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greghagger
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Here is my video demo of the TC Electronics SpectraDrive pedal. 

There is so much in this pedal - Eq, Drive, Compression, TonePrints, DI, mp3 Line in, etc. 

I take this pedal everywhere, and it’s especially useful when plugging straight into a PA. 

Check out my review and see what you think. Please comment and share with anyone who might be interested.

 

 

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On 22/04/2019 at 19:18, dave_bass5 said:

Check out the other threads about it and see what ‘we’ think 😉

I had the first one (or one of the first) in the country by all accounts, sold it and brought it again. 

I certainly will, thanks. But I am certainly interested in any fresh comments.

I must have been pretty near the front of the queue too I think as had to pre-order. 

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1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

Nice cleans.

 

Horrible drives.

Yes I love the overall clean sound, and the sound guy is always complimentary about the sound I give them. 

I don’t use Drive all that much, but I did manage to find one TonePrint that sounded pretty good. 

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  • 1 year later...
On 23/04/2019 at 20:53, greghagger said:

Yes I love the overall clean sound, and the sound guy is always complimentary about the sound I give them. 

I don’t use Drive all that much, but I did manage to find one TonePrint that sounded pretty good. 

Enjoyed your review Greg.  

Which drive TonePrint did you like ?  I quite like the default though it does seem to lose a bit of bottom.  

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12 hours ago, CliveT said:

Enjoyed your review Greg.  

Which drive TonePrint did you like ?  I quite like the default though it does seem to lose a bit of bottom.  

Thanks, glad you liked the video. 

I mostly use the default Drive and one called ‘Natural’ I think.  TC could come up with better Drive TonePrints in my opinion. But I mostly use a clean sound and I love the pedal for this. Perfect to boost my passive P-Bass and also sounds great with my Active J-Bass too. 

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9 hours ago, greghagger said:

Thanks, glad you liked the video. 

I mostly use the default Drive and one called ‘Natural’ I think.  TC could come up with better Drive TonePrints in my opinion. But I mostly use a clean sound and I love the pedal for this. Perfect to boost my passive P-Bass and also sounds great with my Active J-Bass too. 

I've only just got this pedal so only played around at home but I agree, the Default and Natural Drive toneprints sound like they would work in a mix.  Default tends to lose bottom end on the E string though which Natural Drive manages to keep.

Not had chance to try that with the band yet of course.  Quite like Fizz Off too if I need fuzz but in reality not sure when I would use it.  

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Had more chance to play with the drives and not really finding many I like.  Natural Drive just doesn't sound natural to me.  The Default drive sounds best, feels like it's losing some bottom end but haven't been able to try at gig volumes yet.

Still a very good headphone amp and backup DI or preamp/DI for when I don't take an amp.

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6 hours ago, CliveT said:

Had more chance to play with the drives and not really finding many I like.  Natural Drive just doesn't sound natural to me.  The Default drive sounds best, feels like it's losing some bottom end but haven't been able to try at gig volumes yet.

Still a very good headphone amp and backup DI or preamp/DI for when I don't take an amp.

I think trying at volume will obviously be useful.  I tried a few different drives once at a soundcheck and got done feedback from the sound guy.

I mainly use this pedal for gigs that I don’t use an amp and also use a little bit of drive to boost the sound for certain parts of the gig that I need a lift in volume.

 

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I was about to give up on the drives but trying the Natural Drive with a low gain starts to get n the right ballpark.  

Then, I watched a few TC demo videos and they showed the Clean Boost toneprint.  With the gain high and volume low it sounds great.  Just a touch of tube style breakup with no low end loss.  Can't wait to try this at band volume!

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13 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Yep, as I said earlier, the clean boost is the best of the lot, and only one I found a use for. 

Sorry, yes you did 😊  Turning the gain up high does add a nice break up.and it certainly retains the low end.

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2 hours ago, CliveT said:

I was about to give up on the drives but trying the Natural Drive with a low gain starts to get n the right ballpark.  

