New Bass Preamp Day - Sansamp GED-2112 Geddy Lee

[tbonesullivan]

I haven't really messed much with my bass setup for 10 years or so, as I mostly just use a pedalboard. However I'm now getting rid of a bunch of stuff I never used, and getting some new stuff that I definitely will use a lot more. I used to be a BIG Carvin fan, and in terms of their basses and bass amps, still am. Cabinets are pretty bullet proof, well made, etc, and they made good power amps, power conditioners, etc. The only bass preamp they made recently though was not really... great, and the previous RSP rack mounted preamp, which I used to have in this setup, was also just not really my thing.

The GED-2112, definitely IS more my thing, and it's a somewhat interesting two channel "stereo" implementation, which some people seem to hate, but those who "get it" love it. The preamp is pretty much designed to go direct to board, and is a parallel channel architecture after the input. The preamp is based VERY heavily on the Sansamp RPM, which looks to have been discontinued and replaced by the GED-2112. Channel 1 "Crunch" is very similar to the RPM, and channel 2 "Deep" is pretty much a "just make it sound good" channel. The way I have these setup in this rig is having the Crunch channel go to the 2x10 cabinet, and the Deep Channel goes to the 1x15 cabinet, both of which have high frequency drivers.

The "Crunch" channel has a blend control, and can definitely get quite clean if you want it that way, or as dirty as you might want to get. I can say that the Sansamp bass dirt is one of my personal favorites, and really nails that classic overdrive from a heavily driven tube amp. It's got active treble, bass, and sweepable mids as well. The "Deep" channel has pretty much minimal controls, and is pre set to EQ per Geddy Lee's specs, which on a J-bass type guitar, sounds awesome. I've been playing my Carvin B5 through it, which is pretty much a 5 string jazz bass type setup.

I picked up another rack tuner off reverb for this, and it actually integrates VERY well, as the preamp has two inputs on the reverse., which you can switch between, just like the tuner.

Now all I need is to pick up a Rickenbacker and a Passive Jazz bass.

[pressure]

You were missed at PSP this year T. Maybe next time.

[tbonesullivan]

36 minutes ago, pressure said:

You were missed at PSP this year T. Maybe next time.

I do need to get back up there. I also need to rediscover my Heritage guitars, which have been kinda sitting unused as I go through my Super Strat phase.

[bolero]

That's really cool!

Can you run both pickups out of a Ric, one into each channel?

[tbonesullivan]

1 hour ago, bolero said:

That's really cool!

Can you run both pickups out of a Ric, one into each channel?

Unfortunately not. It has two inputs on the back, but only uses one at a time, which gets sent to both channels. I looked up some old pictures of Geddy lee, and I do see him using the "rick-O-sound" out put, but in the moving pictures stuff he's plugged into the standard pickup, and definitely don't hear any stereo sound from his bass playing.

Geddy Lee seems to mostly be back to Jazz basses these days, and now has a USA signature model out, which I would consider getting but it's got a maple fretboard with white binding and pearloid inlays, which I just don't like the look of.