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The Great Bass Preamp/DI Comparison

#141
You are not doing anything wrong, but they do have a baked in tone, probably a little too compressed for some across the range, which if it doesn’t fit, doesn’t fit.
The Geddy and the dUg break this I feel because as well as the signature tone there is enough leeway in its feature set and designs to sculpt your own without a baked in design
 
#142
My issue with other Tech21 products has been their propensity to be a little too scooped sounding. I'm a huge, huge fan of sweepable midrange control. Last time I tried a Tech21 product I didn't have a John East EQ on my bass. With that sucker, I can make anything sound good. :)
 
#143
Yep agreed, they scoop.
Me personally I am on the scooped side of things, but I am not heavily invested in Tech21.
LeBass scoops a bit too, but that is a wonderful organic sound, you let it off!
 
#144
Bass Fly Rig Initial Impressions

I like it!

I didn't get a chance to play with it much as I got home late and preseason football has me kicked back in the La-Z-Boy at the moment. But yeah...it's a good piece of kit!

My initial thoughts are this:

Compressor - a bit noisy and not very flexible, but tonally I was able to get the slight compression I like that thickens up the tone and controls peaks.

SansAmp - Biggest surprise is here. There is a mid control...so no worry about it being scoopy. I set it all flat and started adding "drive" and decreasing the level to maintain unity gain. I kept waiting for the old SansAmp "tube emulation" to start sounding "overdriven". It didn't. Nice and clean. I bumped the bass a bit. Oooooh....nice and fat. Left everything else flat and started rolling off the "character" knob until the tone got too thick, then I rolled it back up to around 10 o'clock. Gave the "bite" button a press. I like it. Nice shine on the top and it seems to clean up the overall tone. I need to read more about that button, but there is some magic there.

Octafuzz - Meh...I didn't find much here to get excited about. I twisted some knobs and nothing really wowed me. The octave tracks a little wonky, and I'm not a big user of fuzz or envelope filters. I'll play with it some more and see what shakes out.

Chorus - It's a single knob. It's adds more chorus sounds. Not much else to say. I don't use chorus much, but it could be cool to add some color.

Tuner - works fine...it's a tuner.

The noise level is acceptable. Not dead quiet, but nothing unacceptable. It's on par with other preamps I've tested and better than others.

I can honestly say, this is the first Tech21 product I really like. I bought it to get me through 9 weeks without my Le Bass....and hey....this is not going to replace my full board....But it might be a keeper. It can't hang with the Le Bass, Torpedo CAB, H9 Max, MXR compressor, Thumpinator, Source Audio EQ, and all the Midi goodness controlled by my Soleman. But for church gigs where I'm doing 3 to 5 songs...I can toss the BFR in my Mono bag front pocket and leave the big board at home.

Sound samples to come.
 
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#145
Got around to making a sound clip. So far this little pedal is really proving to be quite useful. Again, it's NOT a replacement for a full pedal board, but on a gig where I don't need the full pedal board, man, slipping this sucker in the pocket of my gig bag is way easier than lugging my pedal board.

Tech21 Bass Fly Rig:

Bass - Lakland 55-02
Pickups - Nordstrand J/MM - both pickups balanced
Preamp - John East Uni-Pre set flat

Can't be compared to the other clips I've posted in this thread as they were all done on a Jazz bass, passive. But you'll get the picture. Nice tone.

 
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#146
The preamp saga continues.

As I wait for my Le Bass to get out of the repair shop for the noisy DI, I have been messing around with the Bass Fly Rig quite a bit. I am really shockingly impressed by it. So much so I've decided to give the VT Bass Deluxe a go. Since it has a speaker sim and the ability to hold six presets as well as an effects loop so I can use the pre/post routing on my H9.

I've pretty much made up my mind to toss the fly rig in my mono bag pocket and let it live there. For 90% of what I play, I'll never need to take a pedal board.

This preamp adventure has really taken a turn in a direction I never thought it would go. But it's true what they say, you really need to try things. I'd have never bought a Fly Rig based on what I've heard on reviews and comments in threads here.
 
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#147
chadhargis said:
My issue with other Tech21 products has been their propensity to be a little too scooped sounding. I'm a huge, huge fan of sweepable midrange control. Last time I tried a Tech21 product I didn't have a John East EQ on my bass. With that sucker, I can make anything sound good. :)
Click to expand...

Apologies if I didn’t see this somewhere else in the thread, but try the q\strip from Tech 21. I’m with you in the sense that most of their products get too clanky and scooped for me, but the q\strip is a surprising departure from that. It’s very clean, and has features that will work with any instrument I can thinkk of, but really has some gems for bass applications. I had one for a while, and I’m a huge fan.
 
