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sansamp para driver vs. aguilar tone hammer
- Thread starter ba$$player
- Start date
An Xotic TriLogic might be just the ticket for you. I have used mine on both passive and active basses with great results. Doesn't do any kind of grind though, but it sure does give your bass a shot of steroids.
Thanks for the info Eublet! I just received a Tone Hammer last week and had been a bit underwhelmed but after reading your review it has made all the difference in the world. I didn't get the AGS thing at all and I was all backwards on using the mids having not had sweepable mids before. Thanks for stopping me before I returned this thing, I'm having a blast with it now!
After using it for about a year, I finally decided I'm not happy with the Tonehammer. It does not play nicely with my Supercollider Beast, and the overdrive is great but not what I'm looking for tone wise.
I use it as a pre-amp into a Crown XLS1000, and I have to admit that the preamp without engaging AGS is stellar. Except when i apply fuzz- then, not so much.
I ordered the Para Driver about 5 minutes before I found this thread (yes- search is your friend). I'm hoping that the PDI will work a bit better...
I use it as a pre-amp into a Crown XLS1000, and I have to admit that the preamp without engaging AGS is stellar. Except when i apply fuzz- then, not so much.
I ordered the Para Driver about 5 minutes before I found this thread (yes- search is your friend). I'm hoping that the PDI will work a bit better...
Thanks for the great review Eublet!
That just opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me.
That just opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me.
Recently new to all of this - can the Tone Hammer be set to sound similar to the Sadowsky preamp/DI pedal that everone raves about?
In theory yes - it's just a preamp with tone controls. I suppose you could set the tone controls similarly and they would sound similar since the EQ centers are the same. However, they are really different animals. The Sadowsky is a 2 band boost only no cut. No midrange control. The Tonehammer is 3 band with a sweepable mids and the additional footswitchable AGS circuit. TH also has gain and master volume controls. Much more flexibility and tonal options with Tonehammer. The Sadowsky is literately like taking the preamp out of bass and putting into a pedal. I never understood this since the whole point of having onboard active EQ is that you can adjust it on you bass. The Tonehammer is an interesting mix of preamp and pedal. It's more the front end of a bass amp than the onboard preamp of a bass. I had the Sadowsky and while a very high quality piece, it didn't really work for me. I have had the TH for about a year and feel like I'm still learning about it. It sits on my pedal board. Sometimes I use with the AGS to dial up a bit of overdrive or warm up my sound. Lately I've been using as preamp running into power amp section of a could different amps. Really like it in both applications.
Suppose it depends on your needs but at roughly the same price TH wins hands down IMO.
Suppose it depends on your needs but at roughly the same price TH wins hands down IMO.
I agree that the two can be similar for someone who isn't directly attached with years of experience on the Sadowsky. The Sad is brighter and a little more modern sounding. The TH tends to gravitate towards a warmer sound, even if boosting the treble and bass up higher to try and get it to sound like the Sad. I had both for a while and decided that the Sad didn't do anything that the TH couldn't do just as well for my needs, so I sold it. The TH can do much more than the Sad for sure. It's a go-to preamp for me, along with the VT Bass Deluxe. There's pretty much nothing I can't do with those two pedal together.
Similar to my experience. I think the Sadowsky is tweaked to sound good with Sadowsky basses. I've never owned one but have played in store several times and always felt that preamp and pickups were designed to work together to produce the signature Sadowsky sound. Huge difference when you go to passive on those basses.
Different question - what have players experiences been using the TH as a preamp with a power amp or power amp section of a bass amp (eg - running into effects return/power amp inputs)? I've done this now with 2 amps - GK MB800 and Carvin R600. One thing I've noticed is that it's tricky to set the master volume on the TH. With the Carvin, there's no way to set power amp level so the TH volume becomes the master. Volume is low until the upper end the control and then it get really loud from about 4:00-5:00. On the GK you can control amp volume so more flexible
Also, a get a fair amount of hum using TH as preamp and can't figure out why. Have messed with ground switch, cables, power cables, etc. Just wondering what folks experiences have been.
