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Roland VB-99

#101
I love the VB-99... Has anyone experimented with the D-Beam at all?

I've been using it very successfully to go up an octave a la P-Funk synth bass. It glides very smoothly and when you get a good technique going you come up with very fun sounds! seriously... try it.

Listen to Flashlight by George Clinton and the P-Funk all stars, grab your favorite synth bass patch and try to play the synth bass line in the song... IT'S SO AWESOME.
 
#102
Tried it a bit but not much.
The only time I used it was for video control.



I have an FC300 wich gives plenty of control at the foot , so I don't need the D Beam. But I'm sure it can be lots of fun!
 
#106
There is an XLR out for that. ( +4db with a ground lift )
the 1/4 inch output is -10db and is controlled by the knob on the VB , that control doesn't affect the XLR out.
An independant control for the stage monitoring.
You also have independant levels and EQ for all the different outputs.

You can route the signal internally to whatever , like not sending FX to the FOH or just your dry bass , whatever .....
 
#107
fokof said:
There is an XLR out for that. ( +4db with a ground lift )
the 1/4 inch output is -10db and is controlled by the knob on the VB , that control doesn't affect the XLR out.
An independant control for the stage monitoring.
You also have independant levels and EQ for all the different outputs.

You can route the signal internally to whatever , like not sending FX to the FOH or just your dry bass , whatever .....
Click to expand...



Thanks!
How's that XLR out compare to..... let's say, a tube DI box, or the DI out on my Genz Benz?
 
#108
brianchiu said:
Thanks!
How's that XLR out compare to..... let's say, a tube DI box, or the DI out on my Genz Benz?
Click to expand...

Same thing , three pins placed exactly like the ones you have.:D
Seriously , I never used a GenzBenz so I could not compare.

I have and often use a TD-100 (Tube DI box) wich is amazing but you can't compare the two , they are very different animals on different planets.
Both are the best at what they are designed for , me thinks.
 
#110
I finally got my VB-99 and have my GK-3B installed, fun!:hyper:

But I found that my bass (signal from pick-up) sounds different when it goes though GK, if I unplug the GK end and put it right into my amps, the frequency is wider and ....... just sounds better, does GK-3B decrease the direct bass signal(gain or frequency)? What should I do with it?

I haven't tried to put the bass signal direct into [bass-input] on VB-99, because the manual says that doesn't matter you're using the direct bass sound or not, you should always plug in that 1/4" phone jack on GK

And, I'm gonna need to put it on a stand when I'm on the stage,is there any other choice than Roland's PDS-10? What do you guys do with it when you're on stage?

Thanks a lot!! :cool:
 
#111
Try to use the best quality cable for the bass to GK connection and make sure that it is no longer than 1 foot long. Also note that the COSM Normal pickup setting coming from the unit is very slightly different than the Bass Direct in terms of true bypass so the truest tone is the Bass Direct, but once you start adding things from the VBass unit, it will alter the original tone color, even if you just use the COSM Normal pickup setting with no effects.

The GK-3B is much better than the 2B because it has 1/4th inch on the input and output side where the 2b has a mini input and 1/4th inch output to connect the bass cable.

Hope this helps!


brianchiu said:
I finally got my VB-99 and have my GK-3B installed, fun!:hyper:

But I found that my bass (signal from pick-up) sounds different when it goes though GK, if I unplug the GK end and put it right into my amps, the frequency is wider and ....... just sounds better, does GK-3B decrease the direct bass signal(gain or frequency)? What should I do with it?

I haven't tried to put the bass signal direct into [bass-input] on VB-99, because the manual says that doesn't matter you're using the direct bass sound or not, you should always plug in that 1/4" phone jack on GK

And, I'm gonna need to put it on a stand when I'm on the stage,is there any other choice than Roland's PDS-10? What do you guys do with it when you're on stage?

Thanks a lot!! :cool:
Click to expand...
 
