Killerfridge

I've just removed a load of stuff from the board, but this is essentially the ampless set-up, with the DI 2112 being interchangeable with a VT Bass DI depending on the gig:

Just bought a DI 2112 from Bill and not only was he quick, he provided a bit of tech support too! Buy with confidence

I bought a Darkglass Element from Dan, he was very communicative, prompt, and easy to buy from; buy with confidence

I think the fact that you could hear people going "that's just the same bass again" when they switched between an Epiphone Thunderbird and a Rickenbacker 4001 is all you need to know!

That looks nuts, I love it! One of my students has a bass like that, but it's from Gear4Music and I don't think it's intentional...

Bought a Hypergravity Mini compressor - they sent it incredibly quickly and covered far more of the postage than they needed to - great person to buy from!

Wood recently did a trade with me on my Bongo 5 for his Spector Euro RST - excellent communication, very accommodating, let me have a play of some of his more obscure short scale basses whilst being offered constant tea!

Compression is one of the few "effects" that I can't live without. Sure, when playing alone I feel like I lose all my dynamic range, but for live gigs it just takes everything so that I can better sit in the mix, rather than be constantly concerned I'm too quiet or too loud!

Have a check out of Jayme Lewis' unboxing livestream of the SGT he just did yesterday; he does a really good job of fiddling with it to see what sort of sounds and styles it can do:

I'm also following this thread with great interest, as I also want to pick up the SGT-DI and the Revolt Bass!

The VT definitely can do grindy, so I'm not doubting your experience with it! The character dial really affects how much "grind" you get. Have a listen to how I use it here (just through the VT, no other eq/effects etc.):

I know you mentioned the Sansamp was a bit "grindy", but have you tried the VTBass? I use that currently for my IEMs and that gives me a nice fat warm sound. There is also the Two Notes Revolt Bass which I absolutely love the look and sound of. And as Boodang said, the SpectraDrive is great (assuming it has essentially the same circuitry as the old RH amp heads, or at least can sound like them).