Tech-21 Bass Fly Rig v2 - First Impression

[Thom Fioriglio]

I've grown to really like the Fly Rig 2. It takes some time to become comfortable with it, especially the Octafilter section, but after watching the Tech 21 tutorial vids (which is a must) I've gotten a better understanding on how it works and how to get the most out of it. As others have reported, my Character button pops too. Chorus is really simple and sounds great. The heart of this unit is the Compressor and SansAmp section. I like the simplicity of the one know Comp. I wish it had an indicator LED to let you know when it's kicking in. Like others, it would be cool to have two separate channels for the BDDI and the VTDI settings, but I can live with the Character button. Tuner is very functional and I compared to my Korg Pitchblack, and it is very accurate. Overall, it is small, easy to set up and covers the basics.

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

One more thought. I jammed this weekend with some friends and helped the guitarist unload his gear from my car. Oh man, was his pedalboard heavy!! It was a two tier pedal train with about 8 effects on it, in a case. Ugh!!! It made me truly appreciate my Fly Rig 2 which I just tucked into my bass case. Never owning a pedalboard, I never realized how heavy they can be. Really makes me appreciate the Fly Rig 2 even more!

 

[JCW308]

Franvarin,

I purchased the v.2 about a month ago and noticed a popping noise when I would push the "char" button on the second channel. It pops every time I press it, compared to a loose guitar cable in the input. I contacted the retailer and they happily sent me a new unit, which arrived today. Not only does that unit pop as well, but the input is VERY noisy when moving the cables around. I have read these are supposed to be quiet, but I have not had 2 which are almost unusable. To be sure it was not a power issue, I did plug it in to a power conditioner and the problem continues. Just curious if you have experienced the same or do you have a nice quiet unit. I love the tones I get out of this thing, so I am prepared to keep trying, but wanted to be sure this was not just a common issue I would have to deal with.

Appreciate any feedback you have!

JT

Seriously, I would recommend the Trace Elliot Transit-B over this all day long. I had both and always went back to the Transit-B for everything bass-related.

 

[pisces_bass]

Seriously, I would recommend the Trace Elliot Transit-B over this all day long. I had both and always went back to the Transit-B for everything bass-related.

I like the Trace sound too. The Tech21 stuff has it’s own thing going though, and it’s pretty different than TE. Do you think they get close, maybe comparing the BDDI run clean with the TE pre-shape sound? Do you use your Transit-B for gigs? I wonder if the Tech21 cabsim makes it the better tool for playing live.

 

[JCW308]

I like the Trace sound too. The Tech21 stuff has it’s own thing going though, and it’s pretty different than TE. Do you think they get close, maybe comparing the BDDI run clean with the TE pre-shape sound? Do you use your Transit-B for gigs? I wonder if the Tech21 cabsim makes it the better tool for playing live.

I only use the Trace Transit-A (acoustic) and Transit-B (bass) for gigs now. They have a much warmer, cleaner sound with zero noise. The entire setup is better (for me at least) by a good margin.

 

[JCW308]

Just to be clear, I'm not Trace fanboy. I just owned several versions of both "fly rigs" and would up choosing the Trace equipment over the Tech 21 equipment in all cases.

 

[Jumbotron]

The Transit-B looks really good, but with the sounds I've heard, I just can't get with the overdrive. I like Sansamp overdrive a lot better, and that's going to be decisive for me, I think.

 

[pisces_bass]

I’ve always been a 90% clean tone player and I ran Trace gear in the 90’s. I definitely hear a lot of what I like in the Transit-B. What I’ve discovered is how good Sansamp drive sounds are. I’m using drive now more often, usually with the tone knob rolled back some.

Of the current Trace gear, the most intriguing to me is the 1200 head. I’d like to try my Sansamp in the effects loop of that beast.

