VT bass or BDDI V2

[markjazzbassist]

from a fellow clevelander:

the real question is why do you have that dumpster fire of a football team as your avatar? we have 2 successful franchises in town in the Cavs and Guardians, why anyone would support crooked Jimmy Haslem and his plaything is beyond me.

for 90's sound you want that scooped BDDI sound, that was used a lot in the 90's and was popular then (the Sansamp product). You already have the SVT/b15 sound covered with the Mesa, go BDDI.

 

[Dom Amato]

the real question is why do you have that dumpster fire of a football team as your avatar? we have 2 successful franchises in town in the Cavs and Guardians, why anyone would support crooked Jimmy Haslem and his plaything is beyond me.

Football is my favorite sport and the Browns are my favorite out of the 3 haha. Lets hope the Cavs can get their stuff together tonight and bounce back!

i think im going to go with the BDDI. The mesa does a FANTASTIC job with B15 style tones!

 

[Jay Corwin]

I use them both, plus the Paradriver for my upright preamp. Tech 21 should endorse me....if I wasn't a weekend warrior.

Anyway, they are both versatile but in different ways. The VT IMO can get much more aggressive with the drive knob because of how it interacts with the character knob. Through a clean amp it can sound glorious.

If you are just looking to add some dirt, why not jus go the effects pedal route instead of a whole different preamp?

 

[Dom Amato]

If you are just looking to add some dirt, why not jus got the effects pedal route instead of a whole different preamp?

Ive always loved the sound if these preamps. I was going to run in into the effects loop of the one channel

 

[mouthmw]

BDDI is my favorite tool for FOH or for going straight into audio interface (and recording). I wouldn’t use it with an amp/cab setup though, precisely due to it coloring the tone so that it sounds like a miced up amp setup. Same goes for VT but you can defeat the speaker sim there. If you only want to dirty up your tone, I’d look into overdrive/saturation pedals like DCX Bass, JPTR Jive, Fairfield Barbershop, Saturn VI, Broughton Scorpion etc etc. You don’t need a preamp/cab sim/DI for that.

 

[REV]

I have a VT Bass that I use occasionally but to me the WD800 sounds so great I've never tried them together.

 

[Jay Corwin]

Ive always loved the sound if these preamps. I was going to run in into the effects loop of the one channel

Gotcha. In that case, I would encourage you to find a way to try them both first. The VT behaves a lot differently than the BDDI. Both can give you great tone shaping, but as always that's a matter of taste.

 

[Isaac_James]

Im trying to get like a 90s overdrive bass tone for hard rock and what not. I think the boogie channel on the amp itself does a great job at B15 tones and lighter driven SVT stuff. It doesnt get dirty enough for my taste however haha

The VT Bass preamp has a much more midrange focused sound than the BDDI. I can't find it now but I've seen an EQ graph of the BDDI and it has a sharp dip centered around 800Hz. The v2 edition of the BDDI has a midrange control as well as a switch that lets you change the center of that control from 500Hz to 1000Hz, so you can compensate for it to some extent.

I use the ParaDriver, which looks very similar to the BDDI but the midrange control on it works differently - it has a knob to adjust the midrange control center anywhere from 160Hz up to around 3kHz (I don't remember exactly where it stops but I think the treble control is centered at 3.6kHz and it gets close to that). It also is set up so the midrange control goes into the drive, and then that signal goes into the bass and treble controls - so you can boost/cut bass and treble without it affecting how much drive you get, but increasing the midrange control will change how driven your signal is.

I love Tech21 pedals and I am not trying to talk you out of getting one, but if you like the sound of your amp and just want some more grit, you also might consider just getting an overdrive pedal.

However, if you are set on getting either the VT bass driver or the BDDI, and you want a 90s style overdriven sound, I think the BDDI will get you there. It's a great pedal and if you ever decide you don't like it, it'll be easy to sell.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

Not making any assertions about them overall, I hear good things, but have you tried the Mesa TT with a different cab? Some people like mixing brands or keeping them in the same brand/series.

If its the cab's response curve that you don't like, it doesn't matter what you put in front of it. Different preamp, amp, effects, bass...the speakers are the final authority on what your sound actually is. This may be working in reverse to solve the issue you're running into.

Unless you've already tried that, in which case forget I wrote any of that

 

[Smooth_bass88]

The VT Bass DI focuses on vintage style Ampeg Tones. The Bass Driver DI covers some of that ground but is popular in part because of it's simplicity. The RBI is basically the rack version of the Bass Driver DI but offers more connection capabilities, greater output and headroom.

You're always best trying. It's the only way to know for sure.

I can't say enough good about both the Bass Driver DI & the VT Bass. I've been using Tech21 products since the mid/late 90s. Op, it's basically a win/win with either of these units.

 

[The Expendable Clay]

Good morning everyone!