#149
So this morning I played the Bass Fly Rig out again. After sound check and run through the sound guy says to me, "whatever you're doing today sounds great". I told him, "It's basically just a SansAmp built into a tiny enclosure". He replies, "keep using it man...it's awesome".

When the sound guy likes it, that's a good thing. And remember folks, this is Nashville. This guy is a professional sound engineer who does this for a living.

I'm absolutely gobsmacked that I'm getting along with a Tech21 product. I've tried them before several years back I never liked them. But this Fly Rig sounds really good. I'm hoping the VT Bass Deluxe completes my pedal board. Supposedly the BFR is using the VT bass SansAmp section.

I have done some reading on the Q-Strip. It looks like a great option for a perfectly clean tone with no "character" or "color" in it.
 
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#151
Cuzzie said:
@chadhargis can you give an insight on the octa and the chorus?

How good are they?

Does the fly rig kill or is it in a par with the Two Notes?
Click to expand...

I’m not a huge effect guy. I use them when I am covering a song that NEEDS that effect. In my humble opinion the octaver is okay. Not as good at tracking as some others I’ve used. The fuzz and filter I played with, but can’t really give you a solid thumbs up as I haven’t spent much time with it. The compressor is about as good as a simple one knob compressor can get. I think it works very well for my tastes. The tuner is not uber accurate like my old Turbo Tuner it my H9. The chorus is nice and usable too.

Is it better than the Le Bass. In a word, no. The Le Bass has that real tube warmth, multi channels, MIDI, effects loop, etc. The Fly Rig can’t replace my big board, but for gigs where I don’t need my full board, it’s perfect. I was going to return it, but I’m keeping it and it can be used for small simple gigs when practical and a backup to my main board should someone spill a beer in it or something.

At the end of the day I’m a simple man. The Le Bass and Torpedo C.A.B. were mind blowing. So many great tones that I was constantly tweaking. At the end of this experiment, I have discovered that simple works best for me. If I want to get complicated, I still have the H9 and I may never know all that sucker does.

If I were a studio cat or doing original stuff where I could use some unique tones it would be different. But I’m a hobby player who spends most of my time performing in my music room with headphones on.
 
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#152
Thanks for that, every time I get the LeBass out it blows me away, I then spend some time playing with the Tech21 DP3x and think, can this replace it...?
Then I getbthe LeBass and Hartke VXL our together and I am reminded why for me as good as the DP3x is, nothing replaces those preamps together
 
#153
chadhargis said:
So this morning I played the Bass Fly Rig out again. After sound check and run through the sound guy says to me, "whatever you're doing today sounds great". I told him, "It's basically just a SansAmp built into a tiny enclosure". He replies, "keep using it man...it's awesome".

When the sound guy likes it, that's a good thing. And remember folks, this is Nashville. This guy is a professional sound engineer who does this for a living.

I'm absolutely gobsmacked that I'm getting along with a Tech21 product. I've tried them before several years back I never liked them. But this Fly Rig sounds really good. I'm hoping the VT Bass Deluxe completes my pedal board. Supposedly the BFR is using the VT bass SansAmp section.

I have done some reading on the Q-Strip. It looks like a great option for a perfectly clean tone with no "character" or "color" in it.
Click to expand...
Congrats on getting positive comments on the BFR. Glad to hear that it was well received.

I have heard a lot of good things about the Q/Strip. Have been contemplating one for some time. Would be using it for my Clean DI (as opposed to a Whirlwind DI box) with my Alpha Omega Ultra providing the dirt. Mixing the two should provide some really nice results I would think. In researching the Q/Strip, this was the youtube video which seemed to really show it's capability best:
 
#155
Gear sold and I just picked up a Q/Strip. Should be here in a two or three days.

My plan is to put the Q/Strip last in my chain and use it as the DI. I'm going to set it for a clean "uncolored" tone. The VT Bass Deluxe will plug into the Q/Strip. I am going to do some experimenting with using the VT Bass with the Q/Strip bypassed as well as using the Q/Strip to augment it. Given the amount of tone shapers I have on my board, if I can't get a good tone then it's my fault. Once all my pieces and parts arrive, my board will consist of:

Source Audio Programmable EQ (mainly for setting levels with various basses)
MXR Bass Compressor
Eventide H9 (Input 1 - Pre-VT Bass Route)
VT Bass Deluxe
Eventide H9 (Input 2 - Post-VT Bass Route)
Loop Master effects loop pedal (acts as an on/off for the Thumpinator which has no switch)
[sfx] Micro Thumpinator (high pass filter)
Dunlop Mini Volume Pedal
Q/Strip

Even though the Q-Strip has a HPF, it starts at 45hz and the slope is too shallow which is fine for a 4 string bass, but the Micro Thumpinator cuts 30hz at a VERY steep slope which is perfect for 5 string basses as 31hz is the fundamental of the low B string.

