Tone Hammer DI appreciation thread

[Fun Size Nick]

I saw another angle of the V2. The little knob between Gain and Treble looks to be exactly like a volume knob for the drive section. I missed that on the first look.

Having a look at the owners manual, it looks like the drive control operates in exactly the same way as on the amp. This would mean that the control does not control the level of the drive channel - at least not primarily. Happy to be corrected on this but that’s how it appears to me as someone who owns both amp and (v1) pedal.

 

[kirkdickinson]

Look what the FedEx man brought today.

I am taking it to band practice tonight. I'll post some impressions tomorrow. Not sure what the extra knob does. I have never had a Aguilar amp, only the THDI. This is my 3rd.

The only thing I never liked about the THDI is that when I kicked on the AGS, there was no way to get similar volumes between it on and off. I wished there was a separate volume knob so that I could crank the gain to get the AGS circuit to kick in and a way to tame it back so that I could get roughly equal volumes between off and on. I am kinda hoping this extra drive knob helps with that. ???

 

[Keitor]

Look what the FedEx man brought today.

I am taking it to band practice tonight. I'll post some impressions tomorrow. Not sure what the extra knob does. I have never had a Aguilar amp, only the THDI. This is my 3rd.

The only thing I never liked about the THDI is that when I kicked on the AGS, there was no way to get similar volumes between it on and off. I wished there was a separate volume knob so that I could crank the gain to get the AGS circuit to kick in and a way to tame it back so that I could get roughly equal volumes between off and on. I am kinda hoping this extra drive knob helps with that. ???

In the THDI V1 it was a matter of having AGS on or having it off...

Looking forward to hear about your experience with this new toy!

 

[hennessybass]

So, I guess if you have the Drive foot switch off, that is the equivalent of having the Drive on the amp set to zero.
Seems like if you have the drive control set to zero, and kick the foot switch on, nothing will happen?

Interested to hear some first hand user accounts.

 

[Rocksolid]

As much as I want to try a new THDIV2, it would mean completely changing the layout of my board to accommodate it. Not going to happen at this point in time.

 

[jcburn]

I've been using a Programmable BDDI set clean last 6 months or so (I use a pedal for dirt), mostly to match levels between P pickup only and PJ in combination on the same bass. I don't like the Sansamp tone at all, I use the unit with the blend off, which then only really gives me bass, treble and a DI. To be honest, it's almost all I need but I'd really like the semi para mids again. Had been thinking about adding in something like an EWS BMC, but the THDI v2 would save me some board space.
Hmmm....

 

[Azari]

I've been using a Programmable BDDI set clean last 6 months or so (I use a pedal for dirt), mostly to match levels between P pickup only and PJ in combination on the same bass. I don't like the Sansamp tone at all, I use the unit with the blend off, which then only really gives me bass, treble and a DI. To be honest, it's almost all I need but I'd really like the semi para mids again. Had been thinking about adding in something like an EWS BMC, but the THDI v2 would save me some board space.
Hmmm....

You should do what I do and run two XLRs! Some people run a mic’d cab + a DI, but I just use two DIs…. Keep the bass driver and add the tone hammer as a parallel output. you could use the bass driver as bass & presence and the tone hammer with less bass but more mids/treble. I bet it would be a super unique tone.

EDIT: the programmable bass driver has no parallel out jack… damn.. that’s kind of weird

 

[jcburn]

Yeah, having no parallel out is a strange one. The PBDDI is still handy, but it's essentially just a level matching device. I don't use the Sansamp part at all, and barely use the treble of bass controls for that matter. I think I'm going to move back to something like the Tone Hammer (as I like both the clean and AGS tones) and use something smaller in front of it to control the volume difference between P only and PJ.

 

[kirkdickinson]

As much as I want to try a new THDIV2, it would mean completely changing the layout of my board to accommodate it. Not going to happen at this point in time.

Yeah that XLR out the side was a pain in my butt. Nobody makes a really low profile right angle XLR plug. Top row was really tight fitting it on my board. Had to take the top row off and hang the tuner slightly off the side to make it fit.

 

[Azari]

Yeah, having no parallel out is a strange one. The PBDDI is still handy, but it's essentially just a level matching device. I don't use the Sansamp part at all, and barely use the treble of bass controls for that matter. I think I'm going to move back to something like the Tone Hammer (as I like both the clean and AGS tones) and use something smaller in front of it to control the volume difference between P only and PJ.

