dUg Ultra Bass 1000 - Tech 21

[andrew]

On the other end of the spectrum, I'd go for Bergantino's B|Amp.

I'm sure that amp is going to be very cool, but when I heard it has pre set eq contours to flatten the eq inherent in various Berg cabs my first thought was "why would you want to flatten all that great bumped midrange in the NV610?".

 

[dannster]

New one. dUg goes through the high and low channel.

 

[Fuzzbass]

"Clang". Good word!

So far I think the Barta demo vid is the only one that features the clean channel soloed. I'm sold on clean-plus-dirty, but I'd just like to hear more of the clean. I'll be bummed if clean-channel-soloed doesn't thrill me, but the dirty dUg tones are so great I'll be tempted anyway.

 

[jacolyte]

Assuming this amp lives up to everyone's liking in person, who here is planning to take the plunge and get one?

if it sounds in real life the way it seems to sound in video, i'm all over this thing. low serial number club, baby!

i raised the question of true biamping in a previous post. it occurs to me that one way to do that would be to buy two heads - run the high channel only on one and the low channel only on the other. if i like this thing enough, i just might do that.

 

[andrew]

"Clang". Good word!

I use the term "Clank" when describing my tone vs. "Clang". Interesting similarity though. My tone goal is some combination of the Entwistle tone and Bob Weston from Shellac's sound. The gnarly, dirty biamp sound mixed with a bright clank.

dUg using the descriptor CLANG makes me want this amp more.

 

[Fuzzbass]

i raised the question of true biamping in a previous post. it occurs to me that one way to do that would be to buy two heads - run the high channel only on one and the low channel only on the other. if i like this thing enough, i just might do that.

Whoa, you are all in already -- times two. Out of curiosity, have you already tried using a "biamp" (stereo)* rig? I've tried clean/dirty stereo before, and while the result could be very cool, I encountered logistical problems at the gig. Problem number one: few sound techs are willing to give two channels to a single instrument -- if you only get one channel, what do you send to FOH? Problem number two: my stereo rig was a pair of 2x10 cabinets stacked. On small stages, standing right in front of my rig, I hear the top cab much better than the bottom one. In short: there was a big difference in tone when standing 2' in front of my rig versus 10' in front. I admire bassists who can do clean/dirty properly. I remember a local guy who put a tall 1x18 next to an 8x10! Then there are touring pros like Geddy and Dug who have all the space they need onstage. I don't know what he's using now, but Billy Sheehan's Talas/DLR mega-rig was stereo and biamp.


*Nerd-wannabe rambling: There's stereo -- e.g. clean channel and dirty channel -- and biamping, which I've always thought of as high freqs on one channel and low freqs on the other. The dUg amp is tricky because (internally, anyway) is sorta like both -- but not exactly like either. It's not true stereo because optimal usage seems to be either clean channel alone, or clean-plus-dirty. It's not true biamp (in the classic sense) because the HPF and LPF could overlap, or leave a midrange gap. Note: the Tech21 manuals for RBI, RPM (etc) do misuse the term "biamp" as I've always understood it.

 

[JimmyM]

Whoa, you are all in already -- times two. Out of curiosity, have you already tried using a "biamp" (stereo)* rig? I've tried clean/dirty stereo before, and while the result could be very cool, I encountered logistical problems at the gig. Problem number one: few sound techs are willing to give two channels to a single instrument -- if you only get one channel, what do you send to FOH? Problem number two: my stereo rig was a pair of 2x10 cabinets stacked. On small stages, standing right in front of my rig, I hear the top cab much better than the bottom one. In short: there was a big difference in tone when standing 2' in front of my rig versus 10' in front. I admire bassists who can do clean/dirty properly. I remember a local guy who put a tall 1x18 next to an 8x10! Then there are touring pros like Geddy and Dug who have all the space they need onstage. I don't know what he's using now, but Billy Sheehan's Talas/DLR mega-rig was stereo and biamp.

That's one nice thing about the SVT-VR and B-15's...they're two channel amps, so you could do a clean-dirty blend within the amp, then mic it or speaker DI it with one line and it'll sound the same out of your rig no matter how far you stand from it. I don't do blending anymore but it's a good idea for folks who like to do clean/dirty and can only get one line. I can never seem to get any more than one. Our band is huge and 5 of us sing, plus we do shows with other singers who use up even more channels.

 

[Handyman]

Hey man, dUg's tone live WILL hit you in the stomach! 3 of my buddies left a King's X concert after 4 songs because the bass was puke-inducing. I stayed but it wasn't easy, I'll admit.

dUg's live rig is totally bonkers. Last time I saw a picture of it it consisted of multiple racks full of Ampegs and tons of rack mount outboard effects.

Not the sort of thing one would bring to a bar gig.

