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Effects Question

Apr 20, 2015
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So I really like the sound of the Turbo Rat, and I'm thinking of getting one. I'll place it between my Fender American Standard Precision Bass and my Ampeg SVT 7 PRO. I also really like the Ampeg SCR DI pedal (I love Ampeg); also in front of the amp. My question is does anyone think both, signal chained together would be overkill? Would they be performing the same function regarding the Ampeg Bass Scrambler? If so, I'd rather just get the Turbo Rat, and save the 200 clams on the SCR DI. However, if they would compliment each other, I'd get both in a heart beat.
 
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The closest I came to what you're aiming at is having a VT Bass (I'm also an Ampeg lover) and a Digitech BassDriver. The Digitech had a decent Rat sim (IMO) and stacking it with the VT provided a warmish-in-your-face distortion, for lack of a better way to describe it. Maybe someone with direct experience will chime in and help out better.

Cheers,
 
The closest I came to what you're aiming at is having a VT Bass (I'm also an Ampeg lover) and a Digitech BassDriver. The Digitech had a decent Rat sim (IMO) and stacking it with the VT provided a warmish-in-your-face distortion, for lack of a better way to describe it. Maybe someone with direct experience will chime in and help out better.

Cheers,

So I would be alright to have both? Not overkill to signal chain them?
 
^^^What he said...

Only you can answer if it's overkill.
If you plan on running one pedal OR the other pedal there is nothing to worry about at all.
If you plan on running both pedals at the same time you may or may nor like how they stack together.
The Turbo Rat loses a fair amount of low end. Just something to keep in mind.
 
^^^What he said...

Only you can answer if it's overkill.
If you plan on running one pedal OR the other pedal there is nothing to worry about at all.
If you plan on running both pedals at the same time you may or may nor like how they stack together.
The Turbo Rat loses a fair amount of low end. Just something to keep in mind.

Would the Fat Rat be more forgiving to the nuances of bass?
 
Would the Fat Rat be more forgiving to the nuances of bass?
^^^What he said...

Only you can answer if it's overkill.
If you plan on running one pedal OR the other pedal there is nothing to worry about at all.
If you plan on running both pedals at the same time you may or may nor like how they stack together.
The Turbo Rat loses a fair amount of low end. Just something to keep in mind.

The reverse filter on the Turbo Rat might help bring back some low end, though.
 
Any suggestion on order? Turbo Rat> SCR DI> 7PRO?

I would go that order so you can get the Rat into your DI signal if you chose that route...

But I will definitely change my reply from earlier. I apologize, because it seems I must not have had my coffee yet and managed to breeze right past the first part of your question and only saw out of it "Rat pedal into an Ampeg SCR DI". I happened to miss the entire first part where you said you are running a 7 Pro.

Is there a reason why you wanted to run an Ampeg preamp in front of your Ampeg preAMP? Do you like the tone of the Scrambler circuit so the purchase is worth it to you? Or what exactly were you trying to accomplish?

Unless you were unhappy with the DI on your 7 Pro, or were just planning on getting the SCR-DI to have an Ampeg preamp DI separate from the amp, I do think that having both the SCR-DI and the 7 Pro is overkill. If you really like the Scrambler tone, that's one thing (though I find it a little terrible sounding personally - to each their own). In that case it would make sense. But if you aren't planning on using that tone, and only want the DI because it's Ampeg, I would say that Ampeg into Ampeg is probably not going to yield you magnificent results.

In other words,
SCR-DI plus Rat = not overkill.
SCR-DI plus 7 Pro = overkill (at least in my opinion)
 
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Use them each individually for two different styles of dirt. I would be surprised if the tone and grain of the breakup were the same for both of those pedals. And there's always differentiation by the amount of gain and breakup. But stacking them isn't too much unless you feel it's too much.
 
multiple distortions aren't over kill ... pedals , plus preamp or amp drive ...

i have 3 different drives in front of my Line 6 HD ProX ... then i use multi amps for my models with varying drive amounts ... i think it's only over kill if you have a few of the same types of drives ... like fet into fet , ... or opamp into opamp ... and having a blend knob and eq knobs helps vary the sound .. ! and helps to restore the low end and your original sound if you're looking for something that has just some a little grit ... then another with more distortion , ... then another ... etc...

we all need to play with the order of things for our given setup .. !! and how we set different drives going from one to the next ...

i like to work with 1 at a time ... to make sure it does whatever i want it to do first ,... before i start mixing pedals together for different stuff .. !
 
i'd suggest a rat tail now called the cat tail from fuzzrocious that way you can try the no diodes, silicone, and led modes,
it's pretty versatile and it's made for bass, not sure about the scrambler, but i think you've already got a pretty sweet ampeg head