Tech21 VT-Bass - where's the magic ?

[JimmyM]

wow! you guys have too much time on your hands.

Mike, the VT Pedal is the greatest invention known to man. For the first time ever, anyone with $150 can get the actual sound of all Ampeg tube amps out of pretty much any situation. Not only the dirty sounds, but the clean sounds, which no pedal ever achieved before. Therefore, I not only think this intense study of how it works is appropriate, I think it should be made a national treasure. And not just the VT but all the Character pedals. And Andrew Barta should be getting the chicks Tiger Woods has been getting.

 

[mike costelow]

hey jimmy,just having fun with you guys.i trust that this pedal is as good as you say and when i come up with a little xtra $$$ i will pick one up.due to loss of hours,gigs slowing up and some health issues $150.00 is a little out of my budget right now.

 

[jk3]

Ya, the way the drive pedal acts on the character as you crank it is very important. But even if you have the drive completely off, it still behaves and sounds like a clean running Ampeg. People seem amazed when I tell them the SVT is the cleanest amp I've ever used, but it's true. And I've never heard that sound in any other amp (Markbass LMII comes close), but Tech 21 nailed it.

these charts are like reading "the matrix" to me...so for the layman, what is a good clean setting on the VT?

thanks

 

[JimmyM]

near-flat has been measured as lows, mids, and character all just ever so slightly past 12:00 and highs on 10:00. sounds like it to me. i tend to boost the low mid just slightly and scoop out a tiny bit of mids with the character. and leave drive off

 

[bassophil]

I have to add to Jimmy's good approach that I have to tune my VT whenever I change the bass I use or the amp/mixer I plug it in.

The VT seems too sensitive to me to find a "one setting fits all" solution.

 

[RBASS930]

Anyone ever try this pedal through a Bergantino IP series cab?

 

[silky smoove]

Anyone ever try this pedal through a Bergantino IP series cab?

I'm no IP expert, but I seem to recall IP users trying the BDDI with little luck. It's been a while, but I remember reading a lot of people saying how the BDDI and the IP's DSP would fight against one another, and how the IP tended to like more pure, neutral, transparent, etc. preamps. My suspicion is that the VT-Bass will have the same type of problem.

...This is all hearsay as I've never tried a Tech 21 product into an IP series cab.

 

[Demon_Hunter]

Having all them squiggly line pictures and all that technical jargon just confuses me even more than I already am.

This line right here by JimmyM would be enough for me to try one if I had that kind of money.

Mike, the VT Pedal is the greatest invention known to man. For the first time ever, anyone with $150 can get the actual sound of all Ampeg tube amps out of pretty much any situation. Not only the dirty sounds, but the clean sounds, which no pedal ever achieved before.

 

[Surly]

It's great pedal if you like Ampeg sound. If not, than I wouldn't recommend it

 

[billoetjen]

This is one of the 3 most instructive threads (with links thrown in) that I've found in the overall hugely instructive TalkBass universe. As a recent (one week now) convert to the Sansamp VT Bass I can say I want to know EVERYTHING I can learn about this effect, in order to be an informed, intelligent user. And this thread takes me a loooong way there. Thank you old dog, and thanks to Andrew Barta, and thanks to all the smart people at TB.
Now, if we could only clear up, for once and for all, the confusion around "fundamental," "first harmonic," "even-order harmonics," "odd order harmonics," etc....
But, really, really great stuff here. Too bad the physical constraints of speaker/cabinet design cannot lend themselves to the kind of testing that's available to electronics folks....

 

[12bass]

Even harmonics are even multiples of the fundamental frequency. So if f = 100 Hz, then even harmonics would be 200, 400, 800, etc.... Odd harmonics would be 300, 500, 700, etc.... First harmonic is somewhat fuzzy, as some mean the fundamental (100 Hz in this case), while others mean the first harmonic overtone above the fundamental (200 Hz), which is actually the second harmonic, making the term a misnomer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonic_series_(music)

 

[Gearhead43]

+1 great thread!

The VT is now "my sound" for Rock n Roll, and I am going to try it out for reggae also, with a different setting.

This pedal is now my "amp". I love the sounds I can get straight into my power amp - but it also sounds killer thru my GK head. The GK is neutral-sounding enough that the Ampeg tube character comes thru very well.

I, like some others here am not using this as an overdrive pedal. I use it for the fat clean tones, and for wooley tones for Rock stuff.

It is very versatile, much moreso than I expected, there are tons of different tones in this pedal.

 

[Jaycephas]

I too have become a believer. I run my VT into the Aux In on my Genz-Benz Shuttle 6.0 and now I have an Ampeg head under five pounds!!

 

[FenderP]

Anyone ever try this pedal through a Bergantino IP series cab?

Yes. I prefered the Catalinbead SFT or the LowEnd True Voice + Linden EQ combo before the VT Bass for getting a B-15 -like sound out of the IP112.

 

[Tahoe_Ed]

I just order one from GC. I kept looking for one here but they are disappearing as soon as they post. I am hoping it will give me the sound that I have in my head through my GK MB210 Combo. Thanks all you all for the in depth analysis.

 

[BigBeatNut]

Verrry interesting stuff.

I'd like to do some of this myself. applying the same analysis to the Sansamp BDDI (amongst other things). So, OldDog, can I ask a couple of questions ?

1) Did you do this analysis with the free version of TrueRTA ? I suspect not. looks like 'digital signal sweep' is a paid feature.

2) What the name for the analysis done in for the EQ graphs ? 'Transfer Function' ? I'd really like to get the same kind of software for mac (particularly if I'm paying for it) and I'm finding it really hard to find mac software that does the same thing. ( 'Spectrum Analysis' as a search term doesn't turn up what I want).

Thanks in advance, Andy

 

[OldogNewTrick]

Andy, the quick sweep feature is also available in the free version, however the resolution is limited to 1 octave bands. These plots were done on a registered version (level 4) to 1/24th octave resolution.
Hope that helps.

Please do have a go at the BDDI

 

[BigBeatNut]

Please do have a go at the BDDI

I'm trying but I don't think the audio hardware on my PC is up to the job (having tried RMAA ... either my hardware is flaky or the flakiness is in the algorithms in that software.)

Which brings me back to ... what's the name of the analysis you did on the EQ controls ? 'Transfer function' ? Whatever it is, that's the key words that will let me find the software I need for my mac.

Andy

 

[Chris Breese]

subscribed

 

[BigBeatNut]

Hope nobody minds if I repeat this post with the annotations - the actual settings from the insert.

And how do the recommended settings in the manual shape out?

All controls set as per manual
Plots with frequency sweep and 500Hz sine wave and generated harmonics


SVT - T1-M10-B2_Ch9-Dr12

Fat Tube - T12-M12-B12_Ch11-Dr11

Flip Top - T12-M1-B1_Ch12-Dr11

here some more...

T9-M12-B12_Ch10-Dr9

T9-M12-B12_Ch11-Dr10