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VT Bass DI - question about drive?

A

AndrewM

Feb 10, 2013
151
20
#1
When I turn the drive knob up a bit, it tends to sound more "farty" rather a gritty tube amp sound the way it does in demo videos. It sounds similar to playing through a cab too loudly and having the speaker distort. I'm fairly certain that it's not being caused by the speaker distorting the sound, as I can play at much louder volumes without the VT Bass DI and not experience any loss of clarity. Any ideas what the issue might me? Amp is a PF 350 and the the cab is a pf115-he, if that helps at all.


Thanks in advance for your help!
 
#4
Weird.

Where is the 'character' knob set on your pedal? If it's to the right of 12-o'clock that might be what's sending you into harsh territory.

good luck!
 
#6
AndrewM said:
It's at about 9-o'clock. The farting occurs with the drive around 9 as well, or anything past that.
Click to expand...

yeah, that sounds like something in that pedal misbehaving. Maybe shoot at email to Tech 21 and see what they can do?

Or take it back to where you bought it and A/B it with another of the same?
 
#7
LowBC said:
yeah, that sounds like something in that pedal misbehaving. Maybe shoot at email to Tech 21 and see what they can do?

Or take it back to where you bought it and A/B it with another of the same?
Click to expand...

Got it from musiciansfriend, so I can't really take it in.

Would you recommend that I email Tech 21, or should I message their account on TB?
 
#8
AndrewM said:
It's at about 9-o'clock. The farting occurs with the drive around 9 as well, or anything past that.
Click to expand...

That should be a clean setting. Does you bass have really high output pickups? Also, do you have the pedal running at unity gain into your amp set clean? Unity gain meaning that the volume or level with the VT Bass engaged will be at the same approximate level as your bass with the pedal in bypass.
 
#9
Yes, it is set at unity gain. I'm not sure if my pickups would be considered "really high output", but they are two MEC humbuckers and the bass is active (Warwick Corvette $$). I would say the pickups are pretty hot, but I haven't played enough basses to have an accurate point of reference.
 
#10
I'm nor familiar with that bass or those pickups. Since- the bass is active you are running one preamp into another. Try reducing the volume on your guitar somewhat and see if you have better results. There is no tonal loss reducing the volume on an active instrument. If the bass' output is really hot it will cause the pedal to clip much more rapidly.
 
#12
How high do you have the gain set on the PF ? I have a 1st gen VT Bass pedal and it sounds fine through my MarkBass LMII (which is pretty fussy when it comes to overdrive pedals).

Recently, I bought a Zoom B3 and when I try to use it with certain amp models, it gets "farty" if the amp gain is too high. If I use it with one of the pre-amp models or other effects, it sounds like normally should.
 
#13
I run a Carvin Icon5 with 18 volt active controls, set flat, through my VT Bass DI, set about how you describe and it's just nice warm tube emulation with a teeny bit of compression.

Back off on everything, tone controls flat, drive less than noon, and blend down a bit, although I've been running the blend cranked most of the time.
 
#14
Voss451 said:
How high do you have the gain set on the PF ? I have a 1st gen VT Bass pedal and it sounds fine through my MarkBass LMII (which is pretty fussy when it comes to overdrive pedals).

Recently, I bought a Zoom B3 and when I try to use it with certain amp models, it gets "farty" if the amp gain is too high. If I use it with one of the pre-amp models or other effects, it sounds like normally should.
Click to expand...

Gain on my PF350 is at about 1 o'clock
 
#16
I have been having a similar experience. Played around A LOT with the pedal last night and discovered the even with my passive P-Bass (with CS60 pickups) into my PF800 I need to have the +10dB button dis-engaged.

I didn't want to do it as I felt it added more punch - so I fought it for a while - but it seems to be too hot with it engaged causing the sound to fart out on low-notes - which meant I had to lower the Drive to 9 o'clock or less - and I just wasn't getting the tone I wanted.

So, with the button dis-engaged I can crank the Character and Drive up to approx 11:30 adjust the rest of the levels to taste and I have an awesome tone I am really happy with.

I also left the Speaker and Bite buttons engaged and rolled back the tone a little on the P-Bass too.

I had the same experience with my active Alembic - though I expected it. I had to dis-enagage the +10dB immediately - otherwise - same thing.
 
#17
The reason for the +10dB switch is for applications that require a hotter signal. Sometimes when you plug into a mixer line inputs or a power amp you will probably need to use this setting. Conversely when using the XLR output to a mic channel you may need to use the pad on the VT Bass DI to avoid overloading the mic preamp.

The Ampeg PF800 has a -15dB pad at the input that they recommend for active instruments or passive ones with hot outputs. You don't do yourself any favors by slamming the input of a solid state device. You need to gain stage properly to get the best signal to noise ratio.
 
#18
Thanks Tech21 - Since the OP is using a PF350 with the same issue and it also has a -15dB pad - I don't believe I am at risk of hijacking this thread with my next question...

Without the VT Bass DI with my current setup I very rarely hit Peak on the PF800. I am a fairly hard player so it would usually be when i hit something low and hard. So I have never had a need to use the -15dB on the amp. Only when using the VT am I having an issue.

Are you suggesting that it would be better to use -15dB pad on the amp versus dis-engaging the +10dB on the pedal?

Of course I can try it and see if I like it - just wondering what your opinion/recommendation would be. What you think would provide the best performance for your pedal?
 
#19
You're best off not using the boost on the VT Bass DI or the pad on the amp if you don't need to. As long as your bass works fine with your amp and VT Bass DI just set the gain of the pedal for unity gain as this will yield the most quiet operation. You can use it as a volume boost to a certain degree if you are turning the pedal on and off as a solo boost but I would avoid a huge level jump to prevent overloading your amp's preamp.

Most amps operate at instrument level at the input. Granted some older amps have a "Low input" and some modern amps like the Ampeg have a "pad" but in general an "instrument" amplifier is designed for "instrument" level. It should have more than enough level in the preamp section to fully drive the output section.
 

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