papadesophie

[quote name='BOD2' post='158420' date='Mar 16 2008, 02:53 PM']It's not potentially damaging as long as you don't go crazy with the levels. On the other hand, solid state amps are not reknowned for muscial sounding distrortion when driven hard - it could well sound awful if/when it starts to disort. A better plan would be to get a distortion FX pedal of some sort and use that at the front of the amp. The distortion created by that is likely to sound much more musical. Behringer FX pedals are really cheap if you just want to experiment.[/quote] Thanks. I just didn't want to blow the amp up, but I'm pretty sure it will sound crap anyway. It certainly doesn't break up nicely when the clean boost is used in front of the amp. This is one of those annoying situations where I know exactly the sound that I want, but every distortion pedal out there that I've tried is either a: Horrible, b: too flimsy or too complicated to be reliable or c: too expensive. The 'sound in my head' is very simply an overdriven ampeg with a P Bass. I've tried the Boss ODB-3 which is probably as close as I'll get within my budget, but not quite right (a bit to fizzy, not growly enough). The EBS multidrive sounds nice to my ears, but is too much money, as is every sansamp product out there. The Behringer sansamp clone has the sounds and the price, but is flimsy, and the slightest movement of any control throws the sound out (it's just too tweakable). Next step is building a Flipster from OLC [url="http://olcircuits.com/olc_flipster.html"]http://olcircuits.com/olc_flipster.html[/url] this is my last hope, and if that doesn't work out, it's back to the ODB-3. Incidentally, this is an abridged list of pedals I've tried, and I think that the real weak link is my amp, which just doesn't take distortion well........

My 100 watt combo has an fx loop between pre and power amp. Frustratingly there is no input gain control though, meaning that it only really does clean sounds. I have a clean boost pedal that I've made, and have though about sticking in the effects loop to drive the power amp a bit harder. It's all solid state though, so is this a bad, or potentially damaging idea? Cheers

[quote name='Finbar' post='141367' date='Feb 15 2008, 09:05 PM']So what would this actually do in an effects loop? It wouldn't just have no effect, surely?[/quote] If it's just a passive volume pot surely it just bleeds signal off to ground as you blend it back. You could do the same with a passive volume pedal in the effects loop.... but if you're only after preamp valve distortion i'm sure it would work just fine

[quote name='StiffyP' post='141440' date='Feb 15 2008, 11:40 PM']i got myn today and i love it, havent fully got to grips with it yet though - will crank it tommorow and have a proper play. but beware - the guy said it would take a maximum of 10 days to make and a max of 7 days delivery PLUS there would be no import tax on it, because of the price he put on the box. however, it took 5 weeks delivery, and i got charged £14 import tax... maybe i was just an anomaly though. but its pretty much a vital tool on anyones board, even if they dont particularly need it, you will definetly find a use for it at some point. im running my EBS multidrive through it, because i want my clean tone with just a bit of crunch.[/quote] Was that £14 total, cos at least £8 of that would be the PO. Mine took a while to turn up it's true, about 4 weeks I guess, but not too bad...

Anyone ever use one of these on bass? I bought a BYOC kit and am faced with the option of building a DOD250 clone or a distortion+. I know that the 250 sounds ok for what I want, but thought i might try the Dist+ for fun. Just wondered if anyone had any prior experience of that particular beast

[quote name='BassManKev' post='132609' date='Feb 2 2008, 03:44 PM']im sure, but when you dont have a car it complicates things actually just remembered where one is, il have to check it out sometime this weekend, what section would it be in??[/quote] You could try asking a member of staff when you get there. Just for the laugh mind, cos they won't know, but it's funny to watch their faces crumple in confusion. Velcro's usually with the rolls of rope and chains and stuff, you can buy it by the meter and it's cheap as chips - don't buy the packs in boxes as it's far more expensive. It's good stuff, very sticky too. I've got some stuck to my bedroom ceiling as a deterrent to stop the kids jumping on my bed.

[quote name='Finbar' post='138421' date='Feb 11 2008, 07:29 PM']Aye, just looked that up. For an extra $10, I can't see why ANYONE would buy that VFBjr... Unless they are really pressed for space? :/[/quote] Join the mailing list. Mailing list members get a few discounts and first dibs on new stuff. Think (but not sure) the VB Jr was $89 or $95 to mailing list members.

