OK. So is the message here that I used the wrong wording, and that pre-ordering with a charge card down isn't really & truly 'taking $' so I shouldn't complain? Honestly.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Correct, you shouldn't complain like you were done some huge disservice. Hope that helps you in the future.
The disservice is announcing in January, taking orders for a March availability, then bumping release to April, then May, and then June, etc.
FYI, I just noticed it’s been moved to July. :lol:
I decided to wait and keep my spot in line. Not charged so might as well just wait.
I decided to wait and keep my spot in line. Not charged so might as well just wait.
Recent convert here. I slept on this brand for a long time. The new Amalgamation was such a slam dunk it made me go back and start listening to some demos of the BDDI again, and when I did I realized that it sounded like what I've been trying to get out of my X Ultra for a while. I still love the Darkglass and I think it's brilliant, but this is doing more what I want these days. It's got the real guts in the low end. And it does the "sharp clean" thing a lot better. I like that it can have a fair bit of drive dialed in but still present as basically a clean sound that you can drive harder with playing dynamics. And it has that thing that's hard to put a finger on but, it makes the notes in the middle of the fretboard jump out almost effortlessly. With a lot of drives it's almost like they make the notes in the middle and upper registers of the neck less audible and you have to work a little harder to get them to speak. I noticed with the Sansamp that those notes speak really well and have almost a sort of bounce to them.
I really appreciate that the EQ is tuned specifically for bass, and how interactive the controls are. You can turn them up or down more than you think and still end up with a good tone. It gives the pedal unexpected flexibility and a fun user experience. With a lot of EQ's I tend to feel like they're adjusting the frequencies in a very literal way almost in isolation, like there's no particular magic going on with respect to how these frequencies are supposed to result in a musical bass tone at the end of the day. You're just raising or lowering 500k or whatever, and if you raise or lower it more than a little you end up with either a conspicuous lack or a spike. With the Sansamp there's a sense that the sweep is tuned to result in a good sounding bass tone all throughout its range. It's a lot cleverer than I had thought. I particularly like the little tip given in the manual that the Treble control is clean top end while the Presence is more of a driven, harmonically rich top end. That's pretty fun to play with. I feel like a lot of the magic of the pedal is in that Presence control. I think it's really worth going through the sample settings they put in the manual because they reveal how the pedal can cover a lot of ground in unexpected ways.
Anyway, I see now why this pedal is regarded among the greats. Its reputation is well deserved and I'm loving it so far. My problem is that I can easily see this being a rabbit hole into more Tech 21 stuff.
I really appreciate that the EQ is tuned specifically for bass, and how interactive the controls are. You can turn them up or down more than you think and still end up with a good tone. It gives the pedal unexpected flexibility and a fun user experience. With a lot of EQ's I tend to feel like they're adjusting the frequencies in a very literal way almost in isolation, like there's no particular magic going on with respect to how these frequencies are supposed to result in a musical bass tone at the end of the day. You're just raising or lowering 500k or whatever, and if you raise or lower it more than a little you end up with either a conspicuous lack or a spike. With the Sansamp there's a sense that the sweep is tuned to result in a good sounding bass tone all throughout its range. It's a lot cleverer than I had thought. I particularly like the little tip given in the manual that the Treble control is clean top end while the Presence is more of a driven, harmonically rich top end. That's pretty fun to play with. I feel like a lot of the magic of the pedal is in that Presence control. I think it's really worth going through the sample settings they put in the manual because they reveal how the pedal can cover a lot of ground in unexpected ways.
Anyway, I see now why this pedal is regarded among the greats. Its reputation is well deserved and I'm loving it so far. My problem is that I can easily see this being a rabbit hole into more Tech 21 stuff.
I’ve cut mids around 300-400 hz, added highs and didn’t touch bass. But I’ve watched again video from Tech21 about what Sansamp you should use and noticed that they are not cutting mids but do boost and it makes sense now.
How do you use the X Ultra and BDDI together? Do you ever use them at the same time? I have both as well, and I haven't found them to sound too good when used at the same time.
D
Yes, on the clean side it's Cali76, DCX and SansAmp, on the heavy side it's also Darkglass.
