Al Krow

I guess you might expect the heavier bridge to have some impact on increased sustain, but corresponding decreased resonance - from transferring less string vibration to the body.

The irony that we're both making use of Tech 21 pedals (in my case the VT Bass DI and yours the dUg) to get the most out of our DG M900 AOs has not been lost on me! (Nor the fact that the one I'm using is precisely the one that didn't work for you straight out of the box 😁).

This review has had 175 likes and no dislikes - it's a really nice (no talking) demo of the preamp, EQ and cab sims available on the M900 AO. Link to detailed review of the amp http://bit.ly/DarkglassAlphaOmega

@NancyJohnson - completely agree with you that the some of the YT clips featuring Dingwall basses sounds nothing like what I'm hearing from the AO drive through my rig and basses either! Scott's review of the preamp is pretty thorough (together with lots of chat!) - worth picking this up at about 7.00 onwards. And if you want to cut to the chase then at 15.30 he does a comparison of the alpha and omega drive tones. My personal take is that the AO is a more "mainstream" drive tone whereas the B7K is what I think of as being "classic Darkglass" and to my ears the Tech 21 YYZ sound is a lot closer to the B7K than the Omega I'll be using on the amp. What I would say is that if you dislike the AO drive tone, then the M900 AO wouldn't be an obvious choice of amp in my books! Although its very capable clean power amp section should pair easily and well with the preamp pedal of your choice.

Haha, nothing so elaborate. It's just tidied away together with the rest of the PA gear, lights etc and all the other stuff that's not been used during lockdown, in our equivalent of a cupboard under the stairs!

Super impressive combination of pedals @lee650 and looking good too!

I got the VT Bass DI just before lockdown kicked in, so it's not been out on the road yet and my gig-rig has mostly been in storage, for obvious reasons(!), and I've been pretty much using my home rig since then. But a very recent separate discussion around DG drive tones with a couple of BC'ers was motivation to get the DG M900 AO out and give it a bit of a shakedown. I did note pretty quickly that the VT Bass DI had the very welcome ability, on certain settings and with its bite (enhanced presence) engaged, to "lift the blanket" on a MB combo I've got. I'm using a close variation of the same setting with the DG+BB2 (gig rig). For me the VT Bass DI has become a "must have" addition when using the MB combo (which is basically a practice combo I've left up at my folks' place), although I appreciate many MB owners are very happy with their untailored sound. It provides a more subtle / less noticeable difference with the DG+BB2 which are significantly more transparent / less treble-rounded than the MB combo but, fingers crossed, it's exactly the "little extra" harmonic richness I've been on a bit of a quest for. It's also good to have got a very decent / usable Omega drive setting on the amp (which I posted a page back on this thread). This will be a very usable alternative to the B7K patch on my Zoom B1-4, which is pretty good and my particular fav Zoom drive patch.

Speaking of plugging a Tech 21 pedal in the front of the M900, just been doing that with my VT Bass DI. With the setting I've tweaked it on (which I've dubbed "bass sheen"), it seems to be delivering that coveted complex harmonic "tube" sheen, that I've seen promised by the likes of Lehle Sonic Spark, and getting my gigging rig as close to the sound of my home rig as anyone is likely to notice in a live mix. So that's a particular box finally and happily ticked. And on the subject of 6 band EQ, hats off to DG for their choice of centre points at 80Hz, 250Hz, 500hz, 1.5kHz, 3kHz and 5kHz - a very decent selection!

Flattery will get you everywhere! I really don't need any excuse to be reposting a pic my vintage white BB1024-sibling even if it's technically got a redundant thumb rest string! But I'll resist, given that I must have posted it almost as many times as @bassfan has posted his very lovely Status (and which has gotta be one of the most coveted basses on BC) 😁

Just gonna give this a little plug on here, in case anyone is thinking of moving on their 1024 (great choice btw! 😊) Yamaha BB 1024 - Items Wanted (NO TRADES) - Basschat

No worries; I thought you were meaning something like the fx return (and also that you knew what you were talking about, which is usually the case!) Personally I've never gone for pedals in an amp's fx loop, partly 'cos I've not really got my head around as to whether there's any real benefit to doing so! But always had them straight into the front end. As you're probably already aware, the M900 series 2 range is very flexible in terms of where you take your outputs with separate volume controls for DI out (pre or post) and main output as well as an independent volume control for the headphone out. It does have a couple of quirks that you need to get used to e.g. the M900 headphone amp (which is 'post DI' so you get the benefit of the full 6 band EQ) is impacted by the amp mute, so you need to leave the amp unmuted but the master volume set to zero for silent practice; and the aux in only feeds into the headphone amp, and not the main amp, which seems to be an unnecessary limitation when you're not wanting to do silent practice.

