Tech 21 Steve Harris Fly Rig

[Nodak Savage]

Hate to be a necro bumper, but I don't see any recent threads on this pedal other than this one. Just picked this up last week. Had the DP-3X for about 6 weeks prior and it just wasn't meshing well with me. Played numerous rehearsals, and 2 gigs and I was just completely lost in the mix everytime, despite having a killing sound alone at home. This SH-1 changes the game for me. I kinda feel a bit guilty giving up on the Pinnick so soon, but it just felt like a complet knob turner for me. The SH is a set it and forget it pedal. Diggin the tone I'm getting so much more than the dUg.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Hate to be a necro bumper, but I don't see any recent threads on this pedal other than this one. Just picked this up last week. Had the DP-3X for about 6 weeks prior and it just wasn't meshing well with me. Played numerous rehearsals, and 2 gigs and I was just completely lost in the mix everytime, despite having a killing sound alone at home. This SH-1 changes the game for me. I kinda feel a bit guilty giving up on the Pinnick so soon, but it just felt like a complet knob turner for me. The SH is a set it and forget it pedal. Diggin the tone I'm getting so much more than the dUg.

I love the dUg pedal but totally understand that the scoop won't work for everyone. The SH1 is ridiculously versatile, and definitely not just for metal (but of course it sounds awesome in that role)!

 

[Geddyfleaharris]

Hate to be a necro bumper, but I don't see any recent threads on this pedal other than this one. Just picked this up last week. Had the DP-3X for about 6 weeks prior and it just wasn't meshing well with me. Played numerous rehearsals, and 2 gigs and I was just completely lost in the mix everytime, despite having a killing sound alone at home. This SH-1 changes the game for me. I kinda feel a bit guilty giving up on the Pinnick so soon, but it just felt like a complet knob turner for me. The SH is a set it and forget it pedal. Diggin the tone I'm getting so much more than the dUg.

I bought the pedal when it came out, maybe 2 years ago now? It has not left my board. I tweak it now and then but overall it stays set. However, I find it very powerful with a wide variety of tones if I wanted to experiment. Love the pedal!

 

[Nodak Savage]

My guitar player and drummer both hate it. They say it lose the "sound of a bass". I kind of get what they are saying, what the heck do I need to do to get this thing to keep some of the essential sounds of what a bass sounds like, but with that slight clank added in?

Current settings are
Blend - dimed
Highs - 12ish
Lows - 130
Mid 2 - 11
Mid 1 - 2
Gain - 12ish

Bite - on
Sim - on

Running through front of a Mesa D-800+ with EQ set flat.
Schecter Evil Twin-4 Fishman Fluence PIckups
Also play with a pick


I'm cutting through so much, so that's not a problem. It's actually 2 much and my guitar player is annoyed as hell by it. If I cut volume I loose something however. It's like I'm either overheard or not heard at all.

 

[BrentSimons]

You could try turning the blend back a bit and disengaging the cab sim? If you are using the scooped mode on your Fishmans you might be losing too much mids in your signal.
Just a thought . Hope this helps!
Brent

 

[Geddyfleaharris]

I don't use the cab sim on mine and my blend is not dimed. More around noon. If your guitarist and drummer think a bass should just be a low end thud with no definition then maybe that is the issue.

 

[Nodak Savage]

You could try turning the blend back a bit and disengaging the cab sim? If you are using the scooped mode on your Fishmans you might be losing too much mids in your signal.
Just a thought . Hope this helps!
Brent

I use my Fishmans with my switch in the down position. Both pickups full on. If I kill the SIM all low end is gone completely. Thats not something I really want. I'll try dialing back blend a bit. I have a gig tonight and don't want to be messing around too much, I'll dial back the blend and adjust my volume and level to unity with that in consideration and see what happens. I don't think I have a crazy EQ or gain setup here, but also dont want the bite overpowering without the sim on. Come to think of it, I'm essentially running close to the Jamerson/Motown sample in the manual, with the exception that I'm using the bite switch.

 

[BrentSimons]

I use my Fishmans with my switch in the down position. If I kill the SIM all low end is gone completely. Thats not something I really want. I'll try dialing back blend a bit. I have a gig tonight and don't want to be messing around too much, I'll dial back the blend and adjust my volume and level to unity with that in consideration and see what happens. I don't think I have a crazy EQ or gain setup here, but also dont want the bite overpowering without the sim on. Come to think of it, I'm essentially running close to the Jamerson/Motown sample in the manual, with the exception that I'm using the bite switch.

Maybe try going into the effects return of your Mesa? That way you are bypassing the amps EQ and are just using the amp as a poweramp. Then it will be just the Tech 21 you are hearing?

 

[FRoss6788]

I think the main issue here is that this is designed for a finger style player to have an extremely bright and clanky attack. Adding a pick to that equation, I think, would make it really tough to tame with the Bite engaged.

 

[Scott Shaw]

I don't have the SH, I have the VT Fly Rig V2. I finally figured out how to use the bright switch. It has a ton of clank, but the secret for me is to roll the tone back on my bass about halfway. I run the EQ section mostly flat and I get really good results like that. Can't stand a bunch of boomy lows.