The settings on the Cali76 v2 Bass Compressor are: Dry at noon, Out at 10 o'clock, In at 1 o'clock, Ratio 4:1, Attack 5.1ms, Release 73ms (so at maximum clockwise), HPF is at noon.
On the DCX Bass the settings are: on EQ mode, Out at noon, drive at 11 o'clock, LF at 1 o'clock, HF at 1 o'clock.
Darkglass Microtubes X Ultra is set: low comp at 1 o'clock, low level at 2 o'clock, high level at noon, high drive at 11 o'clock, low pass at 250hz, high pass at 700hz. Eq: 80hz boost two lines, 250hz boost one line, 500hz scoop one line, 1.5khz and 3khz boost one line, 5khz at noon.
SansAmp BDDI v2: out at 10 o'clock, blend at 3 o'clock, treble at 2 o'clock, presence at 1 o'clock, drive at 10 o'clock, mid scoop at 11 o'clock (1khz), bass at 1 o'clock (80hz).
D
SansAmp and Tech21 fans and users, I posted an article about the history and relevance of the NY company. If you want to read and learn about these pedals you can read the article. Yes, it's long, I worked on it for three days, totaling somewhere around 20-24 hours of research and writing. But I hope it was worth it.
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/th...ined-the-modern-guitar-bass-workflow.1686540/
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/th...ined-the-modern-guitar-bass-workflow.1686540/
Keep in mind that a 40 Hz cut does not mean that no freqs below that point will get through. There's always a slope, and 40Hz happens to be the starting point of that slope. Better (more expensive?) filters have a steeper slope -- greater dB per octave. But there won't be a completely vertical cutoff.
I liked the article, and I generally like Tech 21 products. If they made the exact rig I want, and they don’t, I’d be using it exclusively.
What is that, exactly?
Basically, make an analog Helix. Take all of the Character Series pedals, the effects (Boost Chorus, Killer Wail V2, etc.), and add the ability to rearrange them in the chain, using some sort of interface. I don’t love the idea of digital or touchscreen on an analog device that shouldn’t need firmware updates, but it works well. Then again, whammy effects are almost always digital, so there would need to be some compromise.
If that isn’t feasible, get rid of the rearrangement feature. A fixed signal path, with all of the effects, and stereo XLR I/O would be perfect.
What is that, exactly?
Basically, make an analog Helix. Take all of the Character Series pedals, the effects (Boost Chorus, Killer Wail V2, etc.), and add the ability to rearrange them in the chain, using some sort of interface. I don’t love the idea of digital or touchscreen on an analog device that shouldn’t need firmware updates, but it works well. Then again, whammy effects are almost always digital, so there would need to be some compromise.
If that isn’t feasible, get rid of the rearrangement feature. A fixed signal path, with all of the effects, and stereo XLR I/O would be perfect.
To have all those guts, and an analogue patch bay (be that via jumpers, or switches) would be a pretty enormous, and expensive box.
Switching between VTDI and BDDI, depending on preferred sound, and fine tuning it through the Q\Strip before sending it to FOH.
Too many SansAmps?
Ain’t no such thing!
Hell yeah. I run a BDDI into a Q/Strip as well. Never thought of adding my VT Bass DI to the mix.
I was soooo hoping to get the Bass driver Elite, but ive given up all hope and won't bother waiting for it (yes, ive seen the news letter). Ive had the BDDi and VTDI and Paradriver. loved them all but the BDDI was always my fav. I really wanted a programable version WITH mid control.
Ive recently got a PSA 2.0 and im blown away with it. Its one the it have never bothered looking at before, mainly as It never seems to have what I wanted. I really wish I had got this when it first came out, it would have saved me a lot of money trying other Pre amps.
Ive recently got a PSA 2.0 and im blown away with it. Its one the it have never bothered looking at before, mainly as It never seems to have what I wanted. I really wish I had got this when it first came out, it would have saved me a lot of money trying other Pre amps.
Does anybody know whether the XLR output on Character series (English Muffy in particular) is protected against phatntom power?
THX
THX
FYI, I received a response from the Tech 21 technical support that it is (phantom protected).
