Geddy Lee Sansamp Pedal!

[fivestringgecko]

Of all things, I had a band audition last Thursday,* and I brought my P Bass with flats. None of the music we were playing had anything to do with Rush, but I've been tinkering with Covid Boredom board updates, so figured why not add the YYZ just for funzies.

Well, it turned out to be great for everything from classic rock to Motown to more modern grindy rock. The closeup shot below ended up being the fav setting for the night, a killer pick sound for songs like The Middle and Rebel Yell that also worked pretty well for fingerstyle with the tone knob rolled back. It got a couple comments, and when the lead guitarist came to take a look at my board, he mentioned they've actually talked about adding a couple Rush tunes.

Other people have discussed it in this thread, and I now 100% agree: the YYZ is a pretty underrated pedal, including by me until now. It was kind of an impulse purchase to have "the Geddy Sound in a Box" (which it kills at of course), but I shelved it for a while since I "didn't really need that particular sound." But I'm really happy I've revisited it and explored further over the last few weeks, and for this audition in particular. It has really proven to be way more versatile than I thought, even despite following this thread.

WIN.

5sg.

*We were all properly physically distanced and wearing when not in our individual spaces... It was at the drummer's studio and he created sectioned off areas for everyone, even including video monitors so we could see each other. I was a little skeptical about an audition during a pandemic, but everyone was quite respectful of Covid guidelines and it worked quite well.

 

[Superbird]

I’ve been playing with the Gedal for slap tones on the DJ5. Drive is down around 2 and blend deep to taste. Very impressive!

 

[HeavyGroove]

Of all things, I had a band audition last Thursday,* and I brought my P Bass with flats. None of the music we were playing had anything to do with Rush, but I've been tinkering with Covid Boredom board updates, so figured why not add the YYZ just for funzies.

Well, it turned out to be great for everything from classic rock to Motown to more modern grindy rock. The closeup shot below ended up being the fav setting for the night, a killer pick sound for songs like The Middle and Rebel Yell that also worked pretty well for fingerstyle with the tone knob rolled back. It got a couple comments, and when the lead guitarist came to take a look at my board, he mentioned they've actually talked about adding a couple Rush tunes.

Other people have discussed it in this thread, and I now 100% agree: the YYZ is a pretty underrated pedal, including by me until now. It was kind of an impulse purchase to have "the Geddy Sound in a Box" (which it kills at of course), but I shelved it for a while since I "didn't really need that particular sound." But I'm really happy I've revisited it and explored further over the last few weeks, and for this audition in particular. It has really proven to be way more versatile than I thought, even despite following this thread.

WIN.

5sg.

*We were all properly physically distanced and wearing when not in our individual spaces... It was at the drummer's studio and he created sectioned off areas for everyone, even including video monitors so we could see each other. I was a little skeptical about an audition during a pandemic, but everyone was quite respectful of Covid guidelines and it worked quite well.

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So one of the items that's usually missing from all of the demo or reviews I've seen of the YYZ/DI-2112 is actually how far the grind/dive can go. They usually stop just short of what is like to see each time. Is all the way up just not usable musically?

I know that Darkglass products are more geared towards overdrive and distortion in general but I was trying to see what the, is any overlap there was.

Have you experiment with more extreme settings like this? If so, were you still able to keep ok low end or was it all loose? Thanks!

 

[12bass]

... were you still able to keep ok low end or was it all loose?

Lows remain clean (through a LPF), so there shouldn't be an issue keeping the bottom defined no matter how much drive is used.

 

[HeavyGroove]

Lows remain clean (through a LPF), so there shouldn't be an issue keeping the bottom defined no matter how much drive is used.

I believe you, I just wish they would put details like this in the manuals as I can't seem to find that mentioned anywhere.

 

[fivestringgecko]

So one of the items that's usually missing from all of the demo or reviews I've seen of the YYZ/DI-2112 is actually how far the grind/dive can go. They usually stop just short of what is like to see each time. Is all the way up just not usable musically?

Have you experiment with more extreme settings like this? If so, were you still able to keep ok low end or was it all loose? Thanks!

Lows remain clean (through a LPF), so there shouldn't be an issue keeping the bottom defined no matter how much drive is used.

