I have a sansamp bddi. I pretty much love it. I have my sparkle drive after the bddi because of the blend function i get smooth sansamp with overdriven sansamp before it. I was wondering where you guys put your fuzzes. Somethings to keep in mind about my situation. I put all of my fuzzes in a barge vb-jr loop with about 30-40% of dry in just so I dont lose to much articulate bass, and I put an EQ in the loop before the fuzzes to take out a little bass so the fuzz itself doesnt get to flabby. I was wondering how well the fuzzes typically sound to you guys before/after the sansamp, plus the blended loop will either have dryed bddi or blend original going into bddi. The reason I ask is the sansamp does a lot to the original sound, and I am wondering how well they react in either setting. I have a Barber Trifecta and a Blackout Musket coming in this week. Everything else in the picture I actually have (the mammoth is going to be on its from a friend after he gets my old guitar). EQ not pictured and probably not going to be involved in the equation once the fuzzes arrive any help is appreciated!!!
Okay, I'll bite. Me personally I put my fuzzes on my pedalboard, and then I put any Tech 21 products I may find as far away from my pedalboard and the rest of my rig as possible. Seriously though, I don't get what people see in running dirt before OR after a Sansamp. I haven't heard a single soundclip of dirt into a sansamp that didn't sound awful to me, and I've owned the BDDI, PBDDI, and RBI, and could not stand any of the many thousands of dollars worth of dirt pedals I've owned through the Sansamp, ESPECIALLY the Tech21 XXLB, which is to date the crappiest pedal I've owned and the second crappiest pedal I've tried. Anyways, I ramble, but when using a separate dirt pedal, every single time I greatly prefer the way it sounds with the Sansamp off. So unless your rig is such that you absolutely need the Sansamp to beef it up, my two cents is that I think you'll get the best out of your fuzzboxes by bypassing the Sansamp when you want them on. Good luck!
I use a programmable SansAmp into a MXR M-80 to get my Geddy Lee tone (with a little chorus before both). Works well that way, for me.
I run my Bass Big Muff into my Sansamp PBDI and it sounds great. I've never actually tried it on the back end. I've always had my Sansamp last in the signal chain in case I needed to get a DI signal of my effected sound. Now that I'm thinking about it, though, I usually take a DI signal from my amp. I might try rearranging it and putting the Sansamp first in the chain and see what happens. It would have to be a "my eyes are open for the first time" kind of change for me to make it permanent as I'm happy with the way things sound now. By the way, I use passive Fender P and Jaguar basses.
Agreed. Actually, on both counts. I saw little, if any merit of running my VT before or after my newly acquired Chunky Cheese. It made it sound extremely congested when placed before, and made it sound clanky when placed after. People seem to like their bass' tone lo-fi, rumbly and with few dynamics, and the latter goes double for the high mids and treble, and that is exactly what the SansAmp units provide to me, the VT granted as being my favorite one to date. However, I have come to find that it's just not a tone I like for basses that have more dynamic range to offer, such as my Bongo. On passives, however, particularly Ps, it's like a freakin' magic box to me. However, even on those, it still maintains that congested, overly-fat tone that fails to be dynamic. Wait, what did I just say? I don't know either.
Oh, and to the OP, you may want to reconsider the Trifecta AND the Blackout. They're both based on the same circuit, and while they have different options and might sound slightly different, if you are looking for drastically different tones, you will want to look harder. And you may not be. It's just a suggestion.
well, i appreciate the posts and comments. I love the sound of the sansamp. However, I realized there are purists and people who subscribe to different methods. I too like the sound of my 69 P Bass clean straight into my amp, but for my application and current band, the sansamp evens the playing out and allows it to sit in a mix better with a classic jazz running the pups in parallel. Lower lows and highers highs. As for the pedals, I know the two pedals are muff variants, however web clips showed me how different they were. The trifecta was more for the bender stuff with a heavy scoop, the musket was going to be my mids heavy muff fuzz. I like Muffs and Tonebenders, Its a sickness. I will probably end up getting rid of one, if I find no audible difference in a band mix. After all, if you cant hear it in a band mix dont get it, thats why I'm not getting a Quasar or a Prometheus. Not that those pedals aren't incredible.
o and also, the real reason for the post is the barge blend pedal with the fuzzes. what to blend? sansamp with fuzz or clean with fuzz into sansamp
I use the RBI after all my dirt boxes and i love the way the gain on the RBI interacts with some of pedals. I am very very careful with the presence control though and usually have it all the way off.
I put my BDDI very first in my chain with the Bass Little Big Muff - I've always liked it...I've tried it at the end and didn't care for it. I might need to try a rearrange.