# Can't get that Gritty Metal Bass tone! Sansamp RBI



## davidgotmilk (Aug 24, 2014)

Please keep in my I am in the guitarist in my band, not the bassist, He just got a new sansamp rbi and asked me to play around with it and get good tones. Except I'm having an issue, I can't get his bass to sound gritty through it. This is my chain. 

Ibanez SRX2EX ->BBE Sonic Maximizer -> Sansamp RBI -> ART SLA 1 Power amp - EV B-115 Cab. 

I have everything on the RBI on 12 o clock, except blend, which I have at 100% wet. Even if I put the drive all the way up, it doesn't give me nearly enough distortion as it should, and I've even seen demos on youtube where the drive is on 75% and its plenty of grit. 

Could it be the bass? I've checked the knobs and they're all the way turned up, and the string were just changed 2 weeks ago. So They can't be that dull, I bypassed the BBE to see if that was the problem and it wasn't. Also the BBE registers the bass at 0db input level. I'm at a loss here!


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## davidgotmilk (Aug 25, 2014)

After fiddling around, I'm seeing that my drive and presence knobs don't make a difference in anything other than just static noise increasing. Is there some setting that I am missing


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## noUser01 (Aug 25, 2014)

Using active pickups? Dead/dying battery? Bad cable? Bad connection in the bass wiring?


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## Yo_Wattup (Aug 25, 2014)

Maximizer after sansamp


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## ForThisGift (Aug 28, 2014)

Preamp before the crossovers in the sonic maximizer will really change the landscape of your tone for the better. The RBI is capable of some pretty nice dirty tones.


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## Spinedriver (Aug 29, 2014)

I've had good results with the VT Bass pedal at adding some dirt along with keeping the Sansamp "feel". For an inexpensive fix, try adding a clean, low gain od pedal. I recently picked up a Fulltone GT-500 that I run into the VT Bass and it sounds phenomenal.


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## Fathand (Aug 31, 2014)

I've had a similar problem with my RBI. Compared to the pedal (BDDI) the sound is pretty tame and somewhat softer than the pedal. I don't know if it's supposed to be like that, or if the RBI is faulty (which I suspect).


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## zombieritual (Sep 1, 2014)

you should try taking the maximizer completely out of the chain, it's not true bypass


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## f2f4 (Sep 5, 2014)

I've got an old Bass Driver on my board (which I'm guessing sounds pretty similar to the RBI) and I really wasn't impressed with the gain structure it offered. If you've got any old distortion pedals lying around, don't hesitate to give them a shot. They'll suck all the low end out of your tone but you can compensate for that with the Tech21. I used a Boss DS1 with my bass for a while (with good results) and have also heard good things about people using the BD2.


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## hairychris (Sep 5, 2014)

Personally (as a BassDriver DI user) I wouldn't use it as a preamp, but would rather run it into the front end of a bass amp... an Ampeg B2r in my case. Lots of grind.

I would take the BBE out of the path, at least initially. The true bypass stuff doesn't really matter, what does is that it tends to smooth grit out.


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## callankirk (Sep 15, 2014)

Get rid of the BBE, period. It's probably sucking the life out of everything.


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## Mwoit (Sep 16, 2014)

I tend to find 15" too wooly for gritty bass tone (IMO), so I prefer having a 4x10 live.


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## BuckarooBanzai (Sep 16, 2014)

Conventional wisdom says that 10" speakers have less low-end (and are therefore less "boomy") and have faster "response" due to less cone excursion, ergo they're used more for rock/metal. 15's are more flip-toppy blues/jazz/what have you territory. I'd go with a ported 2x10 or 4x10. Yeah ported cabs are technically less accurate but they're also more efficient and can pump out some low-end.

But yeah, ditch the Sonic Euthanizer. Gah-bage.


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## eyeswide (Sep 16, 2014)

Mo Jiggity said:


> Conventional wisdom says that 10" speakers have less low-end (and are therefore less "boomy") and have faster "response" due to less cone excursion, ergo they're used more for rock/metal. 15's are more flip-toppy blues/jazz/what have you territory. I'd go with a ported 2x10 or 4x10. Yeah ported cabs are technically less accurate but they're also more efficient and can pump out some low-end.
> 
> But yeah, ditch the Sonic Euthanizer. Gah-bage.



Conventional wisdom is wrong in this case. If you look at the actual specs of speakers, you'll find that the difference in response isn't because of the speaker size, it's because of the actual production spec of the speaker. Look into fEarful cabs and other FRFR speakers for more info on this.


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## BuckarooBanzai (Sep 16, 2014)

eyeswide said:


> *Conventional wisdom* is wrong in this case. If you look at the actual specs of speakers, you'll find that the difference in response isn't because of the speaker size, it's because of the actual production spec of the speaker. Look into fEarful cabs and other FRFR speakers for more info on this.



I frequent TalkBass too man  that's why I made sure to quantify it. As much as I love messing around with equipment I also recognize that 95% of people would rather just buy something that works, which is why in this case I suggested a production 2x10.


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## eyeswide (Sep 17, 2014)

Mo Jiggity said:


> I frequent TalkBass too man  that's why I made sure to quantify it. As much as I love messing around with equipment I also recognize that 95% of people would rather just buy something that works, which is why in this case I suggested a production 2x10.



Fair enough! I just wanted to put some more info out there. It irks me when people out there say you can't get 'true' low end unless you have a 15" (or 18"!) speaker.


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## Spinedriver (Sep 18, 2014)

eyeswide said:


> Fair enough! I just wanted to put some more info out there. It irks me when people out there say you can't get 'true' low end unless you have a 15" (or 18"!) speaker.



Generally, the "perfect" combination is to have a 4x10 on top of a 1x15 cab. When choosing one or the other, it kind of depends on what kind of music you're playing. If you like an R&B-like muted low end, then a 15" speaker might work out a little better. Whereas for rock/punk/metal, a 4x10 is pretty much the standard.

In the end though, it's all about personal preference and either can work well.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Sep 18, 2014)

Wouldn't a 2x10 be a better match for a 1x15?


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## kevink2 (Sep 19, 2014)

The SRX2EX has very hot output pickups- I know it sounds counterintuitive but diming the the bass and treble boost is probably overwhelming the input of your preamp. I've had a similar problem trying to get a little more grit with my SRX's, compared to my other bass' with weaker output pickups. Instead of smooth overdrive or distortion, it clipped and sounded terrible. I run all my SRX's basically flat, at the notched position, and now it seems to get along much better with overdrive and distortion pedals that way. Adjust the tone at the amp end.


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## McKay (Oct 6, 2014)

Ditch the BBE, you don't need it IMO. I'm genuinely surprised that you can't get a good tone with an RBI and and a decent amp, the RBI kicks ridiculous amounts of ass.

10 inch speakers are much better for metal and you basically want the brightest tone from the bass as you can get because you can't really dial that in after the fact. I've got some badass tones with a stock VM Squier Jazz, and even better tones with a Fender Jazz and EMG pickups.


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