I’m working on replacing the battalion, it’s fine but the sound is just kinda, eh on the preamp side. I’ve determined that I’m a fan of the Ampeg SVT sound and am looking at the Revolt, SGT-DI, and DSM bass station (intrigued with all the options on this one). I’d love to hear thoughts on the Revolt also.
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I like what I’ve heard from the DSM and I know they bill it as Ampeg like but I didn’t think it sounded very Ampeg-y.
If you’re looking for that Ampeg sound, the SGT-DI is your best bet. The only pedal that might do the job better is the Origin Effects BassRig Super Vintage. Comparing those is where you start getting into really slight variations and what an Ampeg sound means to you.
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Or an amp sim 
For pedals, the Tech21 VT Bass DI is pretty close.
Many of the tube preamps have a similar sound.
But yeah, the SGT-DI sounds really good.
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Yes, yes it does. Super happy with mine.
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I want an SGT-DI purely out of coolness, even though I already have a darkglass pedal that has a good DI out, does cab sims, etc and a ampeg rocket bass amp that has a very similar sgt distortion circuit. GAS knows no logic lol
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The really interesting thing about this one is the footprint. It takes up way less real estate on a pedalboard. I’m purposefully picking up a medium sized board this week so that I can’t cram a ton of pedals that I have no need for, but I’m hoping that I’m not handcuffing myself to having to pick between pedals when I’d rather have both. The way I’m figuring it now, I’ll have a tuner, Comp, EQ, Reverb, my tube screamer and a preamp / DI always on the board. That gives me room for 1 or maybe 2 “fun” effects.
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Exactly, why am I watching videos on the new Boss ME90-B?
It looks cool though and no menu diving.
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The interface on the Boss is cool but TBH I would stick with your HX Stomp for overall effect quality. Line6 does a great job. 20 year old Line 6 digital gear still sounds great today.
I have certainly loved some early ‘90s Boss digital effects (RV-3 
) but really Line 6 is tough to beat quality wise.
But yeah, great control layout on the Boss.
One issue I have with the way Boss does this (they do this on some of their other units too) is the order and number of effects is kind of fixed by what is available in each section. So you get one compressor (at the start) OR one of those other things. Then next you get one filter (or other effects in its section). Etc etc. The Helix and the Zoom stuff is a lot more flexible, at the cost of needing menu diving (or more usually for me, a companion app like ToneLib Zoom).
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You could do an HX One in that fun space so you can have all the options without having to keep spending money on pedals.
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While this is true most brands have catch up on Line6 sim quality. Latest Boss products are really good imo. At this point it’s more about the best user interface/experience. For example my Katana Air uses an app to control the FX, but still provides physical knobs if you cba.
That latest Fender multi-fx unit seems pretty good too! Just shows that the digital market is growing and evolving.
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I called Fender about the Tone Master Pro to ask if the were going to add functionality for bass. They said, “There are no plans to do that at this time.”
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Good to know is that the Origin Effects BassRig only does cab sim through DI out. The Ampeg SGT has more cab sim controls afaik. Not a big thing, but I had to buy extra cables for it.
Aww too bad. It does have bass patches right?
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I don’t know. Once I heard that from the Fender rep I quit looking into it.
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Here’s an interesting YT vid on the subject:
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Most clips sound indeed like a bass played through a guitar amp. 
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Update to my pedalboard…forced to use both my pedal board and pedal serving tray now 
…looks a bit wild but is carefully considered
11 pedals in the chain,
10 are always on 
(I try to limit the phaser to songs that it suits as it is a strong effect)
The key is the cross over pedal as it lets me experiment in the mid/highs with my tone a bit more, while keeping the lows nice to still serve the song
The signal chain is:
Bass into cross over pedal
}high split=fixed wah, drive, phaser, spring verb, preamp, comp
}low split=tube comp,preamp
out of the cross over into comp, then boost+
then into the amp (fx return)
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I notice you got rid of the Diamond Comp/EQ.
What else have you replaced?
Any comments about why one thing made the cut but others didn’t?
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thanks for the interest
ok looking at my Jan 18 post picture (note: the main limit is power slots so have had to drop some pedals).
Pedals gone:
Diamond bass comp eq: This would be great for a minimal setup as it offers a simple but powerful eq and comp. I had it at the end of my setup but it overlaps with my boost+ at the end too much so it doesn’t really add anything unique on my board
Steel leather: this expander is cool for extra attack but this expander is also dangerous as you increase the transient level you can ‘pop’ (overload) either a pedal later in the chain or the limiter on the amp if you go too hard…I don’t use ultra fast attacks on my comps so my transients are still good so I don’t 100% need the expander on the board
EBS Multi comp: have the cross over pedal now so a multiband compressor is largely redundant, thou I would consider using it before the cross over pedal if I had the slots
I had the Korg power reactor on briefly but the power sag function didn’t add something I needed and the tube distortion it has was ok but not amazing and not required
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I find it really interesting how and why people use different pedals and different setups. So, thanks for taking the time to write about it.
I love the idea of this pedal, but I haven’t been able to get along with any other optical compressors I’ve tried. Probably due to my own inexperience.
That makes me hesitant to invest the money. At $240 it’s on par with other high-end compressors, but still pretty expensive.
I think I’m even more interested in the tone sweetening and EQ capabilities of this pedal than I am the compression. What did you think of these aspects of the pedal?
Do you have any advice on why or why not to choose the Comp/EQ?
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The compressor on the diamond pedal it is a one knob job, so minimal chance to tweak anything anyway (baring how hard you hit it at the input)
As a specific bass pedal the comp is set up for bass (and to be used subtly as far as I can tell)
I think that suits what you are looking in compression by the sound of it, at low levels the comp is unobtrusive but working and it does have a subtle tone sweetening effect too
I love the eq set up on this for simple but powerful tone shaping, the tilt (with adjustable mid point) and the mids knob work really well together
[Avoid if you want heavy compression or lots of ability to tweek comp and eq settings in tiny detail]
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