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SansAmp RBI vs RPM

#102
Thunder Pulse said:
Is there only one version of the RPM? I could have sworn I read somewhere that there were 2 different versions with different center frequencies for the EQ. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
Click to expand...

Only one version. The RPM has sweepable mids, as does the PDDI and the now discontinued Acoustic DI.

The RBI has a fixed mid at 1k. The BDDI has no mid control.

JR
 
#105
OK, I'm taking a mental health day because the recording session went late and as an old phart I need my beauty sleep. I couldn't wait for tonight's rehearsal so I plugged the RPM into the effects return of my Carvin B800, and that pushed my Sadowsky SA410.

First impressions of the RPM alone (I'll A/B with the RBI tonight):

1) The SansAmp mid notch is still there when I crank up Blend. Just an observation... I don't mean to say it's a bad thing. If you don't like the mid notch, just leave Blend at 50% or so.

2) The Drive seems to have more grind than the RBI. To put it another way, the RBI overdrive seems to be smoother, more subtle. Again, just an observation... two different flavors.

3) Sweepable mid controls kick ass.

4) Boosting mids at the highest frequency (3kHz), I got a shimmer that's reminiscent of the Presence control of the RBI.

5) My 4 space gig rack will soon contain RBI, RPM, and poweramp. I plan to set up the footswitch to alternate between RBI and RPM. Also, when I use my 2x10/2x10 stack, I will try running them in parallel (stereo)... I'll definitely try the distorted/clean trick.

6) Jury's still out on which SansAmp pre I like better, but the RPM is definitely a keeper

More later. :)
 
#106
Fuzzbass said:
OK, I'm taking a mental health day because the recording session went late and as an old phart I need my beauty sleep. I couldn't wait for tonight's rehearsal so I plugged the RPM into the effects return of my Carvin B800, and that pushed my Sadowsky SA410.

First impressions of the RPM alone (I'll A/B with the RBI tonight):

1) The SansAmp mid notch is still there when I crank up Blend. Just an observation... I don't mean to say it's a bad thing. If you don't like the mid notch, just leave Blend at 50% or so.

2) The Drive seems to have more grind than the RBI. To put it another way, the RBI overdrive seems to be smoother, more subtle. Again, just an observation... two different flavors.

3) Sweepable mid controls kick ass.

4) Boosting mids at the highest frequency (3kHz), I got a shimmer that's reminiscent of the Presence control of the RBI.

5) My 4 space gig rack will soon contain RBI, RPM, and poweramp. I plan to set up the footswitch to alternate between RBI and RPM. Also, when I use my 2x10/2x10 stack, I will try running them in parallel (stereo)... I'll definitely try the distorted/clean trick.

6) Jury's still out on which SansAmp pre I like better, but the RPM is definitely a keeper

More later. :)
Click to expand...



Don't forget to try running the RBI and RPM together at the same time! (after you're comfortable with the RPM)

JR
 
#107
Got my RPM! I gotta fiddle with it when my Rick comes back.. I'm pretty mad it didn't come with a footswitch! ><


DSCN1456.jpg
 
#110
Chronicle said:
Doing Sansamp -> Effects Return. The GK Preamp is bypassed-- i have to play with the sansamp settings a bit more... and read the manual..
Click to expand...

that should sound pretty good. that GK has a great power section. the manual's settings aren't too bad actually. the SVT one is a pretty good starting point.

if you plug into the RPM and take the unaffected out in back into the front of the GK, then take the GK's preamp out and return it into the RPM's effects return with the 50/50 engaged, and take the output of the RPM into the effects return of the GK (as you are doing), you can run the RPM in parallel with the GK's preamp.


JR
 
#112
Tonight's band practice was cancelled. Apparently the lead singer is busy sorting out wife and mistress complications... I'm not sure whether to envy or pity him. :p So, I put my RBI/RPM rack together.

