Bob, most of the 4x10 and 2x10 cabs that I have seen were bass reflex designs, so they are not really built in the SVT cab design, except for their reliance on 10" drivers.
You get about 3dB more volume out of a reflex cabinet, even though the sound quality suffers, and that seems to keep the reflex design going among those who buy and build by the numbers instead of by end results. Acoustic suspension cabinets also need to be big to get the best low frequency extension, and stuffed with damping material as well. That means the customer has to fork over quite a few more dollars, and musical amp equipment seems to be very cost competitive already with few people able (or willing) to spend what it costs to offer products with little compromise. The SVT cabs may remain the only acoustic suspension designs that sell in any large number for a lot longer. A bass reflex can be converted to almost acoustic suspension by using resistive flow vents, and the cab can thus be smaller than an equivalent acoustic suspension design by at least 25%. That is what I did to my AVT20 cab, and it was a big improvement. The musical instrument market is just slow to catch on, I guess. More of that herd instinct at work.
Tech21 Sansamp Bass Driver DI - Use As Preamp?
Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4
Getting back to the question, for some reason I remember reading in the literature which came with my RBI that Tech 21 has a concern about using a tube amp emulator with an actual tube amp; something about "too much compression"? Perhaps someone with more resident brain cells (or with the manual handy) can help.
This sort of problem with "too much compression" may be what the guitarist in our band was experiencing this past weekend. He usually sends a direct signal from a Johnson J Station into the PA, but didn't like the "coldness" of the sound. He purchased a Presonus Blue Tube Preamp, hoping that it would warm up the sound a bit.
All it did was make the guitar "disappear" in the mix. VERY WEIRD PHENOMENON! Lots of signal hitting the board, but no presence in the mix.
All it did was make the guitar "disappear" in the mix. VERY WEIRD PHENOMENON! Lots of signal hitting the board, but no presence in the mix.
My first bass was a Rickenbacker...
My best bass is a Rickenbacker...
My last bass may very well be a Rickenbacker
My best bass is a Rickenbacker...
My last bass may very well be a Rickenbacker
I can confirm that using a SansAmp RBI into my Marshall amp caused the dead spot on my fretboard to grow by a large amount. It must have something to do with phase shift vs. frequency, which rearranges the harmonics relative to the fundamental pitch and to each other. It does NOT do this when running into a very clean audiophile amp setup which maintains phase integrity. You could probably alleviate the problem by backing off on the Blend knob when running into guitar amps, but what is the point then? If the Blend is backed all the way off, you are just using the SansAmp RBI as a clean gain channel, whick is OK if just needing more gain, but you could achieve that a lot cheaper with a simple gain stage or shove the signal through any good stereo linestage preamp which gives about 20 dB of clean gain.
The bottom line is that the RBI was designed to run into clean amps, and running it through a preamp with tone controls that add even more phase shift to the signal can create a negative effect that kills or compresses the original signal. I would try to bypass the preamp section by inserting the RBI into the amp effects loop and gain a direct link to the output stage.
The bottom line is that the RBI was designed to run into clean amps, and running it through a preamp with tone controls that add even more phase shift to the signal can create a negative effect that kills or compresses the original signal. I would try to bypass the preamp section by inserting the RBI into the amp effects loop and gain a direct link to the output stage.
This is nothing to do with a Sansamp (whatever that is) but I had a wicked dead spot on a 4001 on the 7th fret A on the D string, putting TI flats (which are very light gauge) has just about eliminated it. I have found the heavier the gauge of string I use the more pronounced the dead spots become on all my basses that have them. I have never had problems with dead spots with stock nickle Ric round wound strings either, and those are also light gauge, now if I can just get used to light gauge strings I'll be all set.
Thanks for the string info, Bob. I'm going to try some light gauge flatwound strings some day. It's a good excuse for getting another bass to put them on. 
I found a major cause of the dead spot on my bass the other night.........STRING INTERACTION. Haven't heard anybody mention it yet on the forum. If it doesn't have a name, may I suggest the "Philco Response". It seems that whenever I found a dead note, one of the other open strings would pick up a sympathetic vibration very quickly. You could watch the dead note string rapidly decrease in vibrational amplitude while the open sympathetic string rapidly increased in amplitude. I damped (muted) the sympathetic string with a finger and the dead note was dramatically improved in sustain. It all makes perfect sense. The open sympathetic string was NOT an exact octave off from the dead note, so the vibration it picked up was killing the dead note string. Simple physics: for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction. As energy was picked up by the sympathetic string, it was removed from the dead note string. The open sympathetic string rings at a frequency the neck/string combination prefers. The solution: DAMP THAT SYMPATHETIC OPEN STRING every time you play the dead note. It works for me, maybe it will work for you. By using lighter strings it causes less excitation, which lessens the affect of picking up good vibrations. The open string might be thought of as saying, "I'm picking up good vibrations, it's causing me excitations", which might also get it called the "Brian Wilson Response". Bummer for Philco, eh?
Bob, borrow a SansAmp RBI or Bass Driver DI and hook it into your stereo at home. It will eliminate the need for a separate bass practice amp which eliminates visual clutter and saves space. It is so compact you will hardly know it's there, which gives it a very high WAF (wife acceptance factor), which most bass amps do not possess. Especially your SVT rig. Bet you end up buying one of the SansAmp units if ever you use one. There's nothing digital about the sound. There's an SVT setting in the owner's manual.
