Darkglass VS Sansamp with clips. Preferences?

[Zach Szy]

Me too.
I've always leaned more toward SansAmp than Darkglass tones, and this is as good as I've heard a SansAmp sound.

Thank you! I think a big part of getting the sansamp to sound big and modern is blending in a DI in parallel. A Modern style bass with some active eq helps.

In this case it was an FNA jazzman, pickup blend set to 100% neck and active eq engaged. Significant treble boost, a very tiny amount of bass and even less of a mid bump.

pedals set as pictured below.

 

[BEADist]

To make the SansAmp more like the DG you would have to put a HPF at about 150 Hz in front of the SA (for 'tighter' / less sloppy low end) I think.

 

[drumvsbass]

Back in 2015 I was going into the studio with my band to record. I had heard a lot of people using the B7K and wanted to try it out to replace old standby BDDI. The B7K sounded anemic compared to the Sans. I liked the B7K as a clean preamp, the EQ points were very nice. But the Distortion, which it is known for, was super underwhelming.

 

[Odinbass]

In this case I like the Darkglass better.

I alternate between these two preamps every year or two. IMO the Sansamp is better if you lean towards a cleaner more subtle drive, and the Darkglass is better if you want more dirt. Right now I'm on a Darkglass run.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Cool stuff, thanks! From these clips I slightly preferred Darkglass, but I enjoyed them all.

Overall I'm a big fan of both Darkglass and Tech21, and own pedals from both, sometimes stacking 'em together. I find it weird that some (not referring to anyone here) take sides. Both companies offer a wide range of products that will appeal to a wide range of players.

I liked the B7K as a clean preamp, the EQ points were very nice. But the Distortion, which it is known for, was super underwhelming.

I've run my B7K dirty, but my preference is to keep it last in the chain, run either clean or slightly dirty, with another dirt pedal stacked into it so I can toggle on heavier dirt as needed.

 

[primussucks9126]

The Darkglass has this obnoxious (to me) high mid hump. I've demod all their stuff, and I've only been able to get along with the alpha omega.

I really like the sansamp. I've never owned one personally, but I find my Zoom pedals do a decent facsimile.

 

[ThunderV]

The Sansamp sounds beefier to my ears.........more mixable.

 

[Windreaper]

I liked the B7K as a clean preamp, the EQ points were very nice. But the Distortion, which it is known for, was super underwhelming.

I've run my B7K dirty, but my preference is to keep it last in the chain, run either clean or slightly dirty, with another dirt pedal stacked into it so I can toggle on heavier dirt as needed.

Yeah, I also found the B7K works best as a tone shaper - never liked the dirt on it. Did a good job taming my Blower Box.

 

[el murdoque]

Haha, it's funny how a few years of playing reggae can mess with your ears.
To mine, both tracks lack low end.

I personally do like to play through a Sansamp, owned quite a few of them and still have one, whereas I'm not a personal fan of anything Darkglass.
However, presented with this selection, I prefer the sound of the Darkglass. It gives a little grindy growl where the Sansamp scoops.

 

[Isaac_James]

I've never really enjoyed the sound of Darkglass preamps, this one sounds better than a lot I've heard but I still prefer the Sansamp.

 

[SixtyCycleHum]

It's a taste thing, my dudes!

I absolutely love the Sansamp BDDI. It's an industry standard, I used it for a long time and I still have it and use it now and then. Yet, I jumped on the Darkglass stuff pretty quick. It's not because Tech 21 wouldn't have totally been fine to this day. DG really does have a thing about it..

 

[_Some Dude]

Interesting.

With just drum and bass I preferred the DG (clearer, more articulate, more natural sounding distortion), but I preferred the BDDI in the mix (sat better, better connection to the guitars for a more cohesive sound), which mimics my own personal experience with them.

 

[Zach Szy]

Interesting.

With just drum and bass I preferred the DG (clearer, more articulate, more natural sounding distortion), but I preferred the BDDI in the mix (sat better, better connection to the guitars for a more cohesive sound), which mimics my own personal experience with them.

very much how I felt about them in this case. Shows you the importance of context!

 

[makanudo]

An important thing to consider is that the BDDI is a full rig in a box kinda deal while the VMTU v1 lacks the cab sim aspect IIRC. Hence why some reffer to the BDDI as darker even with the presence and treble slightly boosted. The massive black hole mid dip at around 800 hz makes it sound massive because it's pretty much all bottom end and treble. The VMT has more mid content and not as much perceived low end since there's more prevalence of mid range.

Also the drive character is entirely a taste matter. To me the BDDI sounds too woofy/farty most of the time.

 

[BEADist]

Also the drive character is entirely a taste matter.

Of course it is. This thread is about that .

 

[_Some Dude]

Also the drive character is entirely a taste matter. To me the BDDI sounds too woofy/farty most of the time.

When I talk to players about the BDDI I usually tell them that the BDDI kinda sounds like crap on it's own, but works really well in a mix, and IMO this thread is a pretty good example of that.

That said, a mix based on an AiC song (who uses a BDDI) is likely to favour a BDDI. If this were a Periphery style mix it might be the other way around.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

Both are great units. I prefer the BDDI.

 

[Zach Szy]

When I talk to players about the BDDI I usually tell them that the BDDI kinda sounds like crap on it's own, but works really well in a mix, and IMO this thread is a pretty good example of that.

That said, a mix based on an AiC song (who uses a BDDI) is likely to favour a BDDI. If this were a Periphery style mix it might be the other way around.

Hit the nail right on the head

 

[paskisti]

An important thing to consider is that the BDDI is a full rig in a box kinda deal while the VMTU v1 lacks the cab sim aspect IIRC. Hence why some reffer to the BDDI as darker even with the presence and treble slightly boosted. The massive black hole mid dip at around 800 hz makes it sound massive because it's pretty much all bottom end and treble. The VMT has more mid content and not as much perceived low end since there's more prevalence of mid range.

Also the drive character is entirely a taste matter. To me the BDDI sounds too woofy/farty most of the time.

I'm with you here. I needed to move from BDDI v1 to DG B7K v2 because of much more usable dirt tones. BDDI puts too much fart in low end and so cannot deploy all the available dirt. In B7K/Vintage you have two switches to modify low and high saturation contents to keep them under control in higher drive settings. I would like to hear B7K instead of Vintage because with its mild mid scoop it is closer to BDDI. And I like some mid scoop.

BDDI is a great device but for me getting too old and limited and once I've grown out of it I cannot tolerate it anymore in my use. In OP's recording it was great, but I voted DG.

 

[amper]

Clean, I like both Darkglass and Tech21NYC. Dirty, the BDDIv2 and VTDI beat the Microtubes by a city mile. Distortion on bass mostly sounds like crap, but if you have to use it, for gods sake, don’t use Darkglass, as they are among the worst of them for distortion.