NEW Sansamp Geddy Lee MP40 Preamp Pedal

[satantango]

Did a quick runthrough and I'm pretty sure I'm going to love this thing. It obviously does the geddy thing (shockingly) easily, but the EQ is extremely powerful- by far the most flexible of any sansamp I've used.

I was previously using a preamp (kept swapping, was never super happy with most of them) and a Rat blended parallel and this thing does that better and with less effort. The Tight switch seems like such an obvious addition that I can't believe it's not standard on all bass pre/amps. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this.

e: and the biggest surprise went to my cheapest bass, the Epiphone Embassy which absolutely shines plugged into this thing. cleans up the flub gibson-style basses tend to have.

 

[Franz975]

A split coil is a humbucker. It's two coils that buck hum.

Yes and no. Depend if they are wired in serie (no hum cancelling) or parallel (hum cancelling)

 

[Franz975]

The YYZ and shape shifter have a cab sim? That's not terribly surprising but it's not mentioned anywhere in the respective manuals.

SansAmp® is their creation and in every Sansamp there is a Cabsim actually (the one in the MP40/YYZshapeshifter is different than the normal YYZ).
There is only few pedals where you can dissable it (like the Vintage).

 

[Derek Williams]

Yes and no. Depend if they are wired in serie (no hum cancelling) or parallel (hum cancelling)

As long as the coils are wound opposite of each other it will cancel hum. It doesn't matter if it's series or parallel.

 

[BEADist]

Yes and no. Depend if they are wired in serie (no hum cancelling) or parallel (hum cancelling)

As long as the coils are wound opposite of each other it will cancel hum. It doesn't matter if it's series or parallel.

"Not exactly. Basically the term "reverse winding", although it is used by just about everybody, is inaccurate. Actually, it is the current flow in the two coils that travel in opposite directions. "

I got this quote from here (explaining with diagrams):

Guitar Wiring Site - How A Humbucker Works

 

[Franz975]

I answer sometimes Tech21 by email, and if you want to know somethings :

The SansAmp® is their technology, made to go ampless on stage directly to the PA/F.O.H. even without a cabinet on stage, and it is made to work either that way, or in an Amp with your Cabinet, or a virtual cabinet/cabsim/IRs/etc... The cabsim present in their products will be enough to run direct without sounding like a DI but not too much so the frequencies cut in the low/highs and in the midrange will not be in a fight with your amp and cabinet

There is different cabsim between the differents units, I dont know what is in the BDDI and ParaDriver but in the Steve Harris it is is own 412 cabinet, in the dUg dp3x it is a 410, maybe the Tech21 Made 410, in the YYZ it is one for Geddy Lee and in the YYZ Shape Shifter or MP40 there is a different one, but same in those 2 (mp40/shape shifter).

On some unit you can "Disable" or engage the cabsim, like the Vintage, the Steve Harris, and other unit i don't know (like guitar pedal etc....).

On the Geddy Lee pedal, the Deep is a set and forget channel, it can be changed as it was made with Geddy Lee specifications, but I can tell that the Saturation is set at 1 hours (≈6/10 so), if you have seen the Tech21 GED2112 Rack or GED2112 DI you can see there is a saturation knob that is not present on the actual small pedal unit, but the saturation is in it, without possibility to change it.

The EQ, boost, Shape shifter, tight,... Control only the drive channel. The Highs and Lows are after the drive but the mids are before the drive (so you can clean the drive channel by scooping mids or boost it and cuting through more).

Maybe all these are not exactly correct, but it is informations I have learn from Tech21, and from other research I made, and I think they are maybe pretty accurate .

 

[NegativeCreep]

"Not exactly. Basically the term "reverse winding", although it is used by just about everybody, is inaccurate. Actually, it is the current flow in the two coils that travel in opposite directions. "

I got this quote from here (explaining with diagrams):

Guitar Wiring Site - How A Humbucker Works

Magnetic polarity as well, included in the link but just putting it out there.

 

[silky smoove]

Yes and no. Depend if they are wired in serie (no hum cancelling) or parallel (hum cancelling)

Show me a split coil that doesn't buck hum.

The Dingwall FDVs I mentioned previously are humbuckers. You asked for examples of the MP40 being used with humbuckers. I don't see what the issue is as I provided exactly what you asked for.

 

[Franz975]

Show me a split coil that doesn't buck hum.

The Dingwall FDVs I mentioned previously are humbuckers. You asked for examples of the MP40 being used with humbuckers. I don't see what the issue is as I provided exactly what you asked for.

Oh okay it is a pickup builder that basically explain that to me. And he say that some old P pickup can get noisy too, compare to actual one. And to me if you say you have a bass or guitar with humbucker it is 2 coils (for each strings), a double pickup so. A precision have 2 coils but only 1 coil per string

 

[silky smoove]

Oh okay it is a pickup builder that basically explain that to me. And he say that some old P pickup can get noisy too, compare to actual one. And to me if you say you have a bass or guitar with humbucker it is 2 coils (for each strings), a double pickup so. A precision have 2 coils but only 1 coil per string

A pickup can be noisy for reasons not related to bucking hum. A split coil with one coil for the E and A strings and a separate coil for the D and G strings will still buck hum unless there are some uncommon examples I'm unaware of. The Dingwall FDVs I referenced, or more common examples of split coils in a rectangular casing such as the Nordstrand Big Split are humbuckers.

