I have more time to respond now, so here it goes....
Just pickin' with you, bro. All good!
It seems to me that Tech 21 is trying to make this pedal better without over complicating it. I think if you look at their history, the BDDI has outsold the PDDI by far even though the later has that sweepable mid. Experience is probably telling them to keep it simple. Just speculating there though.
Personally, I would love the sweepable mid control on the VT. But I suspect you and I are in the minority of most bass players in that we know how to use such a control. I think the added complexity would make things more difficult for the average Tech 21 customer. That is more what I was suggesting before. As it is, people plug in to the VT, and it sounds like an Ampeg to most of them. They might have to boost some bass and cut some treble, but they can get in the neighborhood very quickly with little fuss, and the pedal has been a smash hit as a result.
While I'm on my own personal wish list, I'd prefer it if the Character knob didn't affect mids at ALL myself. Just have it change compression, harmonics and attack characteristics of the signal, then use sweepable mid control to shape the tone. That would make the character knob very subtle though, and I suspect most people would say that it didn't do anything to their sound. I'd love it though.
yes, this doesn't sound like attitude at all.
Just pickin' with you, bro. All good!Agreed on the BDDI, but I haven't really considered that in this conversation. You also don't have to run the VT flat. It's been shown around here that you can make the VT mid-centered by twisting the knobs. If you don't like having to do that then I can understand. It definitely has what I consider a typical Ampeg voice when set flat though, albeit very bright.
Using a speaker DI straight off the head, I'd agree slightly, but the VT has always been about emulating an Ampeg through a mic'ed cab which is far from flat.
Agree slightly again, but IMHO the difference between an vintage and CL SVT isn't nearly as drastic as it seems some have perceived. But there again it's scientifically proven that people hear things differently.
This still sounds like attitude to me, not that it matters. But seriously, again we all hear thing differently, so I don't think people like me are being any more dogmatic on this issue than you are. Lots of players here on TB and everywhere in the world have used a real 70's SVT through an 810 live. It's pretty ubiquitous actually, and many of us still think the VT sounds incredibly like this rig if setup correctly. There are lots of professionals and big name players also that are using the VT as they were made by Tech 21 with little or no complaints. It's no substitute for the real thing though. If you have found a custom mod that helps you get it closer to the way you like your SVT rig to sound, then really that is great news! But I've had almost zero issue getting my VT's to sound like a mic'ed SVT/810 without needing to mod it. I've complained about the harshness that can creep in with these pedals also, and I've wanted a blend control to add the ability to vary things up a bit. So I agree with you that there is always room for improvement. The speaker sim defeat on the v2 helped, and now the new Bite control on the VTBDI will take that even further.
It seems to me that Tech 21 is trying to make this pedal better without over complicating it. I think if you look at their history, the BDDI has outsold the PDDI by far even though the later has that sweepable mid. Experience is probably telling them to keep it simple. Just speculating there though.
Personally, I would love the sweepable mid control on the VT. But I suspect you and I are in the minority of most bass players in that we know how to use such a control. I think the added complexity would make things more difficult for the average Tech 21 customer. That is more what I was suggesting before. As it is, people plug in to the VT, and it sounds like an Ampeg to most of them. They might have to boost some bass and cut some treble, but they can get in the neighborhood very quickly with little fuss, and the pedal has been a smash hit as a result.
While I'm on my own personal wish list, I'd prefer it if the Character knob didn't affect mids at ALL myself. Just have it change compression, harmonics and attack characteristics of the signal, then use sweepable mid control to shape the tone. That would make the character knob very subtle though, and I suspect most people would say that it didn't do anything to their sound.
I'd love it though. I'm not sure if I'd like that better or not. Having the VT be able to control EQ on the clean side would make it very powerful. I often used the BDDI like this as it could fatten up a jazz bass without using any of the Sansamp emulation. It made it a very flexible DI. It also helped control the scoop since you could reduce lows and mids on the pedal, which had the effect of boosting mids in the clean signal before they were scooped on the Sansamp side. Blending the two of those tones together could make for a great tone. I'm kind of hoping the VTDI is the same.