I haven't heard about the LPF previously, but I very well could've just missed it along the way. But I agree, I haven't had any problems with missing low end. It can get downright huge at some settings, and with the Tight control off, you can get a nice warm pillowy sound. I feel like the lows can get a little spongy at some settings depending on what you're doing though, and as others have mentioned in this thread, turning the Tight control on really works as advertised and tightens up the sound quite a bit.

As far as max gain, it does seem like it would be quite usable, but take this with a grain of salt from me... There's quite a bit more gain on Tap than I'd probably ever need/use. I've been gravitating towards having the gain around 1:00, and found that I really like the Deep/Drive knob at 12:00 for an even mix.

I've got a couple audio clips I can post if anyone wants to hear, but they're with my Pbass with flats. Probably not as true a representation of the gain characteristics of this pedal as it would be with rounds.

5sg.

 

[12bass]

I haven't heard about the LPF previously, but I very well could've just missed it along the way. But I agree, I haven't had any problems with missing low end. ...

The YYZ is a crossover distortion pedal, which means that it uses a crossover circuit to split the signal path into two parts; the highs go through a HPF into a clipping circuit, whilst the lows go through a LPF and remain clean, then the two signals are added back together at the output with an internal mixer.

The Darkglass Microtubes X/X7 and Tech 21 DP-3X employ a similar approach... all keep the lows clean and distort the highs, then sum at the output. Some crossover distortion circuits add compression to the lows as well. This is an approach that goes back decades, perhaps inspired by bassists like Chris Squire and dUg Pinnick, who used overdriven guitar amps for the highs and clean bass amps for the lows; however, the result is the basically the same: a distorted bass tone that retains defined, clean, lows.

 

[Clemouze]

The YYZ is a crossover distortion pedal, which means that it uses a crossover circuit to split the signal path into two parts; the highs go through a HPF into a clipping circuit, whilst the lows go through a LPF and remain clean, then the two signals are added back together at the output with an internal mixer.

The Darkglass Microtubes X/X7 and Tech 21 DP-3X employ a similar approach... all keep the lows clean and distort the highs, then sum at the output. Some crossover distortion circuits add compression to the lows as well. This is an approach that goes back decades, perhaps inspired by bassists like Chris Squire and dUg Pinnick, who used overdriven guitar amps for the highs and clean bass amps for the lows; however, the result is the basically the same: a distorted bass tone that retains defined, clean, lows.

Isn't some processing also done on the deep channel ? Some EQ and maybe compression ?

And so the tight button is then a button to put the HPF frequency cut higher than in standard mode ?

 

[12bass]

Isn't some processing also done on the deep channel ? Some EQ and maybe compression ?

And so the tight button is then a button to put the HPF frequency cut higher than in standard mode ?

Could be a bit of "secret sauce" in the LPF path. As for the tight switch, it seems to raise/lower the HPF, changing the range of frequencies that are distorted; what sounds "best" may vary depending on how much high frequency content is coming from the instrument, treble boost, how bright the strings are, etc..., such that tight-on may work better in some situations than others.

 

[Gefilter1001]

Isn't some processing also done on the deep channel ? Some EQ and maybe compression ?

And so the tight button is then a button to put the HPF frequency cut higher than in standard mode ?

The Deep EQ was designed with Geddy to his specs.
The Tight button removes some lows from the Drive channel

 

[Domespeed]

Could be a bit of "secret sauce" in the LPF path. As for the tight switch, it seems to raise/lower the HPF, changing the range of frequencies that are distorted; what sounds "best" may vary depending on how much high frequency content is coming from the instrument, treble boost, how bright the strings are, etc..., such that tight-on may work better in some situations than others.

As for the "deep channel, there was a bit of explanation by Tech21NYC earlier in this thread: #154

 

[tech21nyc]

The YYZ is a crossover distortion pedal, which means that it uses a crossover circuit to split the signal path into two parts; the highs go through a HPF into a clipping circuit, whilst the lows go through a LPF and remain clean, then the two signals are added back together at the output with an internal mixer...

There are no crossover circuits in the Geddy YYZ pedal, DI or rack. Both channels are full range. On the pedal and DI the tight switch cuts low end to enhance higher gain settings.

 

[12bass]

There are no crossover circuits in the Geddy YYZ pedal, DI or rack. Both channels are full range. On the pedal and DI the tight switch cuts low end to enhance higher gain settings.

Interesting... so are you saying that the Drive channel does not have a HPF and the Deep channel does not have a LPF?

