like a crossover capable pedal into the front of an amp to me. At least none I've ever tried. There's a cohesion to the dUg's sound that is so good and imo unique to it. It keeps definition while being able to be dirtier on top with a grainier sort of distortion.

What do the rest of you crossover fiends who've experienced both think? dUg vs. Brimstone? How do they compare and contrast?
 
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I have not heard the dUg in person, but I own the Brimstone XD2, and agree with andrew that the dUg is something else. I have gotten very cool crossover distortion tones from the XD2 -- and also the VFE Triumvirate (three-band distortion) -- but I've never achieved the dUg vibe with either. I would postulate that the Triumvirate would be a better bet because the mids can be notched (I hear plenty of mid notch in dUg Pinnick's signature tone; I've always assumed it was a gap between the LP and HP channels), and in addition the Triumvirate has internal trimpots to set the crossover frequencies: I've never touched the trimpots, but I can see how it might be possible to use them to get that pedal more dUggy (so to speak). However as andrew said, I believe there's a lot more going on with dUg's tone: the upper mid/low treble has that really cool clang.

Again, I don't know that for sure, it's possible that a more talented knob-twiddler than I could get dUg tones from one of those pedals or some other one... I am just skeptical!
 
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I have not heard the dUg in person, but I own the Brimstone XD2, and agree with andrew that the dUg is something else. I have gotten very cool crossover distortion tones from the XD2 -- and also the VFE Triumvirate (three-band distortion) -- but I've never achieved the dUg vibe with either. I would postulate that the Triumvirate would be a better bet because the mids can be notched (I hear plenty of mid notch in dUg Pinnick's signature tone; I've always assumed it was a gap between the LP and HP channels)
When King's X played here some years ago I spent some time chatting with Ty Tabor about guitar and bass tones. Ty told me that he and dUg have spent years working on perfecting their tones, deliberately employing careful EQ slotting in order to allow each instrument to sit well in the mix without masking the other. So, what I gathered from that (and the equipment racks full of EQ) is that dUg's tone has a lot of EQ in both the high and low end paths. So, I don't think a simple crossover pedal is likely to emulate that sound.
 
Being built from the ground up to provide crossover distortion there's a synergy to the dUg that's unlike any other amp/pedal. Whether you care for it's tone or not, I doubt anyone here has plugged into the dUg and thought it's sound was typical of an amp. It does not sound like a crossover capable pedal into the front of an amp to me. At least none I've ever tried. There's a cohesion to the dUg's sound that is so good and imo unique to it. It keeps definition while being able to be dirtier on top with a grainier sort of distortion.
I agree with this. To me, the dUg behaves more like a full biamped rig more than just a dual band distortion. I was never fully happy with the Brimstone, Hyperdrive, or Bass Muff deluxe, although they're great pedals.
 
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I agree with this. To me, the dUg behaves more like a full biamped rig more than just a dual band distortion. I was never fully happy with the Brimstone, Hyperdrive, or Bass Muff deluxe, although they're great pedals.
I gather that is exactly what dUg and Tech 21 set out to accomplish - one amp to replace a a complex biamped crossover/EQ/distortion rig. Somehow I doubt that I'll ever see an Ultra Bass 1000 here in Saskatoon.
 
All in all I'd say it's a hit - can't wait to hear my 10 string through it with my power trio!

Peace
I ran my 8 string into it last night... Sounds killer! Normally I use a pretty high frequency setting on the HPF and just a little grit, but a lower frequency and more gain gave me huuuge sounds on the 8 string. A little creative footswitching and picking technique let me achieve some cool guitar/bass layered sounds, a la Royal Blood.
 
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When King's X played here some years ago I spent some time chatting with Ty Tabor about guitar and bass tones. Ty told me that he and dUg have spent years working on perfecting their tones, deliberately employing careful EQ slotting in order to allow each instrument to sit well in the mix without masking the other. So, what I gathered from that (and the equipment racks full of EQ) is that dUg's tone has a lot of EQ in both the high and low end paths. So, I don't think a simple crossover pedal is likely to emulate that sound.
This picture would prove you right...it would also prove that dUg wants his tech to work hard for the money!

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I played around with the XD2 and Triumvirate tonight. Turns out my supposition was wrong, I was able to get more dUggy with the XD2. I believe this is because the XD2 has the sweepable XO, and also the four-band EQ: setting the XO up pretty high and cranking the Mid control gave a clangy/chimey tone reminiscent of dUg's top end. Kinda-sorta.

The Triumvirate also has adjustable crossovers, but those trimpots are internal and therefore too much bother for me. The crossovers are external on the VFE RUP and I've thought about getting that pedal... but it's $500, and doesn't have any EQ, which as noted is a big part of dUg's tone.
 
Here's my Entwistle/Dug-esque tone. Crank it and hold on for dear life.
 

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Could someone please do a clip totally demonstrating the clean channel on its own? Can both kids be used together or is one dissabled in each mode, mix/clean?

At least one of the demo videos posted earlier -- with Tech21's Andrew Barta playing a P-bass -- shows clean and then dirty. Also, one of the demo videos explained that the clean channel is always on, while for dirty tones the highpassed dirty channel is added to it. I believe the clean channel becomes lowpassed when dirty is on, not 100% sure. Both of those things might have happened in the same video, I don't remember.

This is now a really long thread, so maybe it'll be quicker to find 'em on YouTube.
 
I've caught all that but, Basra isn't really a bass player and disn't do much with the clean channel at all. Its a pricey amp for what it is, so it's nice to know more before dropping the cash. Tha said, it seems cool as he'll.