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EBS Multidrive Vs. SansAmp BDDI

sikamikanico

sikamikanico

Mar 17, 2004
4,112
4,078
#1
Which pedal would you recommend? I was also thinking about the Ashdown DrivePlus or maybe Tech21 XXL, but I never got to try these two.

I tried EBS and BDDI, but would like to hear more of your experience, especially in band situation. I have to "compete" with a guitar and keyboards :)
 
#2
#3
yeah, I read that first, but it's still damn hard to figure out... I guess I'm gonna try to try all of them again tomorrow, in the same day, because guitar shops in Slovenia are as far apart as Flea's teeth and I haven't found time to do that yet (our shops are all kinda exclusive, you can't find two good brands in one shop, so it's the only way, trying to remember the sound from the shop you visited before...)

I presume they're both (all) good effects that work well in band situations?
 
#5
how does the Microbass work as a line selector? what about the effects loop? Is it possible that you use the line selector as the effects loop and control is that way - maybe use one of the outputs, make a chain of effects and plug it into one of the inputs?
 
#6
sikamikanico said:
how does the Microbass work as a line selector? what about the effects loop? Is it possible that you use the line selector as the effects loop and control is that way - maybe use one of the outputs, make a chain of effects and plug it into one of the inputs?
Click to expand...
The MicroBass II works great as a 2 channel pre-amp - I'd hesitate to call it a line selector. The FX loop is good, and it has a blend knob.

Now, I'm a bit lost on the last bit. What exactly do you want to control? You want to use it to turn on/off the fx loop? It's not designed for that, and I can see no elegant way of making it work. Better off with a real looper or the Radial Tonebone if that's the main thing you want to do.
 
#7
well, no, I was basically looking for a nice distortion. I like MultiDrive, but then I discovered the MicroBass. I was thinking of buying BDDI for it's additional features, but since the MicroBass can do a similar job, I have to learn which one I should buy... I really like the idea of the effects loop and as far as I know, BDDI doesn't have it, so I'm probably going for the EBS... it's quite more expensive too, but hey, I have to invest a little, right? :D

anyway, I'm gonna try them both today, hopefully, since I couldn't do it last week... is there anything you suggest I should be really careful at? though, I presume you're from the USA, so I'll probably end up buying one of the two before you'll read this post :D
 
#9
sikamikanico said:
well, no, I was basically looking for a nice distortion. I like MultiDrive, but then I discovered the MicroBass.... is there anything you suggest I should be really careful at?
Click to expand...
Oh... um yes! The trouble with using the microbass as an overdrive pedal is that it's difficult to match the volume levels between clean and overdriven modes, and that you can never fully bypass the thing.

This comes about because the channel that can be overdriven doesn't have an output volume control of its own, so by increasing the "drive" control you are also massively increasing that channels output level. Then you have a dilema, because now the overdriven channel is mega loud, but the clean channel is very soft. The only output gain control is common to both channels.

If you do come up with a solution, let us know. I have a multidrive so I've no need to use the microbass in this mode - hence I have no suggestions of how to get around this issue.
 
#10
niftydog said:
Oh... um yes! The trouble with using the microbass as an overdrive pedal is that it's difficult to match the volume levels between clean and overdriven modes, and that you can never fully bypass the thing.

This comes about because the channel that can be overdriven doesn't have an output volume control of its own, so by increasing the "drive" control you are also massively increasing that channels output level. Then you have a dilema, because now the overdriven channel is mega loud, but the clean channel is very soft. The only output gain control is common to both channels.

If you do come up with a solution, let us know. I have a multidrive so I've no need to use the microbass in this mode - hence I have no suggestions of how to get around this issue.
Click to expand...

I use a Fulltone BassDrive in the effects loop of the MicroBass and don't use any overdrive settings on the MicroBass itself.

Don't forget one reason the design on the MicroBass has two different output levels: it's designed to use two different instruments that may have different output levels themselves.
 
#11
RAM said:
Don't forget one reason the design on the MicroBass has two different output levels: it's designed to use two different instruments that may have different output levels themselves.
Click to expand...

This is precisely why I bought it and it works admirably. The ch. A "boost" control does a good job of allowing you to match the levels of two basses, but doesn't allow you to fully compensate when ch. B is being overdriven. The fix would be to have a ch. B output attenuator knob but there's just no room for it anywhere! The overdrive mode is more of an afterthought in the design I think.
 

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