New Tech 21 XB Driver

[Lowbrow]

I didn’t like what I was getting from the bite.

I will probably experiment again and lower the highs and try it, however that setting was used for 2 rock tracks that will be featured on the Food Network and my partner who engineered it quote in quote said “Hey, stop touch that thing, it sounds really good right where you had it.”

Well that’s where I had it and was set post, right into the daw.

Bite off, mid button set to 'post.' Thank you.

 

[Brian Patterson]

$499 at Sweetwater

 

[TonyP-]

I see. Have you tried to compare using the MXR bass compressor with just using the XB driver's compression?

My current setup is similar to yours: separate compressor pedal in front of crossover (Sugar Britches) with dirt applied only to mids and highs but not to lows.

I like the tone I get...still, I am considering getting new crossover with separate FX loops for both lows and highs. My expectation is that applying compression only to lows will sound even better...

Actually, I haven’t I really like the MXR because I have set to grab fast and release fast (relatively). I’m pretty simple with some gear, I just found what works and haven’t experimented much (I do like the Dry Bell though).

If I truly used the pedal alone I would use the compressor supplied.

 

[TonyP-]

Bite off, mid button set to 'post.' Thank you.

I probably could have just said that…

 

[klattman]

I see. Have you tried to compare using the MXR bass compressor with just using the XB driver's compression?

My current setup is similar to yours: separate compressor pedal in front of crossover (Sugar Britches) with dirt applied only to mids and highs but not to lows.

I like the tone I get...still, I am considering getting new crossover with separate FX loops for both lows and highs. My expectation is that applying compression only to lows will sound even better...

I have tried a crossover with separate loops and it lacks/ has issues near the crossover point. Overlapping filters is much easier to get good results quickly.

 

[Bag of Lazers]

Current settings, but I’m always fiddling.

 

[S_Okon]

Well, i am still very disappointed with the XB Driver in terms of getting several good tones out of it in Clean, Drive and Mix mode.
It only works if the basic sound is the same.

BUT, i saw what Tech 21 was able to do with the Marty Friedman pedal and was thinking why this is not possible with the XB Driver?
128 storable presets with 3 available via the buttons on the pedal.

If that was the XB Driver, it would be a gamechanger for me.

 

[Zbysek]

I have tried a crossover with separate loops and it lacks/ has issues near the crossover point. Overlapping filters is much easier to get good results quickly.

What issues do you mean? Can you elaborate, please?

IME, overlapping filters can lead to phase issues...

 

[Zbysek]

Well, i am still very disappointed with the XB Driver in terms of getting several good tones out of it in Clean, Drive and Mix mode.
It only works if the basic sound is the same.

BUT, i saw what Tech 21 was able to do with the Marty Friedman pedal and was thinking why this is not possible with the XB Driver?
128 storable presets with 3 available via the buttons on the pedal.

If that was the XB Driver, it would be a gamechanger for me.

I kind of understand your frustration but my view is different.

I am glad XB Driver is all analog. What I wish it was capable of is two levels of dirt when in mix/crossover mode. Kind of like the Boost switch on the Damnation Audio MBD 3...

 

[TonyP-]

Well, i am still very disappointed with the XB Driver in terms of getting several good tones out of it in Clean, Drive and Mix mode.
It only works if the basic sound is the same.

BUT, i saw what Tech 21 was able to do with the Marty Friedman pedal and was thinking why this is not possible with the XB Driver?
128 storable presets with 3 available via the buttons on the pedal.

If that was the XB Driver, it would be a gamechanger for me.

I like it, but I can see your point in this. I myself wanted analog and specifically I don't want to travel with a tube. Hence I'm not using the Sushi Box for this type of application.

I don't use the dirt alone, (I'm not a very heavy dirt player at all), however I do like in the biamp mode. I'm taking a guess that I will never use it just dirty alone, but who knows. Its amazing to me how the dirt sounds so different from bass to bass in the biamp mode, yet the clean channel does not (the core preamp sound is there).