 

[Franz975]

A pickup can be noisy for reasons not related to bucking hum. A split coil with one coil for the E and A strings and a separate coil for the D and G strings will still buck hum unless there are some uncommon examples I'm unaware of. The Dingwall FDVs I referenced, or more common examples of split coils in a rectangular casing such as the Nordstrand Big Split are humbuckers.

Don't really know so. They call them Hum-Cancelling but not Hum Bucker actually. In France we say single or double coil basically. Or humbucker for dual coil (on each string).

But I trust you

 

[silky smoove]

They call them Hum-Cancelling but not Hum Bucker actually.

The terms are used interchangeably to describe the same thing. You'll see both used for all sorts of pickup designs (split, stacked, sidewinder, etc.).

 

[hieronymous]

The MP40 is still an always-on in my chain. Been using it with my Alembic 5-string Stanley Clarke, find the high-end a bit lacking, but found that engaging the boost and dialing in a bit more of the clean got a nice sound. Been mostly doing YouTube shorts which don't embed well here, but here's a regular YouTube video:

 

[hieronymous]

Another pass at Show Don't Tell - this time with the Shape Shifter engaged:



The non-boosted signal to me is pretty dark, even with the treble boosted to 3:00 - but it just might be the way I have my bass set? The boost on with the mix at about 11:00 (favoring the low-end side) sounds good to me - but I need to play this through an amp - with a drummer - to really know!

 

[hieronymous]

Still loving my MP40 - it lives on my new pedal board:

Also been using it with my Rickenbacker 8-string, either by itself or with a distortion after. Here it is by itself:



I put the boost on, but not with the shape shifter - I am finding the pedal to be a little bit dark on the normal setting - the boost gives the high end a sparkle that's nice with the 8-string.

And I only made 5 flubs!

 

[hieronymous]

Here's another one, this time a short-scale Alembic played with wood pick - the bass is actually really loud - too loud even?!! - and the overall volume is low. I kind of rushed into it - thought I had done a lot of prep, but changed levels at one point and didn't get them back to where they should be. I think I could turn the blend more towards the drive side as well as boost the original track a little bit.

 

[Ian774]

I might be able to snag a YYZ Shape Shifter, basically the same pedal as the MP40 but with the normal greeny design, but you know that.

I currently use a Darkglass VMT (basic one) in front of a SansAmp BDDI V2.

How would you guys use the YYZ? As the main preamp to go to PA, removing the need for both aforementioned pedals, or would the YYZ be better as an OD, replacing the VMT, being used in front of the BDDI?

 

[Ian774]

Where are all the MP40 fans at?

 

[Zarcsby]

I might be able to snag a YYZ Shape Shifter, basically the same pedal as the MP40 but with the normal greeny design, but you know that.

I currently use a Darkglass VMT (basic one) in front of a SansAmp BDDI V2.

How would you guys use the YYZ? As the main preamp to go to PA, removing the need for both aforementioned pedals, or would the YYZ be better as an OD, replacing the VMT, being used in front of the BDDI?

I currently use my MP40 with the Tight & Shape-shifter buttons engaged as an OD pedal with highs cut and mids cranked in front of my VT bass DI which is set with the drive and character knobs both around 10 o'clock.

Although you could certainly just use the YYZ-SS/MP40 alone for both your basic tones and OD tones, bear in mind that you only have one set of EQ knobs to turn between the regular channel and the boost channel, so you likely will not get the exact tones you want for both channels when stomping between them.

I find the below EQ settings to be a decent middle-ground for both regular/boost when I'm travelling light, but of course your mileage may vary. Both the tight & SS buttons are on.

If I were you, I'd still buy the YYZ-SS and just use it in front of your BDDIv2 as this MP40/YYZ-SS is my favourite OD pedal due to the options I can get with that mix knob. Best case scenario you can use the YYZ-SS alone if you can find a setting you like for both regular/boost, worst case scenario you just got a new OD pedal option to use. I have no experience with that Darkglass pedal for comparison FYI.

 

[hieronymous]

I might be able to snag a YYZ Shape Shifter, basically the same pedal as the MP40 but with the normal greeny design, but you know that.

I currently use a Darkglass VMT (basic one) in front of a SansAmp BDDI V2.

How would you guys use the YYZ? As the main preamp to go to PA, removing the need for both aforementioned pedals, or would the YYZ be better as an OD, replacing the VMT, being used in front of the BDDI?

I'm using mine as an always-on with very mild overdrive. I have a distortion pedal afterwards. Balancing the deep & drive channels can be very subtle, but to me this is the magic of the pedal - the ability to have a full bottom with variable overdrive on top. Wondering if it might be redundant with your other SansAmp pedal? I don't have experience with either of the pedals you mention, so not sure I'm much help.