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Tech21 Sansamp VT-bass reviewed

#81
i thought the BDDI and RBI were great in theory, but weak and hi-fi sounding in reality (owned and sold both).

i wish i had this VT pedal 10 years ago when i was on tour nearly full time. sure, just a pedal can't capture all of the air-pushing, chest-thumping hammer of a 70's SVT 300 watt tube power amp, but it does get the tone and the feel just right.

through my ashdown with a p-bass, it brings the rock. i can't believe i waited so long to get this baby. i can't wait to play it with a full band and see how it fits in the mix.

thanks tech 21!

settings: nearly all at 12 o'clock - and it's perfect!
 
#83
I got mine, loved it when playing by myself, but I just didn't like it with full band. I ended up bypassing it every practice with my band because I jsut prefered the tone of my amp more. It did inspire me, however, to start selling all my pedals and amp and just buy an svt 2 pro! Who wants my VT!?!?!
 
#84
sorry for digging up this 1/2 month old thread.

I have a question for VT owners, when you say you run the pedal clean (as in clean tone without overdrive i suppose) and get a good tubey sound from it, does it mean that both the character knobs and drive knobs are at minimum setting? or just the drive knob only?
 
#85
drive knob only. i tend to keep the character knob near noon because it sounds more like a b-15, which probably reflects my tastes better than an svt set flat (but not a heavily eq'd svt ;) )
 
#87
For my "clean" tone, I set the character almost to 11:00, and the drive at 1:00, mid at 11, low at 3, high at 12. This gives me a nice greasy bottom and clean top.

I suspect that the character knob is primarily a fixed boost (2-5 dB, pre-drive) with a sweepable cutoff freq. With the drive set just right, as you turn the character knob only those boosted frequencies distort. At least, that's the behavior I've observed so far. Unfortunately I have to wait 2 weeks before I'll get to use this thing with the band.

Edit: The low will probably come down, as I've got a wicked room mode that sucks everything below 80Hz.
 
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#88
I know, I know, it's an old thread.
But I just bought and tested a Tech 21 VT bass, because there are some gigs coming up where I have to play the housestack (and almost all of the times, something way less than my Ampeg).
Just have to tell, this little thing saves the day! No more sweating to get a reasonable sound.
To me, the VT is a good buy!
 
#91
LSMFT6 said:
Anyone else keep the Character knob all the way up? I love the med-heavy OD I get with the right EQ settings, really nice smooth crunch.
Click to expand...
I have, and I love overdrive but it was too intense with the mids for me. I like But like High Noon said, it's all a matter of taste...if you're getting a sound you like with it, far be it from me to talk you out of it.
 
#94
http://youtu.be/Nmsc10oV_F8

There you go. I start with the speaker sim off, turn it on for about as long as I can stand it, and it's off for the rest of the video. The only thing I change is pickup blend, the VT settings stay the same. This is more a demo of the one setting I really like and never see people use rather than the pedal itself. There is a clean tone section in the middle.

Carvin B40 with active preamp - VT Bass - Ampeg 210 combo - iPhone.
 
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#96
Now I hear you using it, I can dig the Character way up.
With speaker simulation off sounds better, although I'm listening to crappy speakers here at home, so no 100% opinion there.

I'll be testing the VT through a Tube amp (a FAD, a special high end hand made one) later this week and I have a gig in April where I'm forced to play with an Eden ;-)
I'll post my experience later, if there's interest.
(allready played through my Ampeg Portaflex stack as well as my Trace Elliot)
 
#98
Thanks for the video, inspired me to play around with my VTBassDI some more. I generally don't like the OD out of the VT bass pedals but based on your suggestion I boosted the character close to 3 oclock & brought the mids back around 10 oclock played around with the drive & low/high eq's. It is a nice OD afterall, much better with the mids pulled back some, the character is another mid eq section of sorts anyway. I almost always leave the speaker sim defeated with the blend most often between 2 or 3 oclock.
 
#99
Well, as expected, the VT Bass did very well with the FAD (major 400) amp and 215 FAD cab.
Think high end Fender regarding the FAD and you're close soundwise.
The pedal, amp and cab work together well IMHO.
Tested it fairly loud, all variations, my mate likes it too (and is thinking of getting one).
The cab simulation on or off does make a difference, for me off is nicer with the FAD.
So, April 17th it will be tested in a gig with an Eden WTB 400 head + cab, see how that works out. And that is for me the big test.
 

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