Tech 21 Club

[tech21nyc]

@tech21nyc congrats on the release of the redesigned RBI!
View attachment 4852064

I have a quick question, does the new version still have this crazy sub lows boost to it?

View attachment 4852066

The circuitry has not changed in the RBI. Only the switch and silk screening.

Your test image doesn't seem to be accurate. Your input level seems way too low and you are measuring background hum. Here is an FFT screen shot with a 500 Hertz signal at -10dB (instrument level) with the Blend full up, Presence off, Drive, Bass, Mid and Treble at 12 o'clock. We were able to get a setting similar to yours by turning off the Drive control which is not recommended. The Drive is also your input gain. For cleaner sounds the Drive should be set to at least 9 o'clock.

 

[Kro]

Your input level seems way too low and you are measuring background hum.

Thanks, I greatly appreciate the response, and of course you are correct, I did have the input signal very low so as to make sure I wasn't registering any distortion. I suppose I just assumed that there would be greater low-end roll off similar to the BDDI that appears to have something of a more typical HPF presentation built in (at least as best as I can tell). We might have discussed this aspect before, but I wasn't sure if it was something that might have been adjusted on the latest RBI units.

Since my initial version was used with a very low signal, I figured it might be best to also share a better real world example - this is a capture (blue) from an actual bass part with peaks held, drive on the RBI at 9:30 (which is actually where I prefer it). Bass is my passive Yamaha BB which is very similar in output and character to my Precision:

It does match very closely with what you shared above, though I'm surprised that it's still letting so much of that sub-low signal through by design instead of having a continual roll-off. I also took a second capture from a part where I'm resting (green) to show the actual background hum level. Again, this is with me holding the instrument, everything hooked up, just resting for a few measures. As you can see the background hum, unless I'm mistaken, is much lower than the sub-lows that the RBI actually lets through.

As I'm looking at the BDDI curve, it has the more typical roll-off I'm accustomed to, though I admit the RBI also has that initial steeper dip.

I'm finding myself wishing that the RBI had a more traditional roll off, like the more typical HPF of the BDDI, as it seems to just "flat-line" with the lows after that initial dip (and I admit that RBI dip sounds good). Perhaps this concerns me a bit more than it should, but I have the feeling that more of those unusable lows are being kept in with the RBI which concerns me in terms of both driver protection and just asking the power amps to amplify them. I guess my real question is: is this irrational? Is there maybe a reason why I shouldn't be concerned with the elevated sub-lows of the RBI?

 

[BrentSimons]

@tech21nyc congrats on the release of the redesigned RBI!
View attachment 4852064

I have a quick question, does the new version still have this crazy sub lows boost to it?

View attachment 4852066

Cool but I wish they would have added a dedicated "mute" switch? I don't know...I think I may have liked the old switch/light better? I wonder if they are having difficulty obtaining the parts? Still a great preamp though!
Brent

 

[Kro]

Cool but I wish they would have added a dedicated "mute" switch?

You add a tuner/mute in front of yours and I'll put a HPF after mine and we'll be set.

For my thing, I guess I'm mostly just interested in why the difference. As a one-stop-shop "sans-amp" tone shaper I figured an HPF/sub-filter would be a part of that as it is on I think all the other models. But maybe it's working in a way that I'm missing.

I'm just curious as to why it was designed the way it was vs. the other models.

 

[scottfeldstein]

Does this club have membership? If so I'd like to get one! I have used several Tech 21 products in the past, but the apple of my eye right now is the YYZ. What a quirky but delightful pedal. It does of course "Geddy." But there's a lot more in there. Right now I have the Drive at about 1 o'clock, the Mix at around 9, and the lows and mids boosted to 3 or 4. It gives my jazz bass a BIG ampy sound without buzzy distortion. So good for a basic rock tone. I A/B'd it with the Pork & Pickle and the YYZ crushes it like a grape.

 

[Kro]

If so I'd like to get one!

In accordance with long-standing tradition, you are member #21.

 

[ThudThudThud]

Can I be an honourary member? Lost mine to the great fire, but possibly something new in the future (not gigging anymore).
Started in the very early '90s with the v1. SABDDI, then later bought a TriAC (for guitar and bass) which I actually later traded with a fellow TBer for a SAPBDDI. Both went on my board with the SAPBDDI doing the heavy lifting, and the SABDDI there as an 'oomph' pedal. Then got an RPM, which changed my life, and then we had the Thomas fire.
I may get a ParaDriver in the future for my DAW setup.

 

[wolfkeller]

Thinking about it, im pretty amazed this is a small group when soooo many have and use sansamp.

 

[tech21nyc]

Thanks, I greatly appreciate the response, and of course you are correct, I did have the input signal very low so as to make sure I wasn't registering any distortion. I suppose I just assumed that there would be greater low-end roll off similar to the BDDI that appears to have something of a more typical HPF presentation built in (at least as best as I can tell). We might have discussed this aspect before, but I wasn't sure if it was something that might have been adjusted on the latest RBI units.

