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Tech 21 Bass Fly Rig v2

#161
Isaac_James said:
FedEx wasn't supposed to deliver this until Tuesday, but I guess it's my lucky day. I've only had about half an hour to play with it, so I'll share a full review later, but a few initial thoughts:

1) Build quality is superb, this feels very solidly constructed. I was actually surprised at how small it is, even having watched some demo videos it's quite compact. The metal tin it comes in is nice too, I doubt I will use it for storage but I will try to find some other use for it rather than throwing it away.

2) Fiddling with the knobs a bit and I can say they are quite sensitive. A little goes a long way here.

3) Compression sounds nice. I haven't played with the full range yet but dialed in at 12:00 it does exactly what I want it to.

4) Sansamp is the star of the show here. I will need to do a lot more fiddling with this but I dialed in a few of the recommended settings from the manual, and it sounds fantastic, especially using the compressor.

5) Octafilter section definitely has a steep learning curve. I got some fun tones out of it but haven't found anything I would want to use in an actual live setting yet. I know some folks have said that the tracking on the octaver is kind of shagy, I found that to be the case with some settings but not others. I feel that more experiments are needed before I can say whether I like this section or not.

6) Chorus is pretty straightforward and sounds nice. The tuner works great. I played with the cab simulation off/on and... I can't really tell a difference.

7) Overall, I'm pretty happy. I wanted a Sansamp, a compressor, and a quick and easy tuner. I got all that for $300, plus some other tools to fiddle with. Maybe I'll use them, maybe I won't, but I am happy with this purchase.
Click to expand...
My thoughts as well.
 
#162
Isaac_James said:
Having played a little more with the Fly Rig, I have some updated thoughts on how to get the most out of this pedal.

1) The compressor seems to offer a little bit of grit when it’s turned up high. It also gives a bit of a volume boost when the comp knob is turned up, so be careful and use the level knob to compensate. I initially had it dialed in around noon, but I’ve scaled it back to about 9:00 and I think it sounds nice without being too squishy.

2) The Sansamp section is very versatile, between the EQ and drive settings, the ability to switch channels, add “bite” and swap between Bass Driver DI and VT modes. I prefer the sound of the VT character with bite turned on, but you can get a LOT of different sounds using just this section.

3) Octafilter… let’s just say that this part of it is not nearly as user friendly as the other features of the pedal. It’s not bad, but it takes some getting used to. As a lot of users noted from the v1 of this pedal, the octaver by itself is not very good. Tracking is off, doesn’t sound great. If you just want an octave divider, get a separate pedal. However, when it’s blended in with the fuzz and envelope filter it does make a nice moog synth tone. Fuzz and envelope filter features both sound decent soloed, but switching between the different modes is finicky so don’t expect to be able to use more than one setting for a single set. Pick your favorite mode for this section, dial it in, and that’s what it will do.

4) One of the minor differences between v1 and v2 is that the headphone out switch was removed and replaced by a button to defeat cab simulation. I’ve played around with this a bit, honestly the difference is so slight to my ears that I really don’t see the point. I’d rather have a headphone output.

5) The chorus effect is pretty well designed and straightforward. Tuner works quite well and is easy to turn on and off.

My preferred settings on this are a little bit of compression, VT character and bite on the Sansamp, channel 1 with a little bit of drive and channel 2 with drive at about 12:00. Octafilter section is set to an aggressive fuzz tone so I can switch between clean (Sansamp off), dusty (Sansamp channel 1) dirty (channel 2), filthy (channel 2 + fuzz) or mud-caked (filthy + chorus). Most of the time I expect I will stick with the “dusty” mode, as a baseline it has a really nice tone and I’m excited to see how it plays in the mix with a band.
Click to expand...
This
 
#163
I really wish Tech21 would go the other way from whatever way they are going, from a product development standpoint. The BFR and the SH1/Dug pedals are a great platform that is totally underutilized in the context of just doing what they do well, but better. Give us a BFR sized unit with the best of 2112 + BDDI + VTDI preamp sections (including the blend, parametric mid, bite). Give us 2 gain settings from SH1, maybe the second mid knob. Keep the tuner, effect loop. Ditch chorus and octafilter; quality expectations are WAY higher than whats been delivered here. A proper compressor that is more adjustable, usable across more of the range. That's it. Use all them knobs/space to just do Preamp, tuner, compressor... but better.
Alternatively, repackage the q\strip and add a little sansamp dirt and a variable frequency HPF... Must be bedtime because I'm dreaming.
 
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#164
ravlin said:
I really wish Tech21 would go the other way from whatever way they are going, from a product development standpoint. The BFR and the SH1/Dug pedals are a great platform that is totally underutilized in the context of just doing what they do well, but better. Give us a BFR sized unit with the best of 2112 + BDDI + VTDI preamp sections (including the blend, parametric mid, bite). Give us 2 gain settings from SH1, maybe the second mid knob. Keep the tuner, effect loop. Ditch chorus and octafilter; quality expectations are WAY higher than whats been delivered here. A proper compressor that is more adjustable, usable across more of the range. That's it. Use all them knobs/space to just do Preamp, tuner, compressor... but better.
Alternatively, repackage the q\strip and add a little sansamp dirt and a variable frequency HPF... Must be bedtime because I'm dreaming.
Click to expand...
This @tech21nyc, please, I'll throw money at you for this.
 