It sounds like your would appreciate the Darkglass stuff more since they have more options for presets.

 

[S_Okon]

I like it, but I can see your point in this. I myself wanted analog and specifically I don't want to travel with a tube. Hence I'm not using the Sushi Box for this type of application.

I don't use the dirt alone, (I'm not a very heavy dirt player at all), however I do like in the biamp mode. I'm taking a guess that I will never use it just dirty alone, but who knows. Its amazing to me how the dirt sounds so different from bass to bass in the biamp mode, yet the clean channel does not (the core preamp sound is there).

It sounds like your would appreciate the Darkglass stuff more since they have more options for presets.

I like the versatility of the big darkglass pedals, but the sound of the distortion is not 100% for me.
I much prefer the Dug pedal. My solution for the moment after returning the XB Driver is two Dug pedals for two different sounds and the Bergantino Super Pre. For now i am fine with that.

 

[Bag of Lazers]

My short review is that while I'm not always happy with the individual channel tones, once that crossover switch is in I have to try very hard to make this thing suck. If it had a little tuner in it it would be the only thing on my board. I love it!

 

[Lowbrow]

My short review is that while I'm not always happy with the individual channel tones, once that crossover switch is in I have to try very hard to make this thing suck. If it had a little tuner in it it would be the only thing on my board. I love it!

I love it, too, yet my 'best' tones come from running the clean/drive in 'mix' without the crossover. Yes, when you click that crossover button you get pure ear candy results--but two parallel, full-freq. signals get me what I want.

 

[Nodak Savage]

As long as I'm here: I've had the XB for nearly two weeks, and have used it at home and a few gigs. As mentioned my hope has been that the XB would be a "dUg plus": DP3X with more versatility. I haven't yet done a direct A/B of XB and DP3X, but I'm familiar enough with the latter to believe that the XB is what I hoped. I can dial in dUg-like tones with the added versatility of variable crossover points, and just as importantly, two independent bands of semi-parametric midrange instead of a single mid band switchable between two fixed frequencies.

An advantage to the DP3X is its simplicity (relative to the XB!), but it's not easy to avoid the signature scooped dUg tone. With its variable filters, the XB can get dUg style tones with more mids.... and a whole lot more. Last Saturday's gig was with a band that plays a lot of classic pop, no heavy rock. So I dialed back the Drive, overlapped the filters, and got a traditional punchy and mildly-overdriven tone. Playing harder rock, I did my usual thing: dialing in heavy dUg-style clang, and softening it to a cleaner purr (if needed) by rolling back the passive tone control on my bass.

Important note: I've spent very little time outside of crossover/mix mode. Same as the dUg, I'll use the XB as a crossover dirt machine. Point is, I am not qualified to comment on clean channel, dirty channel, or non-crossover mix mode. Also, there's so much to do in crossover mode that I won't get around to testing those other modes anytime soon, if at all, so I'll leave it to others to comment on those uses. Bottom line: I am finding the magic in crossover/mix mode.

Did you use any of the suggestions from the manual as a starting point or did you just wing it?

 

[Fuzzbass]

Did you use any of the suggestions from the manual as a starting point or did you just wing it?

I've mostly winged it because I'm comfortable with dual-band distortion. That said, I really should revisit the manual, it might give me some new ideas.

 

[12bass]

I've mostly winged it because I'm comfortable with dual-band distortion. That said, I really should revisit the manual, it might give me some new ideas.

Have spent some time dialing-in the XB in my mind. Maybe one day I'll be able to do it in reality. The stuff I'm doing with the DP-3X would be much easier with the XB Driver. For one, I'd really like to separately EQ the clean low frequency path rather than use the default EQ on the dUg. The suggested settings probably wouldn't be much more than a curiosity.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Have spent some time dialing-in the XB in my mind. Maybe one day I'll be able to do it in reality. The stuff I'm doing with the DP-3X would be much easier with the XB Driver. For one, I'd really like to separately EQ the clean low frequency path rather than use the default EQ on the dUg. The suggested settings probably wouldn't be much more than a curiosity.