Then, I watched a few TC demo videos and they showed the Clean Boost toneprint.  With the gain high and volume low it sounds great.  Just a touch of tube style breakup with no low end loss.  Can't wait to try this at band volume!

Cheers, I had forgotten about the Clean Boost. I’ll have to try that again. 

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59 minutes ago, CliveT said:

Sorry, yes you did 😊  Turning the gain up high does add a nice break up.and it certainly retains the low end.

Haha, no, I meant i was just agreeing with you. I love how it hardly changes the tone, but adds the breakup. 

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Could the issue I'm having with some of the drives, ie, Natural Drive be the tweeter in my Markbass combo?  Can't turn that off of course.  I'll have to try that with a PA in the comings months.

Having said that, is there a better preamp, DI, with headphone out and aux in for the same price with this many features that I could actually gig with and not just leave at home for practice only?  If so I'd like to know :) 

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2 hours ago, CliveT said:

 

Having said that, is there a better preamp, DI, with headphone out and aux in for the same price with this many features that I could actually gig with and not just leave at home for practice only?  If so I'd like to know :) 

Yeah, the Zoom B3n or B1-Four (much cheaper). No DI but other than that, does all the Spectradrive does and way more. For home practice you have amp and cab sims, headphone out, aux in, looper, drum machine, loads of effects etc. 

Dont get me wrong, i love the Spectradrive, but I find its a very basic box, albeit one that covered my needs at the time. Killer feature for me has always been the EQ. Its just perfect for my tones. I got a BH800 head based on it having the same EQ section. 

 

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12 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

Yeah, the Zoom B3n or B1-Four (much cheaper). No DI but other than that, does all the Spectradrive does and way more. For home practice you have amp and cab sims, headphone out, aux in, looper, drum machine, loads of effects etc. 

Dont get me wrong, i love the Spectradrive, but I find its a very basic box, albeit one that covered my needs at the time. Killer feature for me has always been the EQ. Its just perfect for my tones. I got a BH800 head based on it having the same EQ section. 

 

I agree with you. I love the basic sound you can get from the SpectraDrive and it’s particularly good for EQ, boost and DI.  I find it works just as well for my active & passive basses. 
 

If any of you are looking for a pedal with a lot more ‘toys’ then go for something else.  I would also recommend finding a separate Drive pedal that suits your needs. 

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Yes, the basic sound of the Spectradrive is very good and with the DI useful when there are gigs I don't need to take an amp, and when I do I have a backup preamp/DI now too.  

If it were just home use then the Zoom would be fine but I want something I can gig with too.

The drives aren't a big issue for me as I can't see me using them much anyway.   

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10 minutes ago, CliveT said:

Yes, the basic sound of the Spectradrive is very good and with the DI useful when there are gigs I don't need to take an amp, and when I do I have a backup preamp/DI now too.  

If it were just home use then the Zoom would be fine but I want something I can gig with too.

The drives aren't a big issue for me as I can't see me using them much anyway.   

This was my thinking as well. I never intended to use the Zoom’s live. Don’t need amp/cab sims as i have a rig, but for headphone practice these are perfect (should say i use a Helix Stomp at home now). But the SD has a solid tone, which i found worked great in front of my amp. I used to keep the amp flat and use the SD for EQ. Having Comp onboard was great. I never did get around to using the drive part with the band though. I just didnt feel i could get the tone i wanted. Eventually i went back to my BDDI for band use as I like the drive tone, plus i do actually love the BDDI anyway (just wish it had a cab sim headphone output) and kept the SD for home use until i got my Stomp. 

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On 12/06/2020 at 10:14, CliveT said:

Could the issue I'm having with some of the drives, ie, Natural Drive be the tweeter in my Markbass combo?  Can't turn that off of course.  I'll have to try that with a PA in the comings months.

Having said that, is there a better preamp, DI, with headphone out and aux in for the same price with this many features that I could actually gig with and not just leave at home for practice only?  If so I'd like to know :) 

I don't think it's the amp, I think it's because the drives aren't very good.

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