Going from the BDDI to the ParaDriver…. Anyone else?

[Ian774]

Hey all,

I've been using a SansAmp Bass Driver for almost 20 years. First the V1, then the V2 since 2018.
Over the past few years; ever since I've been playing a Pbass, I've kind of grown dissatisfied with its tone, big lows, quite a bit of a mid-scoop…. I mean, it still works, but I felt like I wanted a bit of a change. Something with a more even range, less scoop, and a better control over the mids.

I decided to A/B the BDDI V2 against the ParaDriver V2. And while both yielded good results in a band setting, I decided to settle on the Para and sell the BDDI.

Overall, the BDDI's lows were a bit tighter, a bit more on the "modern" side, while the Para had "looser" lows, but more control over the mids, and was more on the "vintage" side. For the style of music I play, especially with a Pbass, I felt like the Para was more the vibe I'm looking for.
I managed to make the Para work in my band setting quite quickly, without too much fiddling.

All in all, they're not miles apart; the signature tone is pretty similar at its core, but I feel like the Para is more versatile and more in the ballpark of what I'm expecting from my SansAmp.

Has anyone done the same? What's your experience?

Cheers

 

[HelpImaRock]

I did the same. I could never get with the mids and presence controls on the BDDIv2. Got a deal on the Para Driver and "there it is".

 

[jpaulo]

How are you guys accomplishing drive and mid control with the Para?
I have both the BDDI and the Para but I find the Para too difficult to dial and always too muddy.

Tks

 

[jmlee]

IME the Para Driver DI is a terrific little preamp for use with double bass and it lives in my signal chain for that purpose. I have used it for electric using the settings in the manual as useful starting points: e.g. the SVT-type mids for use with a P-bass. It was satisfying in that use as well, but better with the upright.

 

[HelpImaRock]

How are you guys accomplishing drive and mid control with the Para?
I have both the BDDI and the Para but I find the Para too difficult to dial and always too muddy.

Tks

I would start by keeping your settings but backing off on the blend. I don't use the Para Driver for a lot of dirt, but it is there. You might also try cutting some bass. Remember, the mids come before the drive, not after.

 

[Kael]

Made that switch like ten years ago and I regret nothing.

 

[Isaac_James]

How are you guys accomplishing drive and mid control with the Para?
I have both the BDDI and the Para but I find the Para too difficult to dial and always too muddy.

Tks

Where do you typically set your knobs? As @HelpImaRock said, the mid control will affect how much drive you get while the bass and treble won't.

I have mine set with bass at about 1:00, midrange at 3:00 and frequency around 1.5kHz and treble around 1:00, but I use an EQ pedal to cut some bass and low mids which mitigates some of the mud.

If you have a high pass filter somewhere in your signal chain, that can also help. I set mine at about 40hZ unless I'm playing a five string.

 

[mellobud]

I've run a sansamp fly rig v2 for a little while now. It's got two baked in profiles:
BDDI and the VT DI

I would agree with your assessment of the BDDI sound profile if my flyrig is representative to that actual pedal.

I would tell you the VT DI side has all the mids you could want. (This is an opinion based on my experience with the flyrig v2 with that supposed tone profile built into it)

all that brings me to this question: have you tried the VT DI pedal? I'd be interested in your opinion of its sound based on your experiences with the para and BDDI

 

[murphy]

I love my VTBass DI ...always used with my Mesa D-800..
Great Gnarly tone for my pick attack rock

My BDDI stays in it's box

 

[Azari]

I couldnt decide which I liked better so now I run both in parallel, dual channel style like Geddy Lee.

 

[darwin-bass]

I use the ParaDriver V2 with pretty neutral settings. Finding neutral on this thing is NOT obvious though.

By default it gives a low boost, mid scoop with some treble cut. Maybe a great bedroom tone but for my live gigs, no thanks. So I ran some full range stuff (pink noise, full range music) through mine and made tweaks until my ears and my RTA said I had a flat response.

Flat Response:

• Blend full CW
• Rumble filter: off
• Air: on
• Treble: 10:00
• Mids: 12:00
• Bass: 10:00

I confirmed these setting by switching the pedal on and off and hearing no change in tone in my studio headphones or studio monitors, whether I'm running pink noise, Pink, or my pink P bass through it.

With these settings I can focus on the pedal's drive level to get the amount of compression and midrange emphasis I want without radically changing the tone of my bass.

The bass and treble controls have a lot of range so a small change in the knob has a big impact on sound. To boost some treble, I'll turn it up to maybe noon at the highest. Bass is never more than ~11:00. Mids live between 11:00 and 2:00.