 

[dannybuoy]

I don’t know about both channels being ‘full range’. It might not have a crossover per se but it can function like it has, by cutting highs on one side and lows on the other.

The deep channel has boosted bass / rolled off mids/highs, so sounds very much like an LPF. It sounds a lot like you just rolled your tone control all the way off.

The dirt channel has the tight switch to cut lows into the clipping circuit, and the EQ knobs affect the dirt channel only, so cutting bass further there can act a bit like a HPF on the dirt channel.

 

[Clemouze]

Salut all,

I usually use my YYZ with mix at 2 o'clock and drive at 11 o'clock.
My secret sauce is blending the pedal with my upstream clean tone via a BOSS LS-2.
More YYZ signal than clean signal , but I keep some character and "snap" from the upstream clean tone ( well my upstream clean tone is composed by REAL clean + BDI-21 signal , SansAmp clone )

Here is an example of my tone with a live recording of our last song. Hard to learn to sing while playing ..! ( almost no processing done during the mixing, tone was almost perfect )

• YYZ is almost always ON
• YYZ is off during the funk part at 04:40 ( this is my full upstream "clean" tone )
• When some grit is heard, YYZ is ON with some Tube Screamer blended with the upstream clean tone

Gear used :

• Geddy Lee jazz with Tom Brantley pickups
• Boss BC-1X + Seymour Duncan Bass Studio Bass compressors
• Broughton High Pass and Low Pass filters
• Gallien Krueger MB-500 head with Mooer RADAR pedal with SM-57 miced Gallien Krueger NEO 410 impulse response

 

[Peaveylover]

Salut all,

I usually use my YYZ with mix at 2 o'clock and drive at 11 o'clock.
My secret sauce is blending the pedal with my upstream clean tone via a BOSS LS-2.
More YYZ signal than clean signal , but I keep some character and "snap" from the upstream clean tone ( well my upstream clean tone is composed by REAL clean + BDI-21 signal , SansAmp clone )

Here is an example of my tone with a live recording of our last song. Hard to learn to sing while playing ..! ( almost no processing done during the mixing, tone was almost perfect )

• YYZ is almost always ON
• YYZ is off during the funk part at 04:40 ( this is my full upstream "clean" tone )
• When some grit is heard, YYZ is ON with some Tube Screamer blended with the upstream clean tone

Gear used :

• Geddy Lee jazz with Tom Brantley pickups
• Boss BC-1X + Seymour Duncan Bass Studio Bass compressors
• Broughton High Pass and Low Pass filters
• Gallien Krueger MB-500 head with Mooer RADAR pedal with SM-57 miced Gallien Krueger NEO 410 impulse response

honestly I thought the tone was way too aggressive and up front for that particular song, but as far as the sound, it sounds like Geddy. Nice pedal.

 

[12bass]

I don’t know about both channels being ‘full range’. It might not have a crossover per se but it can function like it has, by cutting highs on one side and lows on the other.

The deep channel has boosted bass / rolled off mids/highs, so sounds very much like an LPF. It sounds a lot like you just rolled your tone control all the way off.

The dirt channel has the tight switch to cut lows into the clipping circuit, and the EQ knobs affect the dirt channel only, so cutting bass further there can act a bit like a HPF on the dirt channel.

Yeah, I think it comes down to semantics.

 

[jacoby75]

Hey @Gefilter1001 , question for you. I have and love the YYZ pedal. But, long story short, I'm considering selling off my pedalboard and returning to my rack setup. If I love the YYZ pedal, particularly with the tight switch engaged, would I also love the 2112 rackmount version? It would probably run in the effects loop of my Demeter pre. And I'd either to the internal jumper mod or use the jumper cable so that the two sides can be blended. Thanks.

 

[Gefilter1001]

Hey @Gefilter1001 , question for you. I have and love the YYZ pedal. But, long story short, I'm considering selling off my pedalboard and returning to my rack setup. If I love the YYZ pedal, particularly with the tight switch engaged, would I also love the 2112 rackmount version? It would probably run in the effects loop of my Demeter pre. And I'd either to the internal jumper mod or use the jumper cable so that the two sides can be blended. Thanks.

Both the GED-2112 and DI-2112 are VERY lovable...if you dig the YYZ, it's a natural progression with added functionality.

 

[IvanBassist]

The YYZ sounds great with P-Basses