 

[sunbeast]

I use my Fishmans with my switch in the down position. Both pickups full on. If I kill the SIM all low end is gone completely. Thats not something I really want. I'll try dialing back blend a bit. I have a gig tonight and don't want to be messing around too much, I'll dial back the blend and adjust my volume and level to unity with that in consideration and see what happens. I don't think I have a crazy EQ or gain setup here, but also dont want the bite overpowering without the sim on. Come to think of it, I'm essentially running close to the Jamerson/Motown sample in the manual, with the exception that I'm using the bite switch.

The Bite switch on that pedal is not subtle in any way, and so with it engaged the sound has little in common to the tone without it engaged- I’ve found with it engaged I needed to boost the Bass a bunch and/or cut the Treble nearly all the way. Also agree that some clean blended in is pretty vital (and just a little goes a long way).

In general I found my SH-1 quite frustrating because of how unpredictable the EQ was- lots of great tones but they all required strange and unpredictable settings and combinations to attain.

 

[AndyLES]

I think the main issue here is that this is designed for a finger style player to have an extremely bright and clanky attack. Adding a pick to that equation, I think, would make it really tough to tame with the Bite engaged.

Steve Harris also plays flats...

 

[Nodak Savage]

Steve Harris also plays flats...

I’m not using the Harris settings. Let’s not forget this pedal isn’t a one trick pony.

 

[FRoss6788]

I’m not using the Harris settings. Let’s not forget this pedal isn’t a one trick pony.

I understand, but I do believe the bite switch is the secret sauce to achieve his clank with fingers. Using that with a pick will be brutal.

 

[Nodak Savage]

I understand, but I do believe the bite switch is the secret sauce to achieve his clank with fingers. Using that with a pick will be brutal.

I don't see the point in using this pedal without it to be quite honest with you. I mean, it's the secret sauce and purpose of this whole thing as far as Im concerned. Without it, it literally sounds no different than what I can already dial in on my Mesa D-800+. I just put blend to about 3 o clock friday night and it balanced things out a bit.

 

[tech21nyc]

You will have the best success with the SH1 (like most of our SansAmp products) by dialing in your amp for a neutral tone and letting the SH1 do the majority of your tone shaping. When you run the pedal into another preamp, the two different EQ's will fight against one another. Plugging into the amp's effects return (if available) is the easiest method in most cases since it bypasses the preamp section of the host amp.

 

[Fuzzbass]

I don't see the point in using this pedal without it to be quite honest with you. I mean, it's the secret sauce and purpose of this whole thing as far as Im concerned. Without it, it literally sounds no different than what I can already dial in on my Mesa D-800+. I just put blend to about 3 o clock friday night and it balanced things out a bit.

Seems to me that the pedal isn't the problem. That is, you use it to get a sound that you like (I hope that's safe to assume), but then your bandmates say they don't like it. So, it's up to you to resolve that conflict by either using the pedal to find a compromise tone that suits you and your mates, or just giving up and going back to whatever old tone that they do like.

 

[sunbeast]

I don't see the point in using this pedal without it to be quite honest with you. I mean, it's the secret sauce and purpose of this whole thing as far as Im concerned. Without it, it literally sounds no different than what I can already dial in on my Mesa D-800+. I just put blend to about 3 o clock friday night and it balanced things out a bit.

As someone who quite likes bright and clanky tones I found the way the Bite was implemented far too dramatic for my tastes and actually just as often found myself using the SH-1 with the Bite turned off and Treble boosted which got more into my favored “bitey” tonal universe. I found the midrange centers weren’t right for me to counteract the MASSIVE high-mid boost of the Bite nor to boost high-mids where I want with Bite disabled, so only the Blend and Speaker Sim could help tame it reasonably and I’d still be using fairly extreme EQ settings. I did find the Gain circuit to sound pretty nice, so definitely not a 1-trick pony.

I also agree that if it doesn’t jive in your band mix it just might not be worth struggling with, which is why I moved mine on. Plenty of more predictable ways to get added clank/bite on top of a solid amp tone if that is what you’re looking for

 

[EncoremMP]

I think theres also something to be said to adjusting the eq to your ears and not eyes. A lot of people who dont jive with Sansamp products seem to need to have a "flat" setting to start with. I own several Sansamp pedals (including the SH1) and the tone I get is far from clanky but suits my needs. But if you saw my EQing you may be put off visually.

 

[sunbeast]

I think theres also something to be said to adjusting the eq to your ears and not eyes. A lot of people who dont jive with Sansamp products seem to need to have a "flat" setting to start with. I own several Sansamp pedals (including the SH1) and the tone I get is far from clanky but suits my needs. But if you saw my EQing you may be put off visually.

I certainly don’t mind extreme EQ settings (most of my favorite amps use passive Fender tonestacks so its pretty normal for me to have knobs either at max or at minimum and only intuitive because I’ve been using that sort of tonestack for long enough), but I do find the way the SH-1 EQ is setup made it difficult to find tones I loved without some strange midrange honk or holes particularly when trying to dial in the sort of bitey tones that it is marketed for. I have and use a Tech 21 Oxford and usually use fairly extreme settings there as well, but it works far more intuitively for me due to where/how the EQ acts and I’m not left wanting much of anything from that pedal apart from perhaps a bit more low bass (that pedal gets a much more useful clank/bite for my tastes as well). It’s all subjective of course, and as a pedal designed specifically to cop Steve Harris tones (which are far from conventional tones) it makes sense that it could be pretty polarizing.