Tech21NYC

When you run the Bass Driver into the front end of an amp you are stacking preamps and that changes everything which is why we recommend setting the amp on the neutral side if the Bass Driver will be used as an always on effect. It would probably make more sense to add a chorus with the Bass Driver.

Vintage tube Ampeg SVT, V4's, Traynors, Sunn, Marshalls had no "Blend" control which is why I mentioned the reason for the design. I think for a lot of players that have only played solid state amps and have never spent a considerable amount of time with tube amps, any type of OD can seem like an effect. When I cut bass tracks at home I usually just use my old Leeds pedal. No blend. I used to go into my Great River ME-1NV through my Emperical Labs Distressor but found even just running the Leeds fairly clean the bass sounds more there and melds with the track better. What are you plugging the Bass Driver into? An amp, mixer?

The Bass Driver "DI" was designed to facilitate the old school way of both mic'ing and direct inject that was done in the studios and stage for years. I can't recall that last time I've seen any live sound tech or studio engineer employ this technique. Typically they would close mic your bass amp and split the signal to a DI. The mic'd amp sound would provide the character and body to your tone and the DI of your instrument would add definition. The two sounds were mixed accordingly and your final sound was a composite. Fast forward to how things are presently done. Most studio applications are DI'd bass. For live situations most sound techs will either plug you into a DI box and you just use your bass amp as your stage monitor or they will take a DI out of your bass amp. Bass amps will typically have a pre/post setting on the DI. The pre setting is just the sound of your bass pickups and the post is the sound of your amp but most amps don't have compensated (speaker sim) outputs. The idea behind the Bass Driver is that you would plug into the BDDI and send the parallel output to your amp for your stage and room sound and the SansAmp output would go to the board giving the engineer a more consistent feed and a more complex tone. The Bass Fly Rig was not designed to work like the Bass Driver. I think a lot of players associate the SansAmp sound with distortion. They can do clean to overdrive to very distorted if desired. You don't have to use the Blend to obtain clean tones. They operate like old school tubes amps but have the advantage of producing distortion without the need for high volume levels like an old SVT, HiWatt etc.

An IEM is not a musical instrument amplifier. The idea is that it takes the place of wedges for monitoring. FRFR speakers are designed for sound "reproduction" vs sound production. The electric guitar and bass were designed to be used with a musical instrument amplifier not an IEM. It works and if you like it or prefer it that's cool but know it for what it is. When I'm at home and play guitar or bass I don't look for my IEM's to play through.

The Clean channel is totally clean. There is no amp or speaker emulation. The Drive channel can also be set clean if desired. It's best to turn the Bite off and switch the Mid control to post. Here is a picture of the pedal set so the Clean and Drive channels are both clean and relative in volume with a P-Bass. One user suggestion regarding the Bi-amp mode. It's easier to hear and understand what the high and low pass filters are doing if you turn off the level control on the opposite channel. For instance, you can dump all the low end out of the Drive channel (if desired) and still have a lot of clean bottom end when you mix in the Clean channel etc.

If you're playing through IEM's which are basically glorified hearing aids and there is no stage amp, the amp and instrument no longer hear or respond together. This may not be as big of an issue with bass vs lead guitar where sustain is more important but it is a compromise. The problem with bass and IEM's is that unless your IEM's isolate you from the PA's low end, it will become hard to hear yourself which will cause you to turn up your IEM's which defeats the purpose from a hearing protection aspect. IEM's can just as easily damage your hearing as well as protect it. I've played in situations with IEM's or headphones with real amps in isolation as well as modelers and the difference is negligible. In a recording studio setting it's not much of an issue but in a live performance with players adjusting their volumes as well as the adjustments to the PA it can be a real challenge. Do they have decibel limits at live venues in the UK? Is that where much of this is coming from?

That's a signature pedal and the artist would have to request a change. Even at that, we would have to lose the tuner due to the current limitations of phantom power. Personally I'd just add an inexpensive DI box. If you want something similar, the VT Bass DI would be closest but it depends how you dial it in.

Which pedal are you referring to?

It sounds like you've been playing with amateurs. You either know how to play a gig or you don't. In my decades long playing career I've played over 5000 gigs. Whether I'm playing a multimillion $ Broadway Musical production, local pub gig or recording in a studio the same principles always apply. You play at the appropriate volume for the room and situation. As a rule of thumb in most situations the drummer tends to dictate the overall volume of the band which is why I find it puzzling that in many situations where everyone plays direct, they use an acoustic drum kit.

I'm not quite sure what your trying to say. Are you saying in 2025 there is no way to play a 100 watt guitar amp at a low volume vs playing a modeler through my 1000 watt FRFR wedge?