I really wanted to try footswitching between the RBI and RPM, but apparently the footswitch that comes with the SWR IOD is not compatible. Bummer. So, I had to push buttons.

In short, I agree with the earlier reviews posted here and in earlier RPM threads: namely, that the RBI is brighter, and the RPM is darker and provides much heavier distortion.

The RPM stays fairly dark (compared to the RBI with some Presence dialed in) even with treble turned to the max. And I was wrong before: cranking up 3000Hz on the RPM mid control is definitely NOT the same as boosting Presence on the RBI! Presence is brighter still. That said, the best way to add sparkle to the RPM seems to be with 3000Hz boosted, and some Treble boost as well.

If you don't care about sparkle, then the RPM is the way to go. The sweepable mid is great. I use it to dial in my favorite growl. The thing to watch for is that boosting lower mids will generate more distortion (when Drive is dialed in) than boosting higher mids. This makes sense. I just have to remember that if I dial in a lower-pitched growl I'll have to reduce Drive to keep the same level of OD.



JGR said:
Don't forget to try running the RBI and RPM together at the same time! (after you're comfortable with the RPM)

JR
Click to expand...

Great point! I went ahead and tried this. At first I got too much grind and scoop (and volume, duh!), but when both are used gently it seems I can get the best of both worlds: the sparkle of the RBI, and the mid-tweakability of the RPM. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with this rack! Umm, maybe I should rephrase that...
 
#114
Fuzzbass said:
Oh yeah...

l_d3ea14c08a6185848d301ac41257e8f0.png
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very nice!

i also owned the RBI prior to the RPM and my initial impressions were pretty much in line with yours. at first, i wasn't sure which one i liked better - i liked them both, but went back and forth as to which one i favored. as time goes by, i no longer feel that the RPM is dark - i just feel like the RBI is excessively bright if that makes any sense... i think it takes some time for our ears to adjust from the RBI to RPM transition. the presence control is indeed unique on the RBI and adds a certain crispness that you can't entirely duplicate with EQ since it's tied to the gain control rather than part of the tonestack. overall, it's a bit too aggresive for me, but it has its place if used conservatively. there is a mid scoop on the RPM but i feel like its not as extreme and i generally run the RPM (75-100%)with the blend set higher than i do on the RBI (50-60%).

glad you were able to run them together - i think they really do compliment eachother very well - you can get some really complex textures out of that setup; there is a lot to fool around with and a lot of flexibilty, so it can take a bit of time to really dial it in though it's pretty easy to get a good sound fairly quickly. anyway, just rambling here - i'm really excited to see other folks on the RPM bandwagon!

fuzz, i'll have to catch a show of yours sometime since i've relocated to MD.

cheers!

JR
 
#115
JGR said:
very nice!

i also owned the RBI prior to the RPM and my initial impressions were pretty much in line with yours. at first, i wasn't sure which one i liked better - i liked them both, but went back and forth as to which one i favored. as time goes by, i no longer feel that the RPM is dark - i just feel like the RBI is excessively bright if that makes any sense... i think it takes some time for our ears to adjust from the RBI to RPM transition. the presence control is indeed unique on the RBI and adds a certain crispness that you can't entirely duplicate with EQ since it's tied to the gain control rather than part of the tonestack. overall, it's a bit too aggresive for me, but it has its place if used conservatively. there is a mid scoop on the RPM but i feel like its not as extreme and i generally run the RPM (75-100%)with the blend set higher than i do on the RBI (50-60%).

glad you were able to run them together - i think they really do compliment eachother very well - you can get some really complex textures out of that setup; there is a lot to fool around with and a lot of flexibilty, so it can take a bit of time to really dial it in though it's pretty easy to get a good sound fairly quickly. anyway, just rambling here - i'm really excited to see other folks on the RPM bandwagon!

fuzz, i'll have to catch a show of yours sometime since i've relocated to MD.

cheers!