Since my initial version was used with a very low signal, I figured it might be best to also share a better real world example - this is a capture (blue) from an actual bass part with peaks held, drive on the RBI at 9:30 (which is actually where I prefer it). Bass is my passive Yamaha BB which is very similar in output and character to my Precision:

View attachment 4852773

It does match very closely with what you shared above, though I'm surprised that it's still letting so much of that sub-low signal through by design instead of having a continual roll-off. I also took a second capture from a part where I'm resting (green) to show the actual background hum level. Again, this is with me holding the instrument, everything hooked up, just resting for a few measures. As you can see the background hum, unless I'm mistaken, is much lower than the sub-lows that the RBI actually lets through.

As I'm looking at the BDDI curve, it has the more typical roll-off I'm accustomed to, though I admit the RBI also has that initial steeper dip.

View attachment 4852813

I'm finding myself wishing that the RBI had a more traditional roll off, like the more typical HPF of the BDDI, as it seems to just "flat-line" with the lows after that initial dip (and I admit that RBI dip sounds good). Perhaps this concerns me a bit more than it should, but I have the feeling that more of those unusable lows are being kept in with the RBI which concerns me in terms of both driver protection and just asking the power amps to amplify them. I guess my real question is: is this irrational? Is there maybe a reason why I shouldn't be concerned with the elevated sub-lows of the RBI?

It shouldn't be a concern. Most power amps have filtering to protect against DC voltage. We've sold thousands of RBI's in the past 20 some years. Nobody has ever reported having a speaker failure that was attributed to the RBI. Our Landmark series bass amps had both the RBI and Para Driver channels and were never known for blowing speakers.

The setting of the Blend control is also important because the Dry signal does not have the same low end roll off that the SansAmp signal has. This is one reason that the EQ affects both signals.

 

[_Some Dude]

I started running a GT-2 this past weekend. Sounds great, and I really like how it sits in the mix.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I started running a GT-2 this past weekend. Sounds great, and I really like how it sits in the mix.

Decades ago a guitarist bandmate let me try his GT-2 and I got some great tones out of it. Like an idiot I ignored my ears and thought "it's a guitar pedal, I need to stick with my BDDI". Of course the BDDI is a classic and I had it dialed in... and back then I couldn't really afford to become a pedal addict, so it's just as well I stuck with just one.

 

[_Some Dude]

Decades ago a guitarist bandmate let me try his GT-2 and I got some great tones out of it. Like an idiot I ignored my ears and thought "it's a guitar pedal, I need to stick with my BDDI". Of course the BDDI is a classic and I had it dialed in... and back then I couldn't really afford to become a pedal addict, so it's just as well I stuck with just one.

Strangely, I'm in the opposite wheelhouse; because I use a BDDI as a DI, I have a reluctance to treat it like a distortion pedal, even though I know it does a great job in that roll.

 

[wolfkeller]

I love my tech 21 gear. I run a bddi v2 into my svt4s live and I use an RBI off the parallel jack to FOH, so my RBI is my FOH sound.

I have a vt1969 I use for one off or smaller gigs, I use a landmark 300 for a preamp for rehearsal and at home I run a bddi v1 into my svtcl.

 

[vvvmmm]

Strangely, I'm in the opposite wheelhouse; because I use a BDDI as a DI, I have a reluctance to treat it like a distortion pedal, even though I know it does a great job in that roll.

The GASsy answer is, of course, mebbe time for a second BDDI.

But that's just me (and about mebbe half of TB).

 

[Lammchop93]

Tech 21 should make a DI pedal that is essentially the landmark preamp. I'd be all over it!

 

[wolfkeller]

Tech 21 should make a DI pedal that is essentially the landmark preamp. I'd be all over it!

Yup. I used the landmark 300 as a preamp into a poweramp for my rehearsal rig. The power section doesn't work

 

[Marko 1]

I just saw this thread and realized that I do have a Tech 21 product.

This past summer I got a SansAmp RBI for my rack rig, to replace another Pre that had features I just didn't like or want.

I'm sure I need to play with the knobs more to find the best sound, but this is where it got set for this, the only gig where I've used it so far.

I've been using my bass head, but this RBI is definitely a keeper!

 

[Doug P]

Sign me up. I have / use the RPM but also own RBI, Bass Driver II. I've had in the past had a few discussions with Lloyd,RIP and he took time to really help me with my issue. Also, had very good service on a repair. So yea, I'm in

 

[Kro]

@wolfkeller I remember you being a VTRM user at one point, though now it seems like you might have switched back to the RBI? Do I have that right?

If I do, why did you move from the VTRM?

 

[wolfkeller]

Ya know,

@wolfkeller I remember you being a VTRM user at one point, though now it seems like you might have switched back to the RBI? Do I have that right?

If I do, why did you move from the VTRM?

Ya know, I do alot of back in forth but I stay in the same zip code. Back then, I was running that preamp, which is an ampeg sound, into gallien krueger amps. I wanted the ampeg sound with the power and reliability of Gk. Eventually I moved to ampeg amps which I love now. I felt that the VT preamp was unnecessary and went back to where I started, bddi im various forms. V1, v2, RBI, ect. I've tried all kinds of things, Master effects, darkglass, but I always come back.

I really dont see my rig changing much anymore. Bddi v2 into svt 4pro (2) into 2 svt 810s. I have the rbi for FOH only.

My B rig is a vt1969 head into a heritage 810. That sounds just like my svt cl to me.