It's really sad to me that playing live has become this. While I do "get" that in certain instances for a "show/performance" like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga etc this might make sense. For the most part much of it comes down to inexperienced sound techs and musicians that don't know how to differentiate between a live performance and a studio recording. It's also part economics. For smaller acts that can't afford to travel with their gear it provides an option. Think about this. You have a live drum kit that has no volume control. It's typically the loudest instrument on stage and yet the instruments with volume controls like guitar, bass and keys are all direct? I can turn down my 100 watt guitar amp to a quiet enough volume in my living room while watching TV, can the average drummer play that softly? While the plexi helps reduce the volume (I use an attenuator as well as plexi shields with my guitar rig) but even at that a loud drummer will still be loud no matter what. For myself their are only a handful of situations where I've agreed to not use an amp. Musical theater gigs and certain studio situations. I play better when using an amp. That's the point of the gear. To allow you to play and perform your best. It doesn't have to be loud to work.

You have it backwards. SS amps are more linear. What you are describing is the tube amp starts to saturate and "compress" more when turned up. That provides a bit of a cushion to the sound whereas the Class D amp will just get louder. With SS amps there is no output transformer. The wattage changes with impedance. See the specs for our 1000 watt Class D dUg Ultra. 1000 Watts RMS minimum, @ 4Ω 600 Watts RMS minimum, @ 8Ω 300 Watts RMS minimum, @ 16Ω Many commercial SS amps are rated at 2 Ohms because that's the biggest number. The only time I ever blew up a power amp was running at 2 ohms.

Actually it is. From the spec sheet. Wattage 200W into 4Ω (Simulates 85W Tube Amp Performance) Speakers Two - 12" Jensen® N-12K Neo Total Impedance 4 ohms It makes sense. You want more available headroom when using the SS amp vs the tube amp. Coming from the sound reinforcement side of things the basic rule of thumb was always doubling the amount of power in relation to speaker wattage. ie 1000 watt of speakers use at least a 2000 watt power amp. I found this out the hard way by constantly blowing tweeters in my PA tops because I was using an underpowered power amp. With musical instrument amps it usually goes the other way. A 300 watt SVT is paired with an 800 watt 8X10. A 100 watt Marshall will be used with a cab rated at 200-300 watts. Of course this begs the question what is accomplished with with all that complex stuff under the hood? A lighter, less expensive amp that has more flexibility and no maintenance other than software updates. The repair and reliability is hard to quantify at this point. Digital amps usually can't be easily field serviced. If the processor goes out it needs to be replaced etc. We do some repairs on the Class D power amp modules in our amps but it's usually more cost effective to replace the module. While tubes became an obsolete tech in the 1950-60's and have their own set of drawbacks they are still being made. The original Line 6 AxSys 212 which came out in 1996 is no longer supported by Line 6 and can be very difficult if not impossible to repair and yet my '66 Fender Bassman lives on.

With these tariffs we all have bigger problems than tube vs SS vs Class AB vs Class D etc. I used to deal with BK when he had Tubeworks. The MosValve was cool. I did a gig a few months ago and my co-guitarist had a little Qulter combo and it sounded good. Pat is a legend in the industry and I've used QSC products for years. The Tonemaster is unique in that it is a modeler dedicated to one amp sound married to an ICE power module but they use the same cabinets that their tube counterparts use. Interesting to note that the specs that Fender gives are somewhat relevant to this discussion. From the Fender product page: Twin Reverb amplifier uses massive digital processing power to achieve a single remarkable sonic feat: faithfully modeling the circuitry and 85-watt power output of an original Twin tube amp. Using a high-performance 200-watt digital power amp to achieve the headroom and dynamic range of a real vintage Twin tube amp, paired with the pronounced sparkle and clarity of two Jensen® N-12K neodymium speakers I'm not familiar with that name.

Does Mike Bendinelli still work there or is he long gone? He used to be one of the guys I would talk to there. I had one of the first Mesa MKII's (1978?) back when you would deal directly with Randy and his first wife Raven. My favorite amp was the MKIII Simulclass for lead guitar. I had a Studio Preamp and their old 50/50. The only thing I have left is their 112 Thiele which is not a good guitar cab but works for bass. I don't have problem with SS. When paired through a good SS or tube power amp our stuff can get very close to a tube amp sound. Recorded, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. When push comes to shove I have not found any SS tech that can compete with what a good tube amp can do in terms of "feel" and tonal complexity. If you take something like my old BF Deluxe RVB amp. Our engineer replaced the output transformer with a Bandmaster transformer which makes it "sound" like a bigger amp but the wattage is technically the same. It also was modded with a cathode bias switch that removes the negative feedback. Substitute a 12AY7 in the first preamp stage and use a 12at7 in the PI slot and the sound and "feel" drastically changes and that's running the amp clean. You would be hard pressed to do that in a SS design. The Mosvalve was my favorite SS power amp for guitar and Quilter is doing some interesting things but it never gets quite there. Of course for some sounds and designs SS can be superior. Bass is a bit different. For the maximum amount of headroom in a tube bass amp, the weight and cost can be deal breakers for most.