The mid control is key. I'll usually to boost mids a bit at 750 Hz to about 900 Hz. I love that it is pre-distortion so boosting mids colors the sound of the distortion. It was this feature that caused me to choose this over the Bass VT DI after a lot of A/B comparison.

I run the blend at full. Anything less means I'm using less of the pedal and I didn't pay for a pedal only to not use it.

 

[HelpImaRock]

I run the blend at full. Anything less means I'm using less of the pedal and I didn't pay for a pedal only to not use it.

You had me all the way up to here. It's an interesting perspective on how you use a pedal. I don't think backing off on the blend on any pedal means I'm not using it to it's fullest. It just means I'm dialing in one of the many ranges of tones available.

 

[Isaac_James]

I've run a sansamp fly rig v2 for a little while now. It's got two baked in profiles:
BDDI and the VT DI

I would agree with your assessment of the BDDI sound profile if my flyrig is representative to that actual pedal.

I would tell you the VT DI side has all the mids you could want. (This is an opinion based on my experience with the flyrig v2 with that supposed tone profile built into it)

all that brings me to this question: have you tried the VT DI pedal? I'd be interested in your opinion of its sound based on your experiences with the para and BDDI

I used the FlyRig v2 for a while before replacing it with the Para Driver. The BDDI has a big mid scoop centered around 750 hZ, and I agree that the VT mode has "all the mids you could want". I think the Para Driver sits somewhere in the middle of those two, and with the sweep of the midrange it's very versatile. I use it for guitar as well as bass. I'm very happy with mine.

 

[Isaac_James]

You had me all the way up to here. It's an interesting perspective on how you use a pedal. I don't think backing off on the blend on any pedal means I'm not using it to it's fullest. It just means I'm dialing in one of the many ranges of tones available.

Yeah, by this reasoning I'm not using my compressor to its fullest unless I have the compression all the way up, or my fuzz if I don't crank the distortion knob.

Sometimes effects sound better with a little bit of the clean tone mixed in.

 

[Ian774]

Yeah, my comparison between the BDDi V2 and the Para V2 was with the Blend around 10 o'clock. Any higher and it's just too much for me.

 

[darwin-bass]

You had me all the way up to here. It's an interesting perspective on how you use a pedal. I don't think backing off on the blend on any pedal means I'm not using it to it's fullest. It just means I'm dialing in one of the many ranges of tones available.

Yea, I can respect that and I've done that with some pedals in the past (Wampler EGO compressor) but I find I'm doing it usually when the pedal itself is lacking in sound in some way. Maybe too much color and I want to dial it out.

And in the case of the SansAmp pedals that bring significant color, the blend is a way to dial that back to a more neutral level.

I chose a path of finding a way to neutralize the pedal making the blend unnecessary. YMMV.

 

[HelpImaRock]

Yeah, my comparison between the BDDi V2 and the Para V2 was with the Blend around 10 o'clock. Any higher and it's just too much for me.

I definitely found that with the BDDI. I keep the Para Driver's blend around 2 o'clock.

I chose a path of finding a way to neutralize the pedal making the blend unnecessary. YMMV.

100%. You gotta do what works for you.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I couldnt decide which I liked better so now I run both in parallel, dual channel style like Geddy Lee.
View attachment 7169699

I did something similar using two channels of the Markbass Tube 800 or something like that. It sounded good but I ended up going with simpler is better (for me).

 

[Azari]

I did something similar using two channels of the Markbass Tube 800 or something like that. It sounded good but I ended up going with simpler is better (for me).

the good thing about having two SansAmps on my board is that I can easily dial in a great sound using just one of them if necessary. I just would use different settings than I would when using both SansAmps together. At the very least I have two very good preamps at my fingertips. Perhaps a guitarist could plug into the paradriver if they wanted to sit in

 

[Ian774]

I've run a sansamp fly rig v2 for a little while now. It's got two baked in profiles:
BDDI and the VT DI

I would agree with your assessment of the BDDI sound profile if my flyrig is representative to that actual pedal.

I would tell you the VT DI side has all the mids you could want. (This is an opinion based on my experience with the flyrig v2 with that supposed tone profile built into it)

all that brings me to this question: have you tried the VT DI pedal? I'd be interested in your opinion of its sound based on your experiences with the para and BDDI

Yeah I've had the VTDI like 3 times , sold each time.

it's a great pedal, but not necessarily the flavour I want at the moment. It works great for that Ampeg tone, but the BDDI was sounding punchier and thicker when I A/B'd them, and stuck with the BDDI. And now, it's also gone and the Para is on my pedalboard.

Had you told me a few years ago that I'd get rid of the BDDI….