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VT Bass - Unity level problems..

#41
Well I see that some people agree with and understand my original post. But I think some people didn't get it - It's not about being worried that my Level is on 8 or 9 o'clock:

Lets say I want to have big low end and overdrive - I boost my Lows to 3 o'clock and turn up the Drive to 4 o'clock (I leave everything else flat) ..... now I'm unable to get unity gain because turning the Level down any more will mute the sound...

Is the answer that I have to leave the Lows at 12 o'clock, and turn the Highs & Mids down to 8 o'clock. Is this the only way to bring the overall level down so that I can get unity gain for that specific tone?
 
#42
SteveMoodie said:
Well I see that some people agree with and understand my original post. But I think some people didn't get it - It's not about being worried that my Level is on 8 or 9 o'clock:

Lets say I want to have big low end and overdrive - I boost my Lows to 3 o'clock and turn up the Drive to 4 o'clock (I leave everything else flat) ..... now I'm unable to get unity gain because turning the Level down any more will mute the sound...

Is the answer that I have to leave the Lows at 12 o'clock, and turn the Highs & Mids down to 8 o'clock. Is this the only way to bring the overall level down so that I can get unity gain for that specific tone?
Click to expand...

This is what I meant by "design flaw". If there's no way to make use of the available gain (Drive, in the case of the VT) at unity, level, why have the gain go that high?

To those who don't see a problem with this, adjusting amp volume to compensate is ridiculous, and this kind of problem can make your carfully arranged pedalboard practically useless
 
#46
Is this with a band or is this at home? The reason I ask is because distortion is tricky to set levels without a band to reference with. When I'm at home, distortion always seems like it's too loud, but then I get on the gig and I kick it on and I'm gone from the mix.

I have no way of trying it tonight since I'm in a hotel room in Sandpoint, Idaho, but I'll try it tomorrow with your settings and see what happens. That's a screaming amount of drive and low end, and I do agree that it may be tough to achieve unity gain. If you bring the drive and low end down some, it will definitely help, but if you're not interested in doing that, then you might want to try something else.
 
#48
SteveMoodie said:
This problem was happening at home. Had a band practice last night and was reminded of how much harder I play when I'm with a band so I didn't need the Drive set as high. So, thankfully the pedal was usable. And I guess when I want to go for the tone I was describing above I will have cut the Mids and Highs to make the Lows 'boost' in relation.
Click to expand...
That's always a better way to go anyway, IMHO. Keeps it from sounding false and "overcooked." BTW, never got to try your settings out...ended up having a nightmare soundcheck/rehearsal that day. But I'm glad you're figuring out a solution that works for you.
 
#50
bassman251 said:
I agree that is a problem for this pedal. I guess they wanted to be able to drive a power amp. I wish they would put a switch to select between line level & instrument level like on there sansamp bass driver.
Click to expand...

I was thinking that last weekend at practice when my LMII did that screeching thing and cut out. :atoz:

I'm having the same issue as the OP, but after having this pedal for a week or so, I gotta say, he's using some pretty high settings considering how sensitive these knobs are. Then again, both my basses (Active P and passive J) are pretty hot.

I bought it looking for a tube-y OD and since I generally like the sound of my clean LMII, I'm not using it as an always on but started to just turn down the gain as quickly as possible and just keep it on.

Is 12 o'clock on the EQ +/- 0 or boost?
 
#51
Neither. Slightly past 12:00 is flat for the low, mid, and character, but 10:00 is flat for highs. I imagine this is to make it able to mimic the ultra-high switches being on, but it's kind of confusing until you figure it out.
 
#55
Thank Dannybuoy ;) He's the one who scoped it and came up with that setting for flat. I knew the knobs weren't totally flat, but I couldn't quite figure out how to achieve flatness till he scoped it.
 
#56
JimmyM said:
Thank Dannybuoy ;) He's the one who scoped it and came up with that setting for flat. I knew the knobs weren't totally flat, but I couldn't quite figure out how to achieve flatness till he scoped it.
Click to expand...

Word, I haven't had that much time to play with it outside of band practice, but I gotta say that the VT probably has the highest learning curve I've ever experienced for a pedal that wasn't a filter. Then again, I've never used sansamp products before.
 
#57
fenderx55 said:
Word, I haven't had that much time to play with it outside of band practice, but I gotta say that the VT probably has the highest learning curve I've ever experienced for a pedal that wasn't a filter. Then again, I've never used sansamp products before.
Click to expand...
Ya, it's a lot easier just to buy an SVT and turn it up all the way ;)

It's an incredibly difficult learning curve, IMHO. And the non-flatness of the tone controls is why, plus some slightly misleading info from Tech 21 in their manual. But now that I can locate flat when I need it, it's gotten much easier.
 
#58
Raising this again. I had two thoughts and others had mentioned them here.
How easy or difficult would it be to:
1) Add a switch and some resistance to toggle high and low output?
2) Change to a suitable audio taper pot? Change value too?
 
#59
It's all in how you use it and what you are using it for I think is the the short answer. You're all right. It's a flaw and a feature, it's bothers you or it doesn't. It helps me achieve Ampeg tones out of my Mesa for certain songs.
 
#60
Foamy said:
Raising this again. I had two thoughts and others had mentioned them here.
How easy or difficult would it be to:
1) Add a switch and some resistance to toggle high and low output?
2) Change to a suitable audio taper pot? Change value too?
Click to expand...
I have no idea, but the thing mimics the Ampeg sound so well that I'd be loath to change a thing...I'd rather work around the "flaws" myself, rather than risk losing the things that make it such a great pedal.
 

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