I found a major cause of the dead spot on my bass the other night.........STRING INTERACTION. Haven't heard anybody mention it yet on the forum. If it doesn't have a name, may I suggest the "Philco Response". It seems that whenever I found a dead note, one of the other open strings would pick up a sympathetic vibration very quickly. You could watch the dead note string rapidly decrease in vibrational amplitude while the open sympathetic string rapidly increased in amplitude. I damped (muted) the sympathetic string with a finger and the dead note was dramatically improved in sustain. It all makes perfect sense. The open sympathetic string was NOT an exact octave off from the dead note, so the vibration it picked up was killing the dead note string. Simple physics: for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction. As energy was picked up by the sympathetic string, it was removed from the dead note string. The open sympathetic string rings at a frequency the neck/string combination prefers. The solution: DAMP THAT SYMPATHETIC OPEN STRING every time you play the dead note. It works for me, maybe it will work for you. By using lighter strings it causes less excitation, which lessens the affect of picking up good vibrations. The open string might be thought of as saying, "I'm picking up good vibrations, it's causing me excitations", which might also get it called the "Brian Wilson Response". Bummer for Philco, eh?
Bob, borrow a SansAmp RBI or Bass Driver DI and hook it into your stereo at home. It will eliminate the need for a separate bass practice amp which eliminates visual clutter and saves space. It is so compact you will hardly know it's there, which gives it a very high WAF (wife acceptance factor), which most bass amps do not possess. Especially your SVT rig.
Bet you end up buying one of the SansAmp units if ever you use one. There's nothing digital about the sound. There's an SVT setting in the owner's manual.That is very interesting about the sympathetic string vibration, have you checked other non-dead notes by quickly stopping the vibration and seeing if there are other strings vibrating? Maybe a non-dead string would set up a harmonic vibaration versus a dissonant vibration for a dead spot.
Phil, how much do those Sansamps cost? I use a small amp for practise, I have one of my B15-T's set up in my bedroom. I have lots of music stuff in our bedroom, my wife does not like our bedroom.
Well that will be solved at least temporarily in two weeks, as we are going back to Lima for a year, but I'm still going to set up a B-15T, probably in the spare bedroom.
Phil, how much do those Sansamps cost? I use a small amp for practise, I have one of my B15-T's set up in my bedroom. I have lots of music stuff in our bedroom, my wife does not like our bedroom.
Well that will be solved at least temporarily in two weeks, as we are going back to Lima for a year, but I'm still going to set up a B-15T, probably in the spare bedroom.
Bob, I will check out the string vibration phenomenon more closely when I have more time. I'm getting ready to go to Russia and will not be back until September.
You may not like using a SansAmp with a bass or guitar amp. You can only try it and see. The cleaner the amp, the better it should work. The problem seems to be in the preamp interaction, so you need to set any tone controls on the amp to neutral and get the tone from the SansAmp. When total phase shift goes beyond 90 degrees, it begins working like negative feedback to suppress the signal. The Blend knob determines how much SansAmp signal vs. unadulterated signal gets to your power amp.
The RBI costs $300 delivered from Musician's Friend and other internet sources and discount music stores as that is the lowest advertised price Tech 21 NYC will allow an authorized dealer to sell to you. The Bass Driver DI is about $225. It is hard to find used ones at a bargain price, which indicates owner satisfaction.
I found another gem last night. LL Bean has waxed-cotton field jackets and coats on sale right now. I got a dark brown jacket with wool liner delivered for $99.95. It will go great with my 650D dakota because of the color combinations. Would work with any natural color Rick as it is also available in light brown and English tan. It uses Millerain fabric which is the best. No use buying all these nice looking guitars and amp gear then looking like Meat Loaf when you get up to play, right???
BTW, if you have one of those Burgundy dial Gruen Curvex watches that matches a Fireglo RIC finish, you have a rare one that is hard to find and very desireable. One dealer who sells old Curvex watches had one listed on his internet sight and it is a real beauty!!! Since Gruen and Rickenbacker are both Germanic names, they sort of match all the better. I think the "curvy + rectangular style" of the Curvex goes great with a 4000 series bass. I need one with a chrome case and black dial to go with my Laredo bass.
You may not like using a SansAmp with a bass or guitar amp. You can only try it and see. The cleaner the amp, the better it should work. The problem seems to be in the preamp interaction, so you need to set any tone controls on the amp to neutral and get the tone from the SansAmp. When total phase shift goes beyond 90 degrees, it begins working like negative feedback to suppress the signal. The Blend knob determines how much SansAmp signal vs. unadulterated signal gets to your power amp.
The RBI costs $300 delivered from Musician's Friend and other internet sources and discount music stores as that is the lowest advertised price Tech 21 NYC will allow an authorized dealer to sell to you. The Bass Driver DI is about $225. It is hard to find used ones at a bargain price, which indicates owner satisfaction.
I found another gem last night. LL Bean has waxed-cotton field jackets and coats on sale right now. I got a dark brown jacket with wool liner delivered for $99.95. It will go great with my 650D dakota because of the color combinations. Would work with any natural color Rick as it is also available in light brown and English tan. It uses Millerain fabric which is the best. No use buying all these nice looking guitars and amp gear then looking like Meat Loaf when you get up to play, right???
BTW, if you have one of those Burgundy dial Gruen Curvex watches that matches a Fireglo RIC finish, you have a rare one that is hard to find and very desireable. One dealer who sells old Curvex watches had one listed on his internet sight and it is a real beauty!!! Since Gruen and Rickenbacker are both Germanic names, they sort of match all the better. I think the "curvy + rectangular style" of the Curvex goes great with a 4000 series bass. I need one with a chrome case and black dial to go with my Laredo bass.
All right, I give up. I can't find a setting on my RBI which gives me a "grainy" Squire-esque sound without encountering so much compression (or something) that it's as if I were hearing the sound through a cardboard tube. I run the unit into the in jack of the effects loop on a 100 watt Carvin. The amp may be part of it, but if anyone would care to share a setting or solution which does not contain the word "buy" I'd appreciate it.
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big_g