#113
BassSlave said:
Try to use the best quality cable for the bass to GK connection and make sure that it is no longer than 1 foot long. Also note that the COSM Normal pickup setting coming from the unit is very slightly different than the Bass Direct in terms of true bypass so the truest tone is the Bass Direct, but once you start adding things from the VBass unit, it will alter the original tone color, even if you just use the COSM Normal pickup setting with no effects.

The GK-3B is much better than the 2B because it has 1/4th inch on the input and output side where the 2b has a mini input and 1/4th inch output to connect the bass cable.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...


Thanks man!

So, the truest bass direct sound that I can get would be:

bass => bass input on VB99 =>bass output on VB99

is that correct? in this case I won't be able to use the 1/4" input on GK, will that be a problem?:hmm:
 
#115
If you do it tat way you will not get any of the COSM effects but this is not what I said. I said to plug your bass into the GK-3b and out from there from the 13-pin to the VB99. Now if you press the Bass Direct button on the front panel, this is your true bass tone.



brianchiu said:
Thanks man!

So, the truest bass direct sound that I can get would be:

bass => bass input on VB99 =>bass output on VB99

is that correct? in this case I won't be able to use the 1/4" input on GK, will that be a problem?:hmm:
Click to expand...
 
#118
brianchiu said:
I finally got my VB-99 and have my GK-3B installed, fun!:hyper:

But I found that my bass (signal from pick-up) sounds different when it goes though GK, if I unplug the GK end and put it right into my amps, the frequency is wider and ....... just sounds better, does GK-3B decrease the direct bass signal(gain or frequency)? What should I do with it?

I haven't tried to put the bass signal direct into [bass-input] on VB-99, because the manual says that doesn't matter you're using the direct bass sound or not, you should always plug in that 1/4" phone jack on GK

And, I'm gonna need to put it on a stand when I'm on the stage,is there any other choice than Roland's PDS-10? What do you guys do with it when you're on stage?

Thanks a lot!! :cool:
Click to expand...

Here's another suggestion:

Have you tried reversing the phase of you GK (you can do that via the GK settings screen) i'm at work now (coffeebreak) so i can't give the exact names wich you will find in these screens, so perhaps they call it "inverse".
Your problem sounds a bit like 'out of phase'

And another possibilty is:

The output type, ... i think you can find that in your "Global" screen ("what are you connected to" is the Q.) you have the choice between Mixer/Studio, live amp without tweeter and live amp with tweeter ... again i'm not sure how they have named these features ...

Have fun with your VB-99 it's my main magicbox!
 
#119
hairman said:
Here's another suggestion:

Have you tried reversing the phase of you GK (you can do that via the GK settings screen) i'm at work now (coffeebreak) so i can't give the exact names wich you will find in these screens, so perhaps they call it "inverse".
Your problem sounds a bit like 'out of phase'

And another possibilty is:

The output type, ... i think you can find that in your "Global" screen ("what are you connected to" is the Q.) you have the choice between Mixer/Studio, live amp without tweeter and live amp with tweeter ... again i'm not sure how they have named these features ...

Have fun with your VB-99 it's my main magicbox!
Click to expand...

The phase in GK setting is set to NORMAL (factory setting), isn't that what it should be?

About the OUTPUT TYPE, I haven't looked at that yet, good suggestions! Thanks! :)

Anybody's using PDS-10 stand? I'd like to know if it's worth the money and extra weight ...:cool:
 
#120
brianchiu said:
The phase in GK setting is set to NORMAL (factory setting), isn't that what it should be?

About the OUTPUT TYPE, I haven't looked at that yet, good suggestions! Thanks! :)

Anybody's using PDS-10 stand? I'd like to know if it's worth the money and extra weight ...:cool:
Click to expand...

Phase-setting is depending on each bass with GK situation; so i suggest you do some experimenting with it, in one case you'll find that there is more bass (lows) in the overall sound (pick ups are in phase, that's how it should be) than in the other case (then the pick ups are out of phase, and the phase setting should be inversed) where you'll here less bass (lows).
I cannot tell you wich setting you'll need, just try it out. The setting wich provides the most lows out of your rig, is the best(right) setting ....

Hope this is enough info for you!

Cheers.
 

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