Different question - what have players experiences been using the TH as a preamp with a power amp or power amp section of a bass amp (eg - running into effects return/power amp inputs)? I've done this now with 2 amps - GK MB800 and Carvin R600. One thing I've noticed is that it's tricky to set the master volume on the TH. With the Carvin, there's no way to set power amp level so the TH volume becomes the master. Volume is low until the upper end the control and then it get really loud from about 4:00-5:00. On the GK you can control amp volume so more flexible
Also, a get a fair amount of hum using TH as preamp and can't figure out why. Have messed with ground switch, cables, power cables, etc. Just wondering what folks experiences have been.
I'd also like to hear some experiences with this. I've been debating rather or not I want to bypass my preamp in my 1001 RB with my effects chain n bass by going into the effects loop as opposed to the preamp in the head.
I used mine into a Berg IP310 for a while with great results, and into the rear of a few different bass heads with no issues. Gain settings like that can be tricky of course.
Not sure how old your TH is, but there was a batch that Aguilar released that had a grounding issue of some sort a while back. Yours might have come from that batch. I had one from it as well, and it made some noise and would hum, especially when touching it and such. I had that one fixed and it was fine. I sold that one and bought a new one that has the smaller upper lip, and it also is dead silent.
Not sure how old your TH is, but there was a batch that Aguilar released that had a grounding issue of some sort a while back. Yours might have come from that batch. I had one from it as well, and it made some noise and would hum, especially when touching it and such. I had that one fixed and it was fine. I sold that one and bought a new one that has the smaller upper lip, and it also is dead silent.
It depends on the head. Some heads route things differently, and mix that loop back into the preamp signal in different ways. Some also allow you to continue using the master volume, and others don't. Mostly however, is that the power section of a bass amplier may or may not be flat in it's response at all. It could be wildly colored as it was meant to compliment the preamp.
Just saying all that to make sure you understand that the result you get may be great or not, and it might have everything or nothing to do with the pedal you're testing. If you really want to use your pedal as a preamp, I think it's best to use a power amp that you know is flat.
Yup, that's exactly what it does! Hums when you touch it. How did you get it fixed? Have to return to Aguilar?
Actually I found this to be true with Mark Bass amps. No way to fully bypass the preamp stage. Not sure it that's the case for the Carvin and GK I've tried. Pretty sure the power amp for Carvin is same as their separate power amps from that era. Flow diagram for GK shows only the master volume and power amp modules after the return jack. Of course no guarantee in either case but at least to my ears both sound great. I've used the Carvin on a couple gigs and I'll be doing a show tonite with the GK using TH as pre into power amp section.
I just bought a used TH with ac adapter for 159.00.
And this sweet little device is running into my RPM.
It was a tough choice cause i was also thinking of the Hartke Bass Attack, but since those are very easy to get, i started with the TH.
TH into the RPM into a Crest CA-9 pushing a Mesa PowerHouse 2x12 and 2x10.
All that equals AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And this sweet little device is running into my RPM.
It was a tough choice cause i was also thinking of the Hartke Bass Attack, but since those are very easy to get, i started with the TH.
TH into the RPM into a Crest CA-9 pushing a Mesa PowerHouse 2x12 and 2x10.
All that equals AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The battery compartment for the Tone Hammer pedal is not cool. If you can get the two 9 volt batteries in there successfully they then slide around when you close the door. The screw that holds the battery compartment closed pierced one of the 9 volt batteries the first time that I used it. Battery acid leaked inside of the pedal, I threw it away - $219 bucks down the drain. I was going to use the pedal live and the 18volt power supply would not have been an option.
Never heard of anyone doing this. I've never had a loose battery in any of my Aguilar pedals (Tone Hammer, TLC, Agro, etc). If you threw it away then that is a shame as Aguilar would have helped you on this. The screw that holds the case closed is nowhere near the batteries when they are secured. If the mechanism that secures your batteries was defective then it sounds like you should have had that fixed before you put a screw through the battery.