Yup, but you don't need to do that! And certainly not what I would be doing. Simply plug the dUg or any pedal in at the front end and you can entirely bypass the AO 'module' (it's clear from the circuit diag in the manual) via a panel switch or footswitch. So you still have the benefit of the 6 band EQ.

Enjoy the red. But seriously...I have to disagree on one point. I mean, how can you say that the dUg Ultrabass is better looking than the AO 900 (even if you have wee D3PX sitting on it)?! I mean, does it have EQ sliders that light up helpfully on a darkened stage? 😁

Oh ok, I think if you read back the emphasis was all around the headroom and 6 band EQ: "not come across many power amps that trump the M900 with it's huge headroom & 6 band EQ" which is the point I've just restated. Wasn't really going any further than that I guess worth mentioning that DG kit does have a good rep for reliability and, certainly to me, the form factor & design of M900 are top notch.

Well it obviously depends on what folk are after. As I've pointed out a couple of times previously it offers 900W at 4 ohms and decent 6 band EQ. If the combination of headroom and EQ flexibility are important criteria in your amp choice then it will trump a lot of others, which don't match it. If you have different priorities, then I'm sure plenty of other amps will be fine.

Tbh I'm not too bothered either way, as neither the DP3X nor Ultrabass are on my radar. I was more interested, given the discussion, whether you think there will be a significant difference in sound that makes sense for Paul to trade in what he already has and replace, which I think you are suggesting? As an expert on the relevant products, I'm assuming you can set that out fairly easily for us? If not, no worries, I'm sure Paul can research further if he's interested 😉

The M900 has a very good power amp section with 6 band EQ, Sure there will be others equally good or better. But I'm struggling to see that the Ultrabass amp offers anything more than a DP3X pedal + M900 amp, both of which Paul already has?

But is it offering anything more than a DP3X pedal + DG M900 power amp**, which Paul has already got? And you get a tuner thrown in for good measure, always handy 😁 **with the M900 you can clean by-pass the AO (or B3K/VMT on the Mk2) preamp.

Tbf I've not come across many power amps that trump the M900 with it's huge headroom & 6 band EQ and there's no guarantee that Tech 21 would necessarily match the DG offering on that score** So you're kinda there already surely, just in pedal preamp format + Class D amp, as separates? **quickly revisits Cuzzie's pic from earlier 😁...the variable HPF and LPF are pretty cute features and I'm guessing it's 1000W at 4ohms from it's name? It doesn't weigh a ton (12 lbs), but it's a proper Mesa Boogie price!

For those that are not averse to an AO drive sound (which has gotta be a good starting place if you're thinking of getting the DG M900 AO amp, right?), here's an AO setting I'm currently using that's delivering a rich creamy drive: Bite - engaged, Growl - off Drive 3pm (8/10), Blend 1pm (6/10 i.e. 40% clean) Omega (10/10) Think I can safely conclude that I'm clearly not an Alpha male! As dbuoy has commented elsewhere, the Zoom B3N B7K patch (which I also have available on my Zoom B1-4) is pretty close to the real deal and it's been interesting A/Bing them. The B7K is closer to the Tech 21 sound; I'd describe it as being more mid scooped / nasally than the AO, so quite a different flavour and definitely nice to have both on tap as alternatives.

Think we could be seeing an M900 AO hitting the FS very shortly after that post...😁

In terms of "your sound", are you still using the very capable clean power section on the M900 but simply not engaging the AO drive but using your Tech21 pedal of choice instead? Yup I agree, that's a Tech21 clank (does sound very Geddy YYZ) and not the AO drive tone. (The B3k on the M900 Mk2 would be closer IMO - maybe @Muppet will trade you, he liked the colour of the AO better 😁) But if a dUg + clean D Power amp gets you there, you've got to your sound with the addition of one pedal which is not a bad result.

And just to tie that in with my earlier post the available effects patches on B3N and B1-4 are the pretty much identical. I think the B1-on has been now been discontinued, but still come up used.

Another +1 for the Audio-Technica kit. I bought the ATH-PRO700Mk2 7 years back, as I similarly wanted something that could deliver a very decent bass. Happy to say that they're still going strong!