I’ve been using the Tonedexter for the past two years and have been generally very pleased with its ability to simulate a mic and to mix the simulated mic sound with the sound of a pick-up in varying proportions. The most useable Tonedexter wavemaps have been the ones I made with an AMT 25b bass mic positioned about 6 inches away from the top between the treble side f-hole and the strings just below the bridge. As I read the voluminous threads on mixing various mics with various pick-ups in live performance, the thought always goes through my mind, “Is it really worth it; why don’t they just use a Tonedexter?” So since we’re all idled by the pandemic and it’s Thanksgiving week so students are on break, I thought I’d try a direct A/B comparison between the Tonedexter and my AMT 25b mic and try to describe the differences. My signal chain was: 1850’s Tyrolean flatback bass with Spiro mittels and Full Circle pick-up into the Sarno Black Box into the Tonedexter into one channel of an AI Ten2 amp (basically a 2 channel Clarus) into an MAS 18 speaker with the AMT 25b mic plugged into the other channel of the Clarus. All EQ’s on all units were set flat. I used the Tonedexter wavemap that to my ears sounded most like the mic, and used the Tonedexter’s 100% “unfocused” mic sound (character knob turned fully counterclockwise).
At low (“drummer-less”) volumes, basically no difference in the sound between the Tonedexter and the AMT 25b; both were equally smooth, rich and warm. I don’t think even @James condino’s one bass nerd in the audience wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. As the volume was increased, the differences became more noticeable. The Tonedexter had a tighter, more focused, and slightly more mid-rangey sound, while the mic sound was more bassy, boomier, and diffuse. Notably, the Tonedexter had a more even sound with less peaks, while the AMT was more uneven with certain notes louder and more boomy than others. These differences held for both pizzicato and arco. At “moderately aggressive drummer volume” the AMT had a noisier signal and was beginning to feedback, while the Tonedexter remained quiet and feedback-free. It’s fair to say that as the volume increased, both options sounded increasingly less like MBOL. I should also add that I tried this comparison first without the Sarno Blackbox, but found that adding it before the Tonedexter brought it significantly closer to the warmth of the mic.
So of course since we have no gigs this was done in my living room without other instruments; as we know, in a live situation everything can be different. Also, it doesn’t address situations where there is FOH support and a separate mic signal can be sent and eq-ed professionally. It’s only a starting point for mixing a mic and a pick-up through an amp. The majority of my gigs are that way, and I suspect that’s true for most of you who are reading this. YMMV.
At low (“drummer-less”) volumes, basically no difference in the sound between the Tonedexter and the AMT 25b; both were equally smooth, rich and warm. I don’t think even @James condino’s one bass nerd in the audience wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. As the volume was increased, the differences became more noticeable. The Tonedexter had a tighter, more focused, and slightly more mid-rangey sound, while the mic sound was more bassy, boomier, and diffuse. Notably, the Tonedexter had a more even sound with less peaks, while the AMT was more uneven with certain notes louder and more boomy than others. These differences held for both pizzicato and arco. At “moderately aggressive drummer volume” the AMT had a noisier signal and was beginning to feedback, while the Tonedexter remained quiet and feedback-free. It’s fair to say that as the volume increased, both options sounded increasingly less like MBOL. I should also add that I tried this comparison first without the Sarno Blackbox, but found that adding it before the Tonedexter brought it significantly closer to the warmth of the mic.
So of course since we have no gigs this was done in my living room without other instruments; as we know, in a live situation everything can be different. Also, it doesn’t address situations where there is FOH support and a separate mic signal can be sent and eq-ed professionally. It’s only a starting point for mixing a mic and a pick-up through an amp. The majority of my gigs are that way, and I suspect that’s true for most of you who are reading this. YMMV.
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