Yes, the tone sculpting options are far greater on the XB. In crossover mode (where I live) the treble EQ has limited effect on the lowpassed clean channel, while the bass control has limited effect on the highpassed dirty channel, but for me the greatest benefit is having a sweep mid for each band rather than the two-position "master mid". And of course the variable filters add a whole 'nother layer of awesome sauce: overlapping the bands is essentially the "anti-dUg" because of the resulting mid boost.

That said, I still use the dUg for half my gigs: the limited tone palette works well for me, and I've become so familiar with it. Prior to the dUg I used to stack dirt pedals, and I still do that every so often, but I usually run the XB or dUg solo because each can give me my "wall of cranked amps" tones all by itself. I think the only exception was running dUg into B7K (run clean-ish) a few times -- wasn't necessary, but the B7K added a nice bit of shimmer on top.

 

[Jimmy Howe]

The XB Driver is INCREDIBLE for what I do. I was able to dial in that extremely separated "bi-amp" tone I always wanted BUT also was able to put the mid frequency exactly where I wanted it to punch through. The growl was delicious....

Hey Tim,
I just received an XB Driver a couple days ago and was wondering how you find the right setting for your mids? I seem to recall a video of yours a while back where you're dialing them in by playing either ends of the neck (lowest to highest), comparing volumes and adjusting? Do I have that right? I can't find that video for the life of me, but I remember thinking that it was a pretty clever way of achieving that... I just wish I'd at least committed it to memory! I'll be using the XB with a band this weekend and would really appreciate the advice! REALLY looking forward to using it in a band setting. Thx man!!

 

[Jimmy Howe]

We thought these tips might be helpful to some when first setting up the SansAmp XB Driver:

1.) As always, make sure the pedal is plugged into a clean, flat response amp/mixer.
(It's best not to have any other effects connected when familiarizing yourself with the pedal.)
2.) With the pedal in bypass and your instrument volume full up, set the volume level of your amp/mixer. (when engaging the pedal we recommend a unity gain setting)
3.) Engage the Clean channel and dial in your sound.
4.) Engage the Drive channel and dial in the type of amp drive that works for you.
5.) Engage the Mix footswitch. See if both sounds "meld" together to your liking.
You may need to adjust the levels or EQ a bit.
6.) The high and low pass filters only function in mix mode. To engage, push the crossover button in.
The LPF is for the Clean channel and the HPF is for the Drive channel.
7.) To hear what the filters are doing, turn off the level of the channel that is not being adjusted. Then repeat the process.

Great info here! The suggest settings in the manual just weren’t working for me and I was getting frustrated. Got to the point where I was combining various suggested clean channels with various suggested drive channels out if desperation. Admittedly, the Entwistle one is crazy incredible, but can’t imagine it would be realistically useful in a band as it’s very aggressive. I haven’t had a chance to try it in that sort of situation honestly, but finally following the instructions above, I was able to achieve something satisfying and usable pretty quickly. All that after A/B-ing the glorious BDDI that never fails, the VTBass DI, the DI-2112 and the Q\Strip. I was seriously thinking about returning it to Sweetwater. It’s staying, I’m digging it and it’s now a very welcome addition to my SansAmp collection! So… just do what they say above.

 

[Gefilter1001]

Hey Tim,
I just received an XB Driver a couple days ago and was wondering how you find the right setting for your mids? I seem to recall a video of yours a while back where you're dialing them in by playing either ends of the neck (lowest to highest), comparing volumes and adjusting? Do I have that right? I can't find that video for the life of me, but I remember thinking that it was a pretty clever way of achieving that... I just wish I'd at least committed it to memory! I'll be using the XB with a band this weekend and would really appreciate the advice! REALLY looking forward to using it in a band setting. Thx man!!

Hi Jimmy

I don't know if this is a "technically" correct method but this is what I do.
I hit the G string at the 14th fret and adjust the mid frequency until it's poppin through nicely at the initial attack.
Have fun with the XB bro....it's a beast.