JR
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for the comments and suggestions. I agree with everything you say.... in fact as I look at my rig, the blends are set just as you described: 50% on the RBI, and 75% (9 o'clock) on the RPM. One reason I like the extra sparkle on the RBI is that I frequently gig with the NV610 cab, which as most of you know doesn't have a tweeter. And with my modern rock band, I use a lot of grit and bite.

Oh, welcome to the Free State. Aside from the traffic jams, I like it here just fine. As for checking out a gig: I ain't all that, but if you wanna hang and talk gear and etc, that would be great!
 
#116
I almost forgot: a couple months ago, someone posted some soundclips of the Aguilar Agro. I was impressed with the variety of distortion: everything from light tubey grit to over-the-top buzzsaw. Well, I haven't personally tried the Agro, but the RPM seems to have that same variety of overdrive. Plus, it's got the parametric mid, and is one-space rackable.

I'm not saying the RPM is better, but it meets my needs perfectly, so I'm no longer gassin' for the Agro.
 
#117
Fuzzbass said:
I almost forgot: a couple months ago, someone posted some soundclips of the Aguilar Agro. I was impressed with the variety of distortion: everything from light tubey grit to over-the-top buzzsaw. Well, I haven't personally tried the Agro, but the RPM seems to have that same variety of overdrive. Plus, it's got the parametric mid, and is one-space rackable.

I'm not saying the RPM is better, but it meets my needs perfectly, so I'm no longer gassin' for the Agro.
Click to expand...

i got to check out the dirt channel of the AG500 not too long ago and since the AGRO is pretty much the same thing, my impressions are this: the RPM is a much better standalone solution. the dirt on the AGRO is cool, but used by itself, at least at mid gain and higher levels, i can see getting totally lost in the mix. i think the RPM's range and gain voicing is much more useable in this regard. where i think the AGRO would be cool is when run in parallel/blended with the RBI or RPM, set up in the same fashion as how we are combining the RPM/RBI. i think it could really add some texture to that.

actually, i was thinking of getting an AGRO and combining it to the clean output/loop in of the the RBI so that all three would be layered! i plug into the RPM first so this would yield a tone roughly consisting of 50% RPM, 25% RBI, and 25% AGRO. could be pretty thick sounding. probably unnecessary, but the other two combine so well in this fashion that i think i'll eventually have to do it just to do it!

i'm not the shiz as a player either, so no worries - i'd love to hang some time and talk gear. the house should be built in a few months and the whole basement will be dedicated to gear and high volume playing, so maybe you can head up this way and make some noise!

JR
 
#119
Ken,

What are you thoughts on the RBI/RPM compared to (or used with) an SVP-PRO?

I like my SABDDI but it just sucks out too much of the mids for me. I also have a love hate relationship with my SVP-PRO. It does some things well but it just doesn't have "it" for me. Today at practice I went through my Sansamp into my SVP-PRO and got a sound I was pretty happy with. I basically used the SVP-PRO for its gain and to bring back some of the mids that the sansamp sucks out. I'm hoping an RPM will give me something in that same direction.
 
#120
Naggon said:
So, I've been thinking about getting a SansAmp, because I only hear good things about them. I know that Geddy Lee uses an RPM, and I love his tone, of course, but I was reading on the Tech 21 website that the RPM can be partnered with the RBI. Both are preamps, I don't really understand why you'd use them together, for bass at least.

So, my question basically is, which one would you guys recommend, why would you want to partner them, and do they both do effectively the same thing?

There's a drive knob and a couple mid knobs on the RPM...seems like you could get a really ballsy tone there. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I own a RBI, I have heard that it has a bright tone compared to the RPM. You can couple them in order to have two different preamp channels with different settings (or combine both at once if you wish). You can listen to Rush in Rio, Rush R30 and Rush Vapor Trails for the RBI sound, for the RPM sound listen to Rush Snakes and Arrows (you will notice the difference, in my opinion both rock!!!). :bassist:
 

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