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#165
So I tried my Bass Fly Rig 2 at band rehearsal for the first time. It worked very smoothly. I liked the ease and functionality of the tuner. The EQ and Comp worked really well. To be honest, in a loud rehearsal studio it was difficult to hear any difference with the Drive on. I don’t use any effects but I did have fun using a Taurus like synth tone on Come Together.
 
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#168
Zooberwerx said:
I would just do 1/4” > 1/4”. Mmmm…what’s a Fast Track?

Riis
Click to expand...

It's an audio interface, and I've definitely done what @Green Knight tried with the XLR cable using a Focusrite interface, it worked just fine.

I wonder if there's a hardware issue here, start by double checking connections, trying a different XLR, trying the 1/4" cable as @Zooberwerx suggested, test running a bass straight to the interface without the fly rig in place... try to narrow down where the problem is coming from.
 
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#169
Isaac_James said:
It's an audio interface, and I've definitely done what @Green Knight tried with the XLR cable using a Focusrite interface, it worked just fine.

I wonder if there's a hardware issue here, start by double checking connections, trying a different XLR, trying the 1/4" cable as @Zooberwerx suggested, test running a bass straight to the interface without the fly rig in place... try to narrow down where the problem is coming from.
Click to expand...

Looked it up. I’m guessing the Fast Track’s guitar input is expecting to see an instrument-level signal (unbalanced) and the BFR is feeding a balanced mic level signal.

Riis
 
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#178
Zooberwerx said:
Man, that's some rock 'n roll right there. If your roll-out everything else, how does the BFR sound solo'd?

Riis
Click to expand...
I don’t know yet! This is all brand new as of today … not the bass of course, the home recording equipment … although not the first time I’ve tried getting into it. I think this time it’ll stick. I’ll try the BGR solo tomorrow and report back!
 
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#179
Green Knight said:
I don’t know yet! This is all brand new as of today … not the bass of course, the home recording equipment … although not the first time I’ve tried getting into it. I think this time it’ll stick. I’ll try the BGR solo tomorrow and report back!
Click to expand...

Man can not discover new horizons unless he's willing to lose sight of the shore...or something like that. Sounds like a fun project.

Riis
 
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#180
Isaac_James said:
FedEx wasn't supposed to deliver this until Tuesday, but I guess it's my lucky day. I've only had about half an hour to play with it, so I'll share a full review later, but a few initial thoughts:

1) Build quality is superb, this feels very solidly constructed. I was actually surprised at how small it is, even having watched some demo videos it's quite compact. The metal tin it comes in is nice too, I doubt I will use it for storage but I will try to find some other use for it rather than throwing it away.

2) Fiddling with the knobs a bit and I can say they are quite sensitive. A little goes a long way here.

3) Compression sounds nice. I haven't played with the full range yet but dialed in at 12:00 it does exactly what I want it to.

4) Sansamp is the star of the show here. I will need to do a lot more fiddling with this but I dialed in a few of the recommended settings from the manual, and it sounds fantastic, especially using the compressor.

5) Octafilter section definitely has a steep learning curve. I got some fun tones out of it but haven't found anything I would want to use in an actual live setting yet. I know some folks have said that the tracking on the octaver is kind of shagy, I found that to be the case with some settings but not others. I feel that more experiments are needed before I can say whether I like this section or not.

6) Chorus is pretty straightforward and sounds nice. The tuner works great. I played with the cab simulation off/on and... I can't really tell a difference.

7) Overall, I'm pretty happy. I wanted a Sansamp, a compressor, and a quick and easy tuner. I got all that for $300, plus some other tools to fiddle with. Maybe I'll use them, maybe I won't, but I am happy with this purchase.
Click to expand...

Well, all good things must end at some point. I listed my Fly Rig for sale on Reverb and got a bite over the weekend, and shipped it out today. However, I'm not yet done with Sansamp products, not by a long shot. The impetus for this was wanting a more flexible preamp that works well for guitar and bass, since I am now playing both. I wound up getting the Para Driver, which is very similar to the BDDI except the midrange is adjustable between 160 and 3000 Hz, making it far more flexible. I ended up selling the Fly Rig for almost as much as I paid for the Para Driver, though I'll still want to replace a few of the other parts, most notably a tuner pedal. I've also ordered a Behringer CS400 compressor - I wouldn't want to get a Behringer for anything I'm going to step on much, but I run compression as an always on feature so I reckon I can get away with a cheap plastic housing there. At some point a chorus and octave pedal will probably join the party too.

I'll miss those colorful light up knobs though! Those are a nice aesthetic touch that the Para Driver doesn't come with.
 
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