[quote name='Finbar' post='138400' date='Feb 11 2008, 06:58 PM']How much did you get hit for on import charges? Really want one.[/quote] £4.48 (VAT basically on their 'nominal' value, they're obviously pretty switched on to our import system! Plus the post office's f***ing ridiculous £8 'handling charge'. I mean for Christ's sake, shouldn't the charge for postage be considered something of a handling charge? Totally worth it though. It's like buying a whole new pedal board for the price of 1 pedal....

To all FX using bassists. I've just taken delivery of a VFB2 from Barge Concepts having read a couple of threads on here referring to them. My message to all is - get one! All of a sudden I can use mu old DOD 250 to get a bit of crunch without losing my nice fat bottom! In fact all my effects can be made to sound fuller and more bassy. The feedback loop is an unnecessary but interesting and usable extra, and I'm looking forward to making all manner of effects feed back on themselves. Seriously, everyone should check these out! [url="http://www.bargeconcepts.com/vfb1.html"]http://www.bargeconcepts.com/vfb1.html[/url]

Yep you're right. Sticking it in the loop you do get a slight smidgen of distortion. You also get a sh*t load of extra hiss, and a slightly (very slightly) more high mid / trebly openness. I liked the hint of distortion but don't think I could live with the hiss!!

Any reason why I shouldn't put my Boss GE-7 in the effects loop of my solid state 100 watt 1X15. I'm assuming that the effects loop is between the pre and power amps therefore best to keep the volume slider lowish to avoid damaging the power amp? Or am I being a twat?

Hi, Thread hijack about to occur. I'm interested to know, those using the Behringer BDI, are you using it as a preamp / amp sim or what. I was looking at the sansamp bddi, when I heard about the Behringer alternative, but I'm not sure if what I want to do tallies with what everyone else is using this for. I basically want to use it just as a distortion box. I've been trying to find a decent sounding valve type distortion effect forever, but everything I have heard so far is either too expensive or over gained. All I really want is that classic tubey SVT type crunch. Having listened to the sansamp sound samples, it gets pretty close to the sound I want, so what's your opinion on the behringer SVT style crunch impersonation? I could always try one out I suppose..... only thing is, where???

Update, I have had a bit of a mess around with settings as per your good guidance. Bizarrely I have found the following: with my standard P Bass I can get exactly what I want. However my main bass is an old 70s Tele Bass, and I think that the output of that big old humbucker is causing the CS-3 to go into maximum squish. It sounds sh*te. With the volume rolled back a bit it seems to liven up a little so I think it's an pickup power issue. Does this sound likely?? Thanks for all your advice BTW

Thanks for that. It's a useful article. I guess what I'm really asking though, is can I get a bit more sustain using this pedal without it sounding 'compressed', or am I on to a loser? Is the CS-3 (mods or not) basically sh*t? Or is it me?

Right, stupid question time. I've never used compression, just never really got the point, but I've been doing a few quieter numbers in our set recently where fewer notes are required, so I thought a bit of compression might help ring a little more sustain out, a bit more subtly. So I got a boss CS-3 which was noisy. So I did a Monte Allums mod on it (Opto mod I think?) which has made it quieter and more tonally transparent, but I have to say, I hate the compressed sound. I can only liken it to driving a car with can of coke wedged under the accelerator. You can try to floor it if you like, but it won't go any louder or faster than if you were tickling the throttle. So as always I have to assume that I'm doing something wrong. At the moment I have level set to 3 o'clock, Tone to 12, sustain to 7 o'clock and attack on max. I'm still getting a really squished sound, but this is about as good as I can get it. All I want is a slightly longer sustain. I don't want much if any limiting, so attack needs to be as natural as possible. HELP???? Should I just bin the CS-3 and do without?

Hi Dave, I've listened to the sound clips on your website, and I like the sound of channel 1 on the VT2 Bass (I think it was) with eq off and fat on. I can't afford to shell out that much on a pedal though, and hoped that the VT1 might produce a similar sound? Slightly milder OD might be desirable. I'm just looking to put a little valve warmth and grit in front of a solid state amp, and if possible the facility to do a raging SVT would be nice, but doesn't need to be foot switchable.. cheers for your help Matt

