Sansamp Bass Driver v2

[BassAdder60]

Just added this to my bass gear and used it last night in front of my ABM600 

Discovered that I could get a great pick tone with the bass driver ON and running the ABM600 flat BUT with the Shape feature ON ( mid scoop ) 

Amazing tone which I just couldn’t achieve on the amp EQ alone 

Adding in the Bass Driver drive added the grit but it had warmth and depth to the sound. I think I’ve discovered my favourite rock tone 

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by BassAdder60

[Lozz196]

I’ve not used mine with the Shape on on my ABM600, will give it a try. 

[BassAdder60]

18 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

I’ve not used mine with the Shape on on my ABM600, will give it a try. 

Naturally you have to boost the Sansamp mids a touch and watch the amount of bass. 
It just added a fullness to the sound yet didn’t get buried with the band. 

[ern500evo]

The V2 bass driver is a cracking pedal. IMO the Paradriver is even better, the sweepable mid control just makes it so versatile 

[BassAdder60]

1 hour ago, ern500evo said:

The V2 bass driver is a cracking pedal. IMO the Paradriver is even better, the sweepable mid control just makes it so versatile 

I find on the V2 the Blend control is key in getting a great sound. 
 

I run mine now as the image shows 

[ern500evo]

40 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

I find on the V2 the Blend control is key in getting a great sound. 
 

I run mine now as the image shows 

I’m picking up a ABM600 this weekend. Sold my EBS and my ABM500 decided to give up the ghost last weekend. Seriously thinking about swapping out my Darkglass X Ultra for a Paradriver too. 

[fretmeister]

15 hours ago, ern500evo said:

The V2 bass driver is a cracking pedal. IMO the Paradriver is even better, the sweepable mid control just makes it so versatile 

 

Is the Paradriver drive sound the same as the BDDI?

[ern500evo]

28 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

Is the Paradriver drive sound the same as the BDDI?

It’s been a long time since I used either. I used the BDDI first, the V1, and thought it was cool, but having no mid control wasn’t ideal. Then I got to use a Paradriver and it was just like “wow, this is everything I wanted the BDDI to be” The sweepable mids control just seemed to make a huge difference to my cloth ears. I think @Lozz196 has plenty of experience with both pedals, and could explain it far more eloquently than me. I think the BDDI has more drive on tap, but I only ever used either on a fairly low drive setting anyway. More of a grit than a overdrive as such 

Edited October 20, 2022 by ern500evo

[BassAdder60]

1 minute ago, ern500evo said:

It’s been a long time since I used either. I used the BDDI first, the V1, and thought it was cool, but having no mid control wasn’t ideal. Then I got to use a Paradriver and it was just like “wow, this is everything I wanted the BDDI to be” The sweepable mids control just seemed to make a huge difference to my cloth ears. I think @Lozz196 has plenty of experience with both pedals, and could explain it far more eloquently than me. I think the BDDI has more drive on tap, but I only ever used either on a fairly low drive setting anyway. More of a grit than a overdrive as such 

I don’t believe the Para Driver does 500hz mids ? 

[3below]

Current v2 one (image from Tech21 website) appears to do 500Hz mid, though you would have to experiment a bit to find exact 500Hz. I find it really useful with a wide range of kit - EUB, uke bass, various basses & guitars.  Swiss Army knife

 

[ern500evo]

14 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

I don’t believe the Para Driver does 500hz mids ? 

I can’t honestly remember. I’d have look one up to be honest. It was several years ago now 

[Chienmortbb]

23 minutes ago, 3below said:

Current v2 one (image from Tech21 website) appears to do 500Hz mid, though you would have to experiment a bit to find exact 500Hz. I find it really useful with a wide range of kit - EUB, uke bass, various basses & guitars.  Swiss Army knife

 

If someone wants to pay postage both ways, I will happily sweep the Sansamp and mark the 500Hz point (or any other preferred frequency).

[Lozz196]

36 minutes ago, ern500evo said:

It’s been a long time since I used either. I used the BDDI first, the V1, and thought it was cool, but having no mid control wasn’t ideal. Then I got to use a Paradriver and it was just like “wow, this is everything I wanted the BDDI to be” The sweepable mids control just seemed to make a huge difference to my cloth ears. I think @Lozz196 has plenty of experience with both pedals, and could explain it far more eloquently than me. I think the BDDI has more drive on tap, but I only ever used either on a fairly low drive setting anyway. More of a grit than a overdrive as such 

Yes the Paradriver is very versatile due to the sweepable mids, I used one as my sound for about 4 years in my last band where I needed a toppy/driven sound and it excelled at this, boosting the upper-mid range really pushed the gain/drive across when digging in. For more "traditional" bass tones I do prefer the BDDV v2, after all it is a bass-specific pedal whereas the Paradriver is more multi-instrument. 

[thodrik]

I love the V2 as well. 

I love the mids control boosted at the 1K setting. Really allows that bass to cut through the mix a lot better than the old V1 which I used on and off for about a decade. 

 

I thought about getting a Para Driver, however nearly all of my amps have a sweepable mids feature so I didn't need that. I just wanted a little bit of the Sansamp flavour by running the blend at about halfway. 

[ern500evo]

I should probably give a V2 BDDI a whirl. Had an amp fail on me mid gig last week and was relieved to have my Darkglass X Ultra pedal with me, to use as a DI box for the remainder of the gig. I’ve been toying with getting rid of it, as I barely scratch the surface of what it’s capable of. Don’t want to be without  DI pedal now though, and as the Sansamp is about the same footprint, wouldn’t need to shuffle my little pedal board around too much either 

[obbm]

Has anyone compared the BDDI v2 and the Sansamp section of the Bass FlyRig v2? 