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

Updated thought on the Fly Rig v2. Jammed again tonight and what a difference using this unit at home vs. in a rehearsal studio and a full band setting. I was playing through a Mesa Boogie 800 Subway head into a 4x10 Ampeg cab and I was really pleased with the sounds I got from the Fly Rig 2. In SansAmp BDDI mode with Character knob pushed in, it did a great job emulating a tube amp. What really sounded great was the Octafilter. Just playing around with it, I got a cool synthy tone playing on the E string with Q turned all the way up and no Fuzz and no Octave. With Fuzz and / or Octave engaged, and playing with the settings, got some more cool sounds. And using it on some Beatles songs like Come Together and Taxman (all just for fun) it really sounded cool! And rather than playing in my living room in a quiet setting, hearing every little glitchy tone, with a band and the amp cranked up, you just hear the effect. It's a keeper for me.

 

[pisces_bass]

Updated thought on the Fly Rig v2. Jammed again tonight and what a difference using this unit at home vs. in a rehearsal studio and a full band setting. I was playing through a Mesa Boogie 800 Subway head into a 4x10 Ampeg cab and I was really pleased with the sounds I got from the Fly Rig 2. In SansAmp BDDI mode with Character knob pushed in, it did a great job emulating a tube amp. What really sounded great was the Octafilter. Just playing around with it, I got a cool synthy tone playing on the E string with Q turned all the way up and no Fuzz and no Octave. With Fuzz and / or Octave engaged, and playing with the settings, got some more cool sounds. And using it on some Beatles songs like Come Together and Taxman (all just for fun) it really sounded cool! And rather than playing in my living room in a quiet setting, hearing every little glitchy tone, with a band and the amp cranked up, you just hear the effect. It's a keeper for me.

The “moving air test”. Sounds fun!

 

[Zarniwoop]

After one year of constant using BFR v2 i must say that this thing is definitely a keeper. Never had any problem, played it in clubs, city squares, rehearsals, sound guys loving what i send to them through DI.
Only thing i couldn't use from it is Octaver. It's okay for me because i'm never using that kind of fx in any band so far.
Filter itself, or combined with Fuzz works very well. Chorus is great, Compression is more than usable, and it's always on for me. I set my Channel section like this: Yellow is my main tone, red is boosted with slightly more drive and level. Tuner is accurate and reliable. I've used FX loop for delay pedal few times, and it's great addition if anybody needs extra FX in the chain.

 

[The Veg]

Interesting discussion. I've been considering one of these and have watched a ton of demo-videos but I'm a little unclear on how well it would do what I'm interested in doing. What I'd like to do is run just a little overdrive (a 'slight growl,' if you will) most of the time but then be able to step-up to some angrier growl for sections of some songs, but then there's a song or two for which I'd like to be able to start out in a bypass/clean sound and go straight to the angrier growl in one move, skipping the slight growl. Not sure if I'd use the chorus at all (would just need to experiment and see how it sounds), but the built-in tuner makes the FRV2 seem like a nice easy alternative to building even a small pedal-board. Thoughts?

 

[Thom Fioriglio]

Interesting discussion. I've been considering one of these and have watched a ton of demo-videos but I'm a little unclear on how well it would do what I'm interested in doing. What I'd like to do is run just a little overdrive (a 'slight growl,' if you will) most of the time but then be able to step-up to some angrier growl for sections of some songs, but then there's a song or two for which I'd like to be able to start out in a bypass/clean sound and go straight to the angrier growl in one move, skipping the slight growl. Not sure if I'd use the chorus at all (would just need to experiment and see how it sounds), but the built-in tuner makes the FRV2 seem like a nice easy alternative to building even a small pedal-board. Thoughts?

The Fly Rig should be able to do all of that. For the EQ section, there are 3 settings you can use - bypass, Channel 1 and Channel 2. So you can have channel 1 set for slight growl, and 2 set for more growl. You can begin in bypass mode and then engage channel 2. And then you have the option of Character button. Unfortunately that's not a foot switch, but a button you would have to press with your finer. You can also add a touch of fuzz for more growl. But the Octafilter section takes some time to really get to know. And if you've watched the videos, you are aware of the various tones this thing can put out.

I would suggest buying one from a store with a good return policy. Live with it for several weeks and really get to know it and decide if it's what works for you. I am on my second. I sold the first one after a month or so, but then missed it, so bought another and it's a keeper for me. Also check for a used one. I got mine for $200.

The tuner is very functional, and when I compare it to my stand alone tuner, very accurate. It's super light and super versatile but does take some time to get to know.