 

[jacolyte]

a note on "stereo" vs. "biamp":

"stereo" means separation of left and right; "biamping" means separation of top and bottom (high frequencies and low frequencies).

stereo is what happens when you use effects like reverb or chorus; the broadening of the audio field from a single point (mono) to a wider spatial range. this can be thought of as the horizontal dimension. (there are other ways to achieve a stereo field; these are just examples.)

biamping is what happens when low and high frequencies are separated at a crossover point, with the separate outputs going to separate power amps or mixer channels. this can be thought of as the vertical dimension. (not literally, but it's a useful way to look at it, since we call them "highs" and "lows".)

both cases require separate power amps and separate cabinets (or separate mixer channels). the dUg amp has two *preamps*, but they're mixed into a single *power* amp - this is neither stereo nor biamped. to be truly biamped, it would need a crossover and a second power amp. (and a stereo biamped rig would need [at least] *four* power amps - highs and lows, left and right.)

unfortunately, the terms are often misused in the musical instrument industry - the rickenbacker 4001/4003's "ric-o-sound" "stereo" output being a notorious example (those outputs are best described as "dual mono").

all that being said, the dUg amp seems to sound pretty great, and i'm almost certainly going to get at least one. (with a pair of dUg amps, you could do true biamping by dedicating one to lows and one to highs, or you could run them as a full-range stereo pair. very enticing!)

 

[jacolyte]

Whoa, you are all in already -- times two. Out of curiosity, have you already tried using a "biamp" (stereo)* rig?

i've played stereo, and i've played biamped, but never both at the same time. my old SWR SM-400 was very flexible in that regard; it had two power amps as well as a crossover built in, so you could use it either way (and i used to have 4[!] 4x10 cabs back in those days). live, i used to run biamped on stage, but i sent full range to FOH. that's as wild as i ever got.

 

[andrew]

the dUg amp seems to sound pretty great, and i'm almost certainly going to get at least one. (with a pair of dUg amps, you could do true biamping by dedicating one to lows and one to highs, or you could run them as a full-range stereo pair. very enticing!)

One dUg and one VT1000 might be a good way to go too.

 

[I am Soma]

i can't freaking wait until april

 

[Fuzzbass]

i can't freaking wait until april

Not to be a party pooper, but as I recall, the VT Rackmount was delayed six months due to various complications. No reason to believe it'll happen here, just sayin' that it might not be April.

I'm pretty much sold on the dUg, too. Because of the price I would prefer to try before I buy, but if I can get it from someplace that offers a decent return policy, that should be enough reassurance. Really, I doubt I'll return it!

 

[I am Soma]

Not to be a party pooper, but as I recall, the VT Rackmount was delayed six months due to various complications. No reason to believe it'll happen here, just sayin' that it might not be April.

I'm pretty much sold on the dUg, too. Because of the price I would prefer to try before I buy, but if I can get it from someplace that offers a decent return policy, that should be enough reassurance. Really, I doubt I'll return it!

yeah even when i asked them they said april and that they "hope" they can stay on their timeline.

so im really not good with the watts/ohms thing but would this amp (1k @4ohms) be fine with only one of their cabs (500 @ 8ohms)?

 

[jacolyte]

so im really not good with the watts/ohms thing but would this amp (1k @4ohms) be fine with only one of their cabs (500 @ 8ohms)?

yep, exactly. besides, those numbers would only come into play if you turned the amp all the way up. don't worry about it.

(me, i'll be playing the dUg head through my epifani UL2 410 cabs - 1000W power handling and only 60lbs

 

[I am Soma]

yep, exactly. besides, those numbers would only come into play if you turned the amp all the way up. don't worry about it.

(me, i'll be playing the dUg head through my epifani UL2 410 cabs - 1000W power handling and only 60lbs

showoff!

 

[jacolyte]

Hey man, dUg's tone live WILL hit you in the stomach! 3 of my buddies left a King's X concert after 4 songs because the bass was puke-inducing. I stayed but it wasn't easy, I'll admit.

oftentimes, that's not the bands' fault. a lot of these clubs (especially clubs that also play "dance 'music'") have all kinds of subharmonic generators and otherwise exaggerated bass built into their house PA systems.

 

[andrew]

Attention Canadians:
the dUg Ultra 1000 did not meet CSA approval so it will not be available in Canada (hopefully just temporarily).

 

[jacolyte]

Attention Canadians:
the dUg Ultra 1000 did not meet CSA approval so it will not be available in Canada (hopefully just temporarily).

please cite a source if possible.

 

[andrew]

please cite a source if possible.

Both Tech 21 and Long and McQuade head office.

Update to my previous post: In actuality it's that Tech 21 has decided to not submit the amp for CSA approval, which means it cannot be sold in Canada. So it didn't fail to meet the requirements, it's Tech 21's decision to not sell it in Canada.