[Tech21NYC]

The Bass Driver and Para Driver are first and foremost DI's. The concept initially was that instead of plugging into a typical DI and sending the dry sound of your instrument's pickups to the mixer, you could send an amp emulated output to the mixer as well as the normal DI'd signal. This comes from the studio technique of mic'ing a bass amp as well as running a DI and combining the signal for a more complex tone. While this technique is sometimes used for live situations most engineers prefer to DI the bass. 

 

When using either unit into the front end of a bass amp, that amp's tone stack will greatly alter the sound of the Bass Driver. That must be considered. All the sample settings that we provide in our manuals are of the pedals plugged into a mixer through studio monitors. It would be pointless to plug into a bass amp to come up with settings because there is no way to predict which bass amp (GK, MB, Ampeg, etc) would be used or how a player might set the amp. 

 

The Bass Driver has more of a midrange scoop by design and that sound won't always mesh well into an amp that doesn't have a flat midrange. This is one reason we added the Mid controls to the v2 Bass Drivers. The Para Driver was for the player that wants more midrange control so we offer the semi-parametric EQ. You can dial in 500 Hz if desired but you can't make the Para Driver sound just like the Bass Driver though there is some tonal overlap. The Bass Driver DI has the presence control which in not a feature that the Para Driver has. 

 

 

[NancyJohnson]

Plug it into the effects return and stick an unused 1/4" jack plug into the front of the ABM (this will fully bypass the ABM pre-amp; it's a quirk of Ashdowns, they need something plugged in the front for the effects loop to work) and just let the BDDI drive through the power amp side.

 

You're welcome.

[BassAdder60]

2 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Plug it into the effects return and stick an unused 1/4" jack plug into the front of the ABM (this will fully bypass the ABM pre-amp; it's a quirk of Ashdowns, they need something plugged in the front for the effects loop to work) and just let the BDDI drive through the power amp side.

 

You're welcome.

Yep I’ve tried that but you lose the valve preamp etc. naturally the bass driver has a nice drive too.

I found the better method for myself was using it in front of the amp set flat and my new discovery using the ABM shape on with the Bass driver mids boosted. For pick playing I found this added a depth and fullness that neither on their own achieved. It was a perfect rock match PBass, pick, bass driver and ABM600 

 

The shape ON feature used on its own is a mid scoop and on its own is best avoided but used with the Bass driver v2 it’s a fantastic result for me and the band 

Edited October 20, 2022 by BassAdder60

[NancyJohnson]

12 hours ago, BassAdder60 said:

Yep I’ve tried that but you lose the valve preamp etc. naturally the bass driver has a nice drive too.

I found the better method for myself was using it in front of the amp set flat and my new discovery using the ABM shape on with the Bass driver mids boosted. For pick playing I found this added a depth and fullness that neither on their own achieved. It was a perfect rock match PBass, pick, bass driver and ABM600 

 

The shape ON feature used on its own is a mid scoop and on its own is best avoided but used with the Bass driver v2 it’s a fantastic result for me and the band 

 

You don't actually need the valve pre-amp, you know this, right?  You're effectively pushing a (Sansamp) pre-stage through a second (Ashdown) pre-stage, before the signal hits the poweramp.  My experience of the valve side of the ABM was that the drive just added an unpleasant crackle rather than any creamy/controllable drive or dirt.

 

The BDDI is more than capable of providing everything you should need.  You're also saying that you're boosting mids off the BDDI and scooping (removing) them with the pre shape button, which is a bit odd.

 

If it works for you, fine!

[BassAdder60]

38 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

You don't actually need the valve pre-amp, you know this, right?  You're effectively pushing a (Sansamp) pre-stage through a second (Ashdown) pre-stage, before the signal hits the poweramp.  My experience of the valve side of the ABM was that the drive just added an unpleasant crackle rather than any creamy/controllable drive or dirt.

 

The BDDI is more than capable of providing everything you should need.  You're also saying that you're boosting mids off the BDDI and scooping (removing) them with the pre shape button, which is a bit odd.

 

If it works for you, fine!

Yes you’re right it doesn’t seem logical to use the shape ON and use the Bass Driver to put mids back in but … it does seem to work better ( as a pick player now ) than shape OFF flat and boosting bass on the Bass Driver. 
Valve drive on the ABM600 EVO IV is actually a decent sounding drive and better than older generations and worth using in my opinion. 
I have experimented with the Shape ON before and didn’t like it in a band context ( unless you made some large EQ changes in the amp ) 

However using it ON with changes at the Bass Driver seems to add something that benefits the tone when using a pick ( rounder fuller yet punchy tone ) 

Works for me but may not work for everyone I guess ! 
 

[Lozz196]

Am getting some great sounds from mine at present, tho tried the SVT style setting and it was light years away from any SVT I’ve ever used. Quite like the Bassman style setting tho.

[ern500evo]

I quite often used to use my BDDI into the front end of an amp. Using it more as a drive pedal that I could switch on and off as needed, with the added bonus of having a di box with me if I had any amp emergencies. 

[BassAdder60]

3 hours ago, ern500evo said:

I quite often used to use my BDDI into the front end of an amp. Using it more as a drive pedal that I could switch on and off as needed, with the added bonus of having a di box with me if I had any amp emergencies. 

That was my main reason for getting one just so happens I like the EQ and warm tones from it when pick playing rock etc