The above sounds like the answer to my prayers, but I'm slightly put off by the distortion part of the model description. I need a pedal to do 2 things. Firstly to add a bit of nearly but not quite clean valve warmth to my solid state combo, and secondly to get a nice fat, warm SVT style OD. So far I've come across the HAO rust Ride, which does the SVT bit perfectly to my ears, but does nothing else (and I can't find one for love nor money). The other bit I'm sort of doing currently with a bit of 'clever' eq via a boss GE-7, but it's not perfect and can sound a bit flabby at volume. I've checked out the sound clips on the DHA site, but all the bass ones seem to be the VT2 custom, which is quite a bit more than I wanted to pay, although some of the sounds are nice. the sound clips of Channel 1 on it's own (with fat switch on) sounds particularly nice to my ears, but how would those sounds compare to the VT1 standard bass? Will the VT1 also produce a bit more drive if required? Anyone know? Pretty much everyone says great things about DHA, but with a family to feed, I can't afford to go dropping 80 notes on anything that might be viewed as an aural experiment! Other things that ostensibly work to my ears are the Sansamp BDDI (but I don't need the DI and again, it's a bit more than I planned shelling out) and the Fulltone Bass Drive, which is lovely but again, pricey and probably overspecified.

[quote name='Silent Fly' post='83632' date='Nov 4 2007, 06:58 PM']Hi, Does anybody have some experience with some of these pedals/company: [url="http://www.buildyourownclone.com"]<a href="http://www.buildyourownclone.com" target="_blank">http://www.buildyourownclone.com[/url]</a> or their UK distributor: [url="http://www.vibe-o-tronic.siliq.net"]<a href="http://www.vibe-o-tronic.siliq.net" target="_blank">http://www.vibe-o-tronic.siliq.net[/url]</a> Silent Fly[/quote] Somewhat late, you've probably made your pedal already, but i built a 440 clone from one of their kits. Sure you can buy the parts more cheaply, but for the novice builder, these kits really do make effects building a realistic proposition. the 440 was a piece of p*ss to put together and sounds really good. The PCB is very high quality. I would build another in a heartbeat. Vibe-o-tronic shipped quickly too.

[quote name='papadesophie' post='111106' date='Dec 30 2007, 07:49 PM']Cheers all for the tips. I reckon I'll do both of the above, ie email Ashdown, and try it out if poss. I like the sound of the Ashdown better than the Fender, and my various basses just seem to sound more like they 'should' through it, so it would be nice to make it giggable, although to be honest I'm doubtful, and it's not the end of the world if i end up sticking with the rumble![/quote] According to Ashdown the After Eight will drive a 2X10 comfortably, but I'm still not clear as to whether this will actually generate any extra volume? I really don't get the whole amp wattage thing. Can anyone explain? If I plug the after eight into a 2X10, I understand that the amp will only produce 15 watts, but with a cab producing 200 watts, would it be louder than with the internal speaker. I know that this is a basic question, and on the face of it sounds stupid, but that's because I am stupid. In summary, would there be any point to getting a 2X10????

[quote name='The Burpster' post='110857' date='Dec 30 2007, 10:26 AM']My guess is probably not.... My Roland Cube 30 (but its only a 1x10) would just about do it when I tried (in a similar situation to you), and 30W IMO would be an absolute minimum for trying to drive a 2x10. Although if you've got your mind set on a 2x10, and I guess the After 8 (being a pressie) will not be on the 'upgrade' list my advice would be try it...... You probably wont know if it will do what you want until you try. Maybe a quick email to Ashdown?[/quote] Cheers all for the tips. I reckon I'll do both of the above, ie email Ashdown, and try it out if poss. I like the sound of the Ashdown better than the Fender, and my various basses just seem to sound more like they 'should' through it, so it would be nice to make it giggable, although to be honest I'm doubtful, and it's not the end of the world if i end up sticking with the rumble!

I got an Ashdown After eight 15 watt practice amp as an xmas present. It's a great practice amp as it's nice and quiet and is quite transparent, so different basses actually sound different ( I use a Stingray, a P bass and a Tele Bass with mudbucker). It has an 8 ohm out for an extension cab, but my question is, will the 15 watt amp be enough to power a 2X 10 cab for small gigs? I suspect not, and I'm sure I'll be told it won't be loud enough, but I'm in a 3 piece band, we play family parties mainly where we need to be quiet. At the moment (you're going to laugh at this), I'm using a Fender Rumble 100 1X15 combo, which is actually slightly too loud! It's never been above 25% volume in a gigging situation, which may give you an idea how 'loud' I need to be. If the amp on the ashdown won't push a 2X10 to reasonable (i.e. practice studio space) volume, what's the point? I had an ashdown 2X10 25 watt cab in mind. Thanks for your advice.