 

[The Veg]

Thanks Thom, and thanks for describing it simply and concisely. I find that a lot of product-demo videos hot the viewer over the head with so much information on the capabilities of products that it can be hard in some cases to discern some of what they can do. I'll start shopping.

 

[AK Bass Guy]

I just bought one of these today and messed around with it a bit going into my DAW.
First impressions are similar to OPs.
Compression is simple but it works great can get nice big round sound from it.
Chorus does not have a lot of options but it sounds good, don’t really miss the extra knobs.
The character and speaker emulation buttons add some nice flavor.
Drive and EQ section work well and shaping my tone to liking was easy.
The bite button when playing solo doesn’t sound like something I would want to use but when playing along with a bunch of tracks it really helps with articulation not getting lost in the mix.
As far as the fuzz goes, not really my cup of tea and I can’t see using it much.
Octave feature sounds cool but was a little slow tracking IMO, I could see it useful if I wanted to lay down some fat pedal tone whole notes to get that synth pad thing going.

All in all so far I’m happy with my purchase and does all the things I need and more well.
If I played with a bunch of pedals I could see this as something viable to replace a few of them.
It’s definitely perfect IMO for a bass player that normally plays clean but wants to have quick access to some FX, a comp, preamp, and EQ. Add to that it’s also a DI, so that’s a lot of useful toys that fits easily into the front pocket of a gig bag.

Good job Tech 21.

 

[Zbysek]

I just bought one of these today and messed around with it a bit going into my DAW.
First impressions are similar to OPs.
Compression is simple but it works great can get nice big round sound from it.
Chorus does not have a lot of options but it sounds good, don’t really miss the extra knobs.
The character and speaker emulation buttons add some nice flavor.
Drive and EQ section work well and shaping my tone to liking was easy.
The bite button when playing solo doesn’t sound like something I would want to use but when playing along with a bunch of tracks it really helps with articulation not getting lost in the mix.
As far as the fuzz goes, not really my cup of tea and I can’t see using it much.
Octave feature sounds cool but was a little slow tracking IMO, I could see it useful if I wanted to lay down some fat pedal tone whole notes to get that synth pad thing going.

All in all so far I’m happy with my purchase and does all the things I need and more well.
If I played with a bunch of pedals I could see this as something viable to replace a few of them.
It’s definitely perfect IMO for a bass player that normally plays clean but wants to have quick access to some FX, a comp, preamp, and EQ. Add to that it’s also a DI, so that’s a lot of useful toys that fits easily into the front pocket of a gig bag.

Good job Tech 21.

I have noticed that the Fly Rig does not feature the blend knob... Do you miss it?

 

[AK Bass Guy]

I have noticed that the Fly Rig does not feature the blend knob... Do you miss it?

Not really because it’s the only thing in the signal chain I need now. Not a heavy FX guy anymore.
I like to add a little dirt and sometimes that heavy compression vibe.
Matching signal with the pedal engaged to bypass is also easy to dial in.
I might miss it if I was using the FX loop with pedals that don’t have blend.

It reminds me kind of like the Fishman DI/Preamp I used on my DB a decade+ ago. Simple, compact, and versatile.

So I guess players super picky about being able to tweak every variable might find it lacking in those regards.

 

[Deleted member 409773]

I have the FlyRig v2 and is very good for a basic bass tone with some sparkle in it.
- The compressor is musical and good, but not for a slap maniac who like the ghost notes to sound like a kick drum, or for a funk maniac who are searching for the same effect for the ghost notes in his playing - me, for example -, but in general is a very good and a simple solution.
- The SansAmp part is really good, I use chanel 1 for my always on sound and chanel 2 with a little push in volume and very little in drive for slap or more present parts in the songs.
- FX part: the octaver is not for me, i don't like it, I don't use it. The envelope filter is not the best, but usable and fun. The Chorus is good. The tuner is good to.

 

[JCW308]

I had one, was too noisy, I now use a Kemper Player and that has been fantastic.

 

[Azari]

Since I don’t need fuzz or any other effects, this is my pedal based Fly Rig.

I’m actually quite partial to the old no mids knob BDDI…