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Sansamp vt vs darkglass vintage ultra

Sdagg1

Guest
Feb 25, 2018
143
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I am pulling my hair out trying to find the right pedal to color my sound. I play some funk, classic rock and hard rock and have a Rich 4003 into a fender rumble 500. I love my sansamp bbdi and like the clank and warmth it gives to my sound but i feel its a little too clanky at times when i dial in the right sound ( maybe technique related?). I LOVED the fullness that the sansamp vt deluxe gave me but felt it was missing the more aggressive sound of the bassdriver when run clean . I am now considering trying the sansamp vt di version with the bite control. Which will hopefully give the more edgy sound of the bbdi or getting the darkglass vintage ultra. My only concern with the ultra even though i love the distortion i hear in the demos is that it doesnt sound like its as capable of giving the roundness of the sansamp vt? Can anyone compare and contrast the clean settings and capabilities of these two pedal for me. Thanks in advance
 
The bite control on the VTDI when turned on is the normal VT sound you heard in the Deluxe. On the DI version you can turn it off for a mellower sound, but it won't give you more bite than a standard VT.

The Darkglass is pretty different, it doesn't have that squishy tubey feel of the VT. Whether that's good or bad is up to you! I've tried the original Vintage, Vintage Deluxe and M900 and they are all mellower/smoother than the VT Bass though if you're looking for an aggressive bite. But the VMTD v2 and Ultra have the attack switch which works similar to the bite switch in the VTDI, boosting the upper mids / treble going into the distortion.
 
The bite control on the VTDI when turned on is the normal VT sound you heard in the Deluxe. On the DI version you can turn it off for a mellower sound, but it won't give you more bite than a standard VT.

The Darkglass is pretty different, it doesn't have that squishy tubey feel of the VT. Whether that's good or bad is up to you! I've tried the original Vintage, Vintage Deluxe and M900 and they are all mellower/smoother than the VT Bass though if you're looking for an aggressive bite. But the VMTD v2 and Ultra have the attack switch which works similar to the bite switch in the VTDI, boosting the upper mids / treble going into the distortion.

Thanks for the response.I guess my real question is can i get the nice thick round sound out of the vmt that the sansamp vt gives you. In the videos that i have seen the darkglass vtm sounds thinner to my ears but clearer and more glassy sounding.
 
I have a VT Bass, but will upgrade to the Deluxe soon. Love the sound of the Sansamp, but I'm also interested in the Darkglass sound too. I'm thinking pairing a Microtubes B3K with the VT. So I'll have my clean/gritty sound from the VT, then kick my sound into overdrive with the B3K on top. I'm pretty certain the results will be satisfying.
 
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Thats what i was pretty much thinking of doing. I would use the sansamp vt as the basis of my sound and then use the darkglass vmt for my distortion with the option of a b7k. Im not a fan of the dirty sound of the sansamp vt so i wasnt sure if i would even need to buy the sansamp vt if i got the microtubes vtm ultra and could get that same thick round sound in the bypass mode of the ultra that the sansamp vt has. I wish i could try the pedal out in a store since its so damn expensive.
 
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I think I get pretty wooly sound from the Vintage Ultra, but I have no experience with the VT. It has a lot of control over the EQ, and the switches make a big difference. Boosting in the 500Hz range, and cutting the high mid at 1.5kHz and turning treble lower than that is usually what I do and I think it sounds pretty Vintage SVT-esque. I keep the grunt and attack switches set to neutral because I think that sounds more clear and isn't clanky, and isn't to growly or wooly. But certainly boosting the grunt and dipping the attack would make it even closer to like a Flip-Top pushed harder than they ever could be pushed (if you have drive higher).
 
I think I get pretty wooly sound from the Vintage Ultra, but I have no experience with the VT. It has a lot of control over the EQ, and the switches make a big difference. Boosting in the 500Hz range, and cutting the high mid at 1.5kHz and turning treble lower than that is usually what I do and I think it sounds pretty Vintage SVT-esque. I keep the grunt and attack switches set to neutral because I think that sounds more clear and isn't clanky, and isn't to growly or wooly. But certainly boosting the grunt and dipping the attack would make it even closer to like a Flip-Top pushed harder than they ever could be pushed (if you have drive higher).

@jrick7 would you mind sharing some pics of your favorite settings? I'm still struggling a bit to find the tone I want.

thx!
 
@jrick7 would you mind sharing some pics of your favorite settings? I'm still struggling a bit to find the tone I want.

thx!

I've since moved away from my Vintage Ultra and now own an HX Stomp. Still use the Obsidian which is closer to the B7k.

I'll see if I can drum something up that might help visualize it.
 
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I recently downloaded the trial of the Darkglass plugins. If you have an audio interface it's worth a shot and will effectively let you demo a B7K and Vintage Ultra for free.

I liked it enough to make me snag a Vintage Ultra from eBay! It's EQ is very different to the B7K, works much better for vintage tones (surprise surprise), very nice with my flatwound P.
 
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I recently downloaded the trial of the Darkglass plugins. If you have an audio interface it's worth a shot and will effectively let you demo a B7K and Vintage Ultra for free.

I liked it enough to make me snag a Vintage Ultra from eBay! It's EQ is very different to the B7K, works much better for vintage tones (surprise surprise), very nice with my flatwound P.

Care to share some settings (pics) you like? :-)
 
Care to share some settings (pics) you like? :)

This is what I was using for a subtle vintage drive with my P & flats:

Capture.PNG
 
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706C7DA2-1EF4-40D5-B92B-422D689AB63C.jpeg


Here's my settings. I recently switched from SansAmp Bass DI and then a SansAmp Paradriver. Both were a bit mid-scooped for my taste. Even with the paradriver, I was fighting bass low end woofyness on stage and bloom out of the PA. As you see by the settings, I've corrected that with this petal! It's a little aggressive with the Ric 4003, but the Fenders and Musicman love it! My tone is now much more articulate and punchy. I'm using the distortion side on a few select songs. I also went on the Darkglass site and tried out a few of the cab modeling downloads. I'm very satisfied with this setup so far!
 
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