Orange Bass Butler vs Darkglass Vintage Ultra

[caesarspalace]

Hi everyone, sorry to make another versus post but I'd appreciate some input from you

For ages I've played with nothing other than a SansAmp BDDI to get my gritty tone. In recent years I've tried to get more drive out of the thing but it turns out to be quite farty sounding.

I want to get something rather mid-heavy and less hifi sounding so I've been looking at both the Darkglass Vintage Ultra and the Orange Bass Butler. Special features aside (dual XLRs, amp sim...), to me these seem comparable tone-wise.

On one hand, I like the limited controls of the Orange as I tend to get overwhelmed with these things but I'm afraid I'll be stuck with a mids profile that might not match my band. On the other hand, the Darkglass Vintage Ultra has way to many options for my taste, except maybe the fact that you get to choose which mid frequencies to adjust.

If you have any experience with either or both I'd love to hear what you think. I don't care so much about pedal features, only the tone.

 

[Rick Brienzo]

I own these two pedals and a B7K Ultra. The OBB shines in studio situations where you can take advantage of the dual XLR outs. In fact it is one of my all time favorites for recording and I will never be without one for this purpose. For live it is good, but I find the Vintage Ultra more versatile solution. The single XLR out simplifies things for the more challenged sound techs amongst us. They also have a more powerful eq section that can go to war in ugly sounding rooms, against deaf guitar players, and cymbal happy drummers

The Vintage Ultra is really not that complicated of a pedal and it has a lot more mid range tweakability.

 

[caesarspalace]

I own these two pedals and a B7K Ultra. The OBB shines in studio situations where you can take advantage of the dual XLR outs. In fact it is one of my all time favorites for recording and I will never be without one for this purpose. For live it is good, but I find the Vintage Ultra more versatile solution. The single XLR out simplifies things for the more challenged sound techs amongst us. They also have a more powerful eq section that can go to war in ugly sounding rooms, against deaf guitar players, and cymbal happy drummers

The Vintage Ultra is really not that complicated of a pedal and it has a lot more mid range tweakability.

Wow thanks! This is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to know

 

[Sascha Erni]

It’s down to features, methinks. You already listed the OBB’s dual XLR and cab sims – if you don’t need this, or the optical compressor on the clean channel, there’s no point really to choose it over the DG’s wider versatility and smaller footprint and weight.

Personally, I went with the Bass Butler. It’s my one-stop solution if I go somewhere and don’t know what to expect. I also pack a passive DI and patch cable, though, because a lot of people (around here) have issues with the bass taking up more than one line on the board. Many folks don’t, though, so the BB wins, all things considered, over a single-XLR box approach, even if I add a Radial ProDI or something to the carry.

 

[bassmusic17]

This is my newest setup and I gotta say it’s pretty killer. I was worried about the mids too but after tweaking my amp I was able to dial in a pretty aggressive clear tone.

 

[Rick Brienzo]

With all the love I have for the OBB, if Darkglass ever puts out a pedal implementing the dual XLR/cab sim concept like the OBB I would be all in and probably never lust for another bass drive again. In my dreams it also has a switch to collapse the two channel's to one XLR/cab sim when needed.

 

[caesarspalace]

Thanks for all your comments! I found a cheap Bass Butler that was just two blocks away from home so I decided to give it a go. I also have the Neural DSP Darkglass Suite so I've been comparing both. My impressions so far:

* Compressor on the bass side is amazing! Love having consistent low end
* Cab sim sounds pretty good
* "Guitar" channel has a lot of drive. I've been more conservative with it than I thought I would be but so far like it better than the Vintage Ultra on the DG Suite
* Mids are more on the high side. Definitely miss the cutting low mids I can get on the DG Suite
* I think my P Bass likes it more than my Jazz

That's about it! I still have to try it out in band practice but I'll keep it for now

 

[Rick Brienzo]

For vintage tube amp styled cleans try running the dirt channel's gain almost all the way down then crank up the volume. This is my preferred method with my Stingray. My Jazz also likes it.

 

[Sascha Erni]

Cheers, and enjoy!

* Mids are more on the high side. Definitely miss the cutting low mids I can get on the DG Suite
* I think my P Bass likes it more than my Jazz

1. For more low mids, turn down both Bass and Treble on the clean channel, and boost Volume. Adjust to taste.

2. Should have added – apart from my fretless, I only play P-style basses, so this might have influenced my choice of the OBB over other preamps. For comparison's sake, the pre on my “big” main board is a Broughton SV-Pre, because it’s more versatile (and still plays nicely with my Ps).

 

[caesarspalace]

A month or so in and I ended up selling the Bass Butler to buy the Vintage Ultra. The Orange sounded cool on its own but I never managed to get a usable tone out of it. I found the mid control to be too on the high mids and couldn't get enough low mids without turning a lot of knobs.

The VU is a total tone shaping beast. I always thought I preferred one-trick pony pedals but I love how neurotic I can get with the VU controls