And if all that tone shaping isn't enough...I have an onboard John East preamp in my bass for quick tweaks. I typically run the bass flat, set my board for the tone I want, then tweak the bass itself if I need to make a change. For example, I'd roll to the neck pickup, pull some lows, bump 1k in the mid, and pull some top end to sound like an old school P bass. Or roll to my bridge MM style pickup, add lows, bump low mids, and leave the highs flat for a Stingray tone. If I wanted a reggae tone I'd push the bottom and low mids and pull back the highs (playing with a palm mute and thumb). Once I get a tone I know and love out of my board, then I can pretty much manipulate my tone with my hands. I just need the wide open straight ahead finger style that is 98% of my playing to sound right. The rest is gravy.
​
 
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#156
chadhargis said:
Gear sold and I just picked up a Q/Strip. Should be here in a two or three days.

My plan is to put the Q/Strip last in my chain and use it as the DI. I'm going to set it for a clean "uncolored" tone. The VT Bass Deluxe will plug into the Q/Strip. I am going to do some experimenting with using the VT Bass with the Q/Strip bypassed as well as using the Q/Strip to augment it. Given the amount of tone shapers I have on my board, if I can't get a good tone then it's my fault. Once all my pieces and parts arrive, my board will consist of:

Source Audio Programmable EQ (mainly for setting levels with various basses)
MXR Bass Compressor
Eventide H9 (Input 1 - Pre-VT Bass Route)
VT Bass Deluxe
Eventide H9 (Input 2 - Post-VT Bass Route)
Loop Master effects loop pedal (acts as an on/off for the Thumpinator which has no switch)
[sfx] Micro Thumpinator (high pass filter)
Dunlop Mini Volume Pedal
Q/Strip

Even though the Q-Strip has a HPF, it starts at 45hz and the slope is too shallow which is fine for a 4 string bass, but the Micro Thumpinator cuts 30hz at a VERY steep slope which is perfect for 5 string basses as 31hz is the fundamental of the low B string.

And if all that tone shaping isn't enough...I have an onboard John East preamp in my bass for quick tweaks. I typically run the bass flat, set my board for the tone I want, then tweak the bass itself if I need to make a change. For example, I'd roll to the neck pickup, pull some lows, bump 1k in the mid, and pull some top end to sound like an old school P bass. Or roll to my bridge MM style pickup, add lows, bump low mids, and leave the highs flat for a Stingray tone. If I wanted a reggae tone I'd push the bottom and low mids and pull back the highs (playing with a palm mute and thumb). Once I get a tone I know and love out of my board, then I can pretty much manipulate my tone with my hands. I just need the wide open straight ahead finger style that is 98% of my playing to sound right. The rest is gravy.
​
Click to expand...
Just an FYI, I was reading on a Q\strip specific thread here on TB the other day that Tech21 is willing to modify the HPF frequency. May be something worth looking into.
 
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#157
Rickter said:
Just an FYI, I was reading on a Q\strip specific thread here on TB the other day that Tech21 is willing to modify the HPF frequency. May be something worth looking into.
Click to expand...

Hummmm....I actually thought about giving it a try to see how it works and if I'm happy with it, I can put the Thumpinator in the effects loop of the VT Bass Deluxe and be able to bypass the Q/Strip and still have a HPF in place.

Just depends on how it sounds.
 
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#160
Cuzzie said:
Now that depends on individual pedals....
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. In my search I've found that nothing is completely silent. But some are better than others. The only preamp that I can attest to being damn near silent is the John East onboard preamp in my bass (and soon to be new bass). I wish John would make a pedal version.

Tech 21 stuff never floated my boat in the past. Good for others, but not for me. I'm still shocked to find that I'm liking their stuff. I really, really, really liked the Two Notes stuff. I was sold on the Le Bass and Torpedo C.A.B. But after playing with it for HOURS and HOURS on end, I found so many great tones that I could never decide what would be my "normal" tone. The one I feed to the mixer when I play. It was so versatile that I ordered a MIDI controller and started writing macros so I could set the Le Bass and Torpedo CAB with the press of one button.

For me and how I play, it was just worrisome to have that much choice. I was always second guessing my choice in tone. I'd get one tone I liked, then tweak some the next day and it would sound so much better...then two days later I'd tweak some more and end up back where I started. If I were a professional player and did a lot of recording, that would be the rig to have. But being that I show up, plug into the PA and I'm at the mercy of the FOH sound guy, I just need to send a good signal his way and hope for the best. The VT Bass should give me what the Bass Fly Rig is doing (and I still may use just the BFR when I play some places), and the Q/Strip will give me a nice clean tone that will be ripe for a sound guy to do what he wishes with.
 
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