Right now I gave a Mesa TT-800 going into a Hartke HD410. I am in love with how the amp sounds clean and with a little drive on it, but I am not a big fan of how it sounds driven hard. I was hoping to remedy that by using a preamp thorough the amps “boogie channel”. The question is which one?!

What I am looking for is a preamp to get a better sounding dirty tone for hard rock and whatnot. Im torn between the VT bass and the Bass Driver DI v2 both from Tech 21

I love a driven SVT so I am leaning towards the VT bass, but I still cant make up my mind. I guess my questions to you are,

1.) Which pedal is “more versatile”?

2.) Which pedal is more aggressive? Are the drives kinda similar?

3.) How does the RBI preamp compare? (Just out of curiosity incase I wanna do a rack mount build)

I play mostly p basses with roundwounds, but also play jazz basses and a ray5hh with flats.

Thanks everyone!!

My answer to this always depends on genre you're playing. With the blend up on both, the BDDI can still be made clean-ish with the drive around 9 o clock or even lower. The VT bass is dirty even with the drive knob around 9 o clock. But, you can just dial the blend back if that bothers you.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I was going to add a 2nd 4x10 in the future haha. From what Ive read, the BDDI seems to be better for more aggressive drive. I dont necessarily need a speaker sim to be honest.

If you don't need a speaker sim you should definitely not get the BDDI because, like I said before, the speaker sim can't be switched off.

If you want versatility you should get the VT. If the drive tone is the main deciding factor, you should ideally test both with YOUR rig before deciding. Dirt/drive tones can sound VERY different through different amps/cabs. Much more so than clean tones.

 

[Dom Amato]

Not making any assertions about them overall, I hear good things, but have you tried the Mesa TT with a different cab? Some people like mixing brands or keeping them in the same brand/series.

If its the cab's response curve that you don't like, it doesn't matter what you put in front of it. Different preamp, amp, effects, bass...the speakers are the final authority on what your sound actually is. This may be working in reverse to solve the issue you're running into.

Unless you've already tried that, in which case forget I wrote any of that

Oh i absolutely love my cabinet! Im gonna get a 2nd one for a faux 8x10 lol

 

[HelpImaRock]

The VT Bass preamp has a much more midrange focused sound than the BDDI. I can't find it now but I've seen an EQ graph of the BDDI and it has a sharp dip centered around 800Hz. The v2 edition of the BDDI has a midrange control as well as a switch that lets you change the center of that control from 500Hz to 1000Hz, so you can compensate for it to some extent.

I use the ParaDriver, which looks very similar to the BDDI but the midrange control on it works differently - it has a knob to adjust the midrange control center anywhere from 160Hz up to around 3kHz (I don't remember exactly where it stops but I think the treble control is centered at 3.6kHz and it gets close to that). It also is set up so the midrange control goes into the drive, and then that signal goes into the bass and treble controls - so you can boost/cut bass and treble without it affecting how much drive you get, but increasing the midrange control will change how driven your signal is.

I love Tech21 pedals and I am not trying to talk you out of getting one, but if you like the sound of your amp and just want some more grit, you also might consider just getting an overdrive pedal.

However, if you are set on getting either the VT bass driver or the BDDI, and you want a 90s style overdriven sound, I think the BDDI will get you there. It's a great pedal and if you ever decide you don't like it, it'll be easy to sell.

I greatly prefer the Para Driver over the BDDI. The sharp mid cut never worked for me. I'm somewhat interested to try out the VT Bass, but I also think I'll leave well enough alone.

 

[Ian774]

Having had the BDDI V1, V2, VTDI and now the ParaDriver V2, I recommend the latter.
The mids control is very useful to get those mids missing from the BDDI. Its driven tone reminds me of an older vintage amp, a bit Ampegy, whereas the BDDI V2 is more modern, more scooped, tighter, more like a modern amp.
With my Pbass with rounds/pick I prefer the Para….

 

[capnjagg]

I've seen/heard the BDDI out in a live setting a lot. Last time I can remember was Kim Coletta with Jawbox back in 2019, and her tone was killer. Not sure if I've heard the VT Bass in person. The one I can vouch for from personal experience though is the YYZ, sounded great, especially with the "Tight" button engaged. Probably no wrong answers, honestly.

 

[richntiff]

Yeah but I dont like how muddy it gets when its driven very hard. Sounds too spongy to me

If you are looking to drive a pedal that hard - I'd say that none of those are good choices. Maybe the DCX Bass or a dedicated drive/distortion pedal would be a better fit.

 

[Azari]

Bass driver and VT bass in parallel.

 

[monsterthompson]

I just recently grabbed a BDDI v2 and have been enjoying it. Before I bought it I looked around and there’s a lot of TB love for the VTDI. Based on the demos I heard, it wasn’t quite my thing, but I suspect this thread will lean VTDI particularly with the OP’s noted goals.

 

[Zooberwerx]

IIRC, the Tech 21 BFR v2 has both built-in.

Riis