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VT Bass & Sansamp BDDI? In a Distorted Mix

G

Godinho_EURO6LX

Jan 22, 2012
66
0
Bahrain
#1
Hey guys

What according to you is a better from the VT Bass or the Sansamp BDDI?

What would cut thru well in a mix with Heavy Distorted 7 string guitars and loads of Double Bass Drum hits?

I know the Sansamp Has a Blend control and the drawback is no Mids...However it does have more grit compared to the VT Bass from my Opinion, what is yours?

And the VT Bass has the Mid control option

The tone im after is a growly Low end tone with some grit added that would cut thru the mix well with a Death Metal band, Also i can shape it up for some Funk whenever id like the Jam..Lookin for a nice Modern Hi-fi tone to cut it nice and slice it up

Your feedback would be much appreciated ..TECH 21 love in this place
 
#3
Have you considered the Aguilar Tone Hammer? Now that I have a bass with onboard EQ I'm using it with the AGS for drive and enjoy it (though I'm not playing in a distortion heavy group). It has fully sweepable mids, and I'm bringing the mids around 700Hz down by about 10dB, so there might be enough for you, or you can pick a frequency to bring up. I believe the highs function at 1.5kHz as well, and that does give a bit of presence without being too harsh. It will growl though if you look for it.
 
#4
I own both, sort of I have the Landmark 660 head which has a BDDI channel in it.

Both sound good, can sound similar depending how you dial them in, or can sound very different depending how you dial them in.

Both can cut through just fine.
 
#5
JimmyM said:
I personally like the VT better, but you can add mids to the BDDI by backing down the treble and bass knobs.
Click to expand...
This is often overlooked by people who rail on the BDDI. My sound when I used one for a similar situation to the OP was achieved by cutting treble to about 9 o'clock, bass to 10 o'clock, and boosting the level. I liked it more than the VT bass when I was playing my fretted basses, but absolutely hated the BDDI and loved the VT bass when using my fretless bass.
 
#6
Let me know if you figure this out, because I've never come across a bass distortion that can cut through the mix against multiple distorted guitars and double bass. In my experience, the guitars' distortion always dominates, which means that the bass distortion doesn't substantially effect the band's overall sound -- or at least not enough to be worth the loss of fullness in the bass tone. (I'm speaking in terms of standard riffs, of course... distortion works great for bass breaks or to keep the sound heavy when the guitars are soloing or otherwise not riffing.)
 
#7
MCS4 said:
Let me know if you figure this out, because I've never come across a bass distortion that can cut through the mix against multiple distorted guitars and double bass. In my experience, the guitars' distortion always dominates, which means that the bass distortion doesn't substantially effect the band's overall sound -- or at least not enough to be worth the loss of fullness in the bass tone. (I'm speaking in terms of standard riffs, of course... distortion works great for bass breaks or to keep the sound heavy when the guitars are soloing or otherwise not riffing.)
Click to expand...

Yup

I mainly use the Distortion in between parts for Guitars Solos and interludes between songs! For now i have the Bass Big Muff on the Dry Switch! But doesnt really cut thru that well..The Bass Big Muff in Combination with My BDDI's Drive makes my tone Growl! However im Considering other dirt boxes..Lookin at the Wren & Cuff Pickle Pie b or the Malekko Fuzz! Seems like they are more mid Focused!
 
#8
Yeah, I'm actually going to do some more experimenting in my own regard on this. Between a birthday and getting rid of some old gear, I'll soon have several dirt boxes to play with (looks like El Oso, Grey Stache, MXR M80, and Sparkle Drive). I'm interested to see if I can find a combination that preserves the full-range bass tone well enough while giving a distorted tone that both cuts through and adds something to the mix.

Some guys are able to pull this off in the studio through creative mixing and blending of multiple bass signals, so it'll be interesting to take another crack at reproducing the effect live (Troy Sanders from Mastodon is an example, although the clean part of his tone still adds a lot more to the mix than the distorted element). I picked the above pedals in part because all except the Grey Stache have blend functions, and the Stache at least has a mid boost available.
 
#9
MCS4 said:
Yeah, I'm actually going to do some more experimenting in my own regard on this. Between a birthday and getting rid of some old gear, I'll soon have several dirt boxes to play with (looks like El Oso, Grey Stache, MXR M80, and Sparkle Drive). I'm interested to see if I can find a combination that preserves the full-range bass tone well enough while giving a distorted tone that both cuts through and adds something to the mix.

Some guys are able to pull this off in the studio through creative mixing and blending of multiple bass signals, so it'll be interesting to take another crack at reproducing the effect live (Troy Sanders from Mastodon is an example, although the clean part of his tone still adds a lot more to the mix than the distorted element). I picked the above pedals in part because all except the Grey Stache have blend functions, and the Stache at least has a mid boost available.
Click to expand...
Check the Deluxe BBM, the crossover function could work out in your favor. The filters are resonant, so you could get not only your wet/dry blend, but a mid boost as well for each signal. Less low frequency distortion and high frequency clean, but if you set the HPF to low mids and the LPF to higher mids you'll get an overall mid boost that could help you cut through.
 
#10
The lack of mids on the BDDI shouldn't be an issue if you're using an amp or if your bass has a 3 band preamp. Just dial the mids in through them or, better yet, roll the bass and treble down.

Of the two, for the context you're in I say go with the BDDI. I've heard the rackmounted version - RBI - used in a deathcore band recently and it absolutely crunched through the mix. Very thick sounding but it sat very well in the mix. First time I've heard a bass tone that good in a deathcore band. Hell, first time I've heard bass at all in deathcore lol.
 

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