Honestly the programmble bass driver should be paired with a BOSS tuner so can use its parallel out. The PBDDI is more something you center your entire rig around rather than just an oversized “level matching device”…. Maybe sell it and get a smaller model sansamp or another pedal that you fancy.

Yeah that XLR out the side was a pain in my butt. Nobody makes a really low profile right angle XLR plug. Top row was really tight fitting it on my board. Had to take the top row off and hang the tuner slightly off the side to make it fit.

yeah my solution is to turn the pedal sideways but it isnt the most elegant

 

[kirkdickinson]

eah my solution is to turn the pedal sideways but it isnt the most elegant

I am thinking about taking a saw to some XLR ends to only the socket, soldering the wires on then rebuilding with some epoxy. Maybe someone with a 3d printer could make some more compact XLR ends.

 

[johnk_10]

my V2 Arrived today. it's a lot smaller than the V1.
comparing it to my V1 i am able get get them to sound the same and it does have more control over the drive and clean volumes but it's not how i expected the controls to work. it thought that the small drive control would be a volume for the drive but it's actually the gain of the drive that works in conjunction with the large GAIN knob.

 

[GrowlerBox]

I’ve had a quick look at the couple of threads on the new TH, and I may have missed it, but I haven’t found a clear answer: is it now possible to level match the clean and overdriven “channels” to enable switching between them without readjusting the volume somewhere?

 

[johnk_10]

I’ve had a quick look at the couple of threads on the new TH, and I may have missed it, but I haven’t found a clear answer: is it now possible to level match the clean and overdriven “channels” to enable switching between them without readjusting the volume somewhere?

not really. it takes a bit of juggling with the input gain and drive controls.

 

[joel the bass player]

All these years later and they still missed the mark with a new pedal. Without a volume knob the second footswitch is almost as useless as the first. Did they at least improve the aux/headphone section from what is in the AG? The thread on that pedal was full of complaints about it.

 

[Mr. voodoobass]

At one time, I was about to get me a second tonehammer and put them in each channel of a boss LS-2. Just to easily switch between clean and driven tones.
Then line6 made a model of the tonehammer amp in the hx stomp, that sounds just like the real thing.
And I could finally do the clean/dirt switching easily.

 

[johnk_10]

All these years later and they still missed the mark with a new pedal. Without a volume knob the second footswitch is almost as useless as the first. Did they at least improve the aux/headphone section from what is in the AG? The thread on that pedal was full of complaints about it.

i agree. they should have just added volume control for the ags circuit and been done with it.
although the new one does allow for a bit more control of the drive circuit volume vs bypassed.

 

[Fun Size Nick]

i agree. they should have just added volume control for the ags circuit and been done with it.
although the new one does allow for a bit more control of the drive circuit volume vs bypassed.

I mean, Aguilar said for years that it wasn’t possible to do this with the current circuit design, so I wonder if this is a confirmation that they weren’t just putting it in the too-hard basket. If we haven’t got level matching in a TH v2, then I doubt we’re ever going to get it.

 

[Al Kraft]

I mean, Aguilar said for years that it wasn’t possible to do this with the current circuit design, so I wonder if this is a confirmation that they weren’t just putting it in the too-hard basket. If we haven’t got level matching in a TH v2, then I doubt we’re ever going to get it.

I'm having trouble believing it is impossible to do...hard maybe, even possibly really difficult, but it shouldn't be impossible IMO. Perhaps I'm just missing something, and sadly it wouldn't be my first time.

 

[Fun Size Nick]

I'm having trouble believing it is impossible to do...hard maybe, even possibly really difficult, but it shouldn't be impossible IMO. Perhaps I'm just missing something, and sadly it wouldn't be my first time.

I also have trouble believing this, but (not knowing enough about circuit design to have much of an opinion either way) I suppose I could conceive of them having painted themselves into a corner design-wise and not being able to do a channel volume without starting again from scratch. It does seem very odd that this is impossible here when it is possible for other units. In a way, this would be easier to understand if the amp (with AGS controlled with the drive knob only) had come first, and then the pedal, but it was the other way round - the TH pedal was an evolution of the OPB-3 onboard pre and the AGS feature came in specifically for the pedal, with the TH amps and drive control coming as a further evolution.