Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I use a Digitech BP355. Not exactly cutting edge, I know, but it works for me. It can also do a lot more than I'm using it for. Maybe someday I'll start using more of its features. Or maybe it'll die and I'll move on to something made this decade.

TC Helicon Voicelive 3, it combines vocals, guitar, aux input and effects. I run neck & bridge clean ROS outs to the aux input via small mixer and another split from the bridge through wah, OD & vol pedal into the guitar input. Clean bass signal Vox go out to PA. Guitar path has modeling and can either go to the PA with everyone else or a separate amp. With an amp I can run a Rolls DI after the attenuator instead of the speaker. Hand the house your outputs and you control the entire mix plus your own in ear monitors.

SansAmp GT2>MOJOMOJO>MXR Phase 90>Strymon Flint>Radial ProD2>... Sometimes a Cave Passive Pedals B-Drive Mk II is added somewhere into the chain.

Tech 21 VT Bass DI. Much prefer it to both the BDDI and the Tonehammer.

How is it different than the BDDI?
I did not like the BDDI

Google it. It has completely different controls. It also sounds different. More like a vintage valve amp, but I imagine it depends what you’re putting through it to some extent. I favour something somewhere between Machinehead-ea Roger Glover and Chris Squire and am using vintage Rics (2 x ‘72 4001 basses).

I think you’ve really got to know what you’re doing with the BDDI to get the best out of it, but even then I found the mids difficult to dial in (you have to turn the other controls down to bring the mids up IIRC) and I found the drive too fizzy with my basses. I used one for a few years but as soon as I tried the VT it was 100 times easier to get what I wanted. There are so many pedals out there though, you just need to try as many as you can until you find something you like. You may like something completely different than me (in fact reading many of your posts I suspect you do). FWIW I’ve never liked the Tonehammer, the VT is night and day better for what I want.

These were recorded through a VT Bass.


April '98 4001V63


March '73 4001

Both with TI Jazz Rounds

Some RRF members were in the audience for this show.

I use a simple Behringer passive $25 DI: clean, transparent, and allows my sound man to adjust the mix as necessary.

A few people I know swear by the discontinued Tech 21 Leeds pedal; they do a newer version with extra features called the English Muffy.

I’ve been using this for years with my electric bass, upright bass, or guitar.

https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/plati ... og-preamp/

I still have my MXR M-80 as a backup, but I have taken an adventure.

Tried a Darkglass Microtubes Infinity for a month or so and selling it now. Too much DG flavour. Some great sounds, but I found it hard to get the right balance of natural bass tone mixed with its clean and distorted channels. My basses became less like my basses and there was no getting around it. No FX loop, so other pedals such as chorus/delay/reverb must be before the preamp/distortions, which makes them muddy and bleh.

Now trialling a Two Notes ReVolt Bass. This is more like it. Natural character of the bass is retained. The dirt and drive channels sound great, especially the dirt channel. FX loop is a big bonus. The only thing I am not quite happy with is the cab sim, which is modelled on an Ampeg 8x10. It is good, but a touch woofy/damp for my liking. I have no experience with Ampeg gear and my sound preferences lean toward more hi-fi tones. Have not yet run this pedal at any gigs, so it may not be an issue. So far I am liking its ability to translate the character of the bass and response to playing dynamics.

With reference to Rickenbacker basses, the ReVolt sounds great and full with my 4003 on the clean channel. Plenty of clank if needed, warm and soft if played that way. The dirt channel can go from grunty to almost Lemmy, it is based on a Marshall head and sounds like a dirt channel should IMHO. The drive channel has a modern flavour somewhere between a muff and something like a DG pedal.

What does "woofy/damp" mean?

Isaac wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 3:27 pm What does "woofy/damp" mean?

Your dog just came in out of the rain, would be my guess.

teeder wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 9:17 am

Isaac wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 3:27 pm What does "woofy/damp" mean?

Your dog just came in out of the rain, would be my guess.

That was my first thought, as well.