Behringer V-Tone Bass BDI21

I wasn't sure about this pedal when I first plugged it in, but over the next few days it started to dawn on me what a little gem this thing is.

I bought it originally as just an overdrive pedal and sure it does that perfectly as long as you don't go past 2 o'clock on the drive dial. You can achieve a good driven sound with plenty of guts but if you go too far it just sounds like a broken amp with ripped speakers!

The tone controls work like a dream and if you are having trouble getting your bass to come through amongst other instruments, trust me you will find a tone in there that will bring you through easily. The presence control just brings the whole thing alive and has the ability to change the the overall punch or smoothness and works with the tone controls to enhance them further, it also adds a little warmth to the signal which I love. The blend so far I tend to leave around mid-way as I don't want to eliminate the original sound of my bass's completely but rest assured it works as it should and might be a nice option for someone else. The level control can be used as a signal boost or just to engage the effect at the same level and works perfectly. and on top of all this, although not tested yet, it has a DI output!

True, it won't make your bass sound like it's being played through a valve amp but it gets the sound most of the way there and I think it sounds fantastic. This pedal will bring a bass alive for most genres of music from funk right through to vintage rock. If you are looking to smoothen your sound or give it a bit more punch or sparkle, this will absolutely do it and then some!

Although plastic, it doesn't look cheap and it feels weighty, it actually feels really solid. The footswitch, controls and jack sockets all work perfectly well so I have no concerns whatsoever of it breaking in the near (or far) future.

Like I said earlier, I bought it just an overdrive pedal and after the first use I wasn't sure, but now after a few days of farting about with it, I am having trouble turning the thing off, it just brings so much to the party. I would be happy with this pedal..... even if I never used the drive section I bought it for!

Unbelievably cost under 23 euros.....110% recommended!!! :)

If you're playing anything but rock music live, chances are the sound tech is going to run your bass straight into the PA. Since you're left to the mercy of the equipment available at the venue, sometimes it's best to have your own DI just in case. I stumbled upon this thing and thought: It's just what I've been looking for!

It did fulfil the one expectation I had: being a device that converts unbalanced into balanced signal. The rest of the knobs seemed like an extra and after fiddling with them for a bit I realised they don't actually do much. The EQ is OK, the rest is meh.

The build quality is okay to bad. The 6.3mm jack doesn't lock the cable in and the XLR sticks out just a little bit. It's a bit annoying, but at this price point you can't expect much.

If you just need a DI, get this. If you need a pre-amp, look for something more expensive.

I?ve always been a little disappointed with my bass tone when recording at home. It just never quite had the punch I wanted it to.

I?m a guitar player, not a bass player, so I don?t have any great bass gear to play with.

I spotted the Sansamp, but for the amount of bass playing I need, I didn?t want to spend all that money to get a decent DI tone.

Then I spotted this Vtone on Thomann when I was browsing and I thought it can?t be any good for the silly low price ? but what have I got to lose.
I ordered it and it arrived within a couple of days, excellent service from Thomann again.

I have to say, for the price, I am extremely happy with it ? it does exactly what I wanted it to do.
It makes a DI bass have much more body and punch and helps me sit it perfectly in my mixes.

The drive doesn?t really seem to do a huge amount when turned to near the top end, for me anyway, but I can easily put a fuzz VST on the track if I need to.

So although not a Sansamp copy it certainly is an excellent DI modeller for recording, especially at the silly low price.

A bass player friend wants to borrow it sometime to try it through his live setup ? that will be interesting ?

For a good while now I've been hearing about D.I boxes.
Mostly about a certain American one but slowly and surely the BDI21 was getting mentioned.
When I saw how cheap it is my first thought was " Can't be that good."
Boy was I wrong.As I say it kept getting mentioned on various bass player sites
so I saved it in a wish list for " sometime "

At the start of the month I was ordering for Thomann and it was added as an afterthought.Very good decision.Not being the main item I ordered it remained in the box until tonight.

Why didn't I try this earlier ? It brings so much to the party ! One simple little box and so simple to use. To start I just copied the examples that were in the instructions. Good decent tones all of them.Some experimenting can only reveal more.

If your bass was a 20w bulb in a dark room using the BDI21 turns it into a 100w bulb.It just lifts your bass tone to a better level.Coupled with the fact if your amp packs in this can save the day DI'd into the PA or save your back from lugging amps upstairs.

Seriously before thinking of changing pickups or basses try one of these first,it could save you a fortune.If you're concerned about reliability well here's the easy answer Buy 2.

For the same price some strings cost it's an amazing bit of kit.

Try one I'm glad I did.

This Behringer V-Tone Bass pedal is marketed as an amp modelling pedal. It can do this but also a great little DI pedal. I have found it really handy to have as backup in case there is any technical issue with my amplifier as I have the option of going straight into the PA desk from the DI.

The casing for the pedal is quite lightweight and plastic so I wouldn't recommend using as a stomp box as I can imagine that it wouldn't withstand too much heavy stomping. I tend to keep mine on top of my amp.

You can dial in a really nice low end drive with this pedal and really does add a nice warmth to your sound.

This is an amazing value pedal and I would recommend it for the value alone but it really had a lovely sound and could save your life sometime.

As a gigging bass player I do hate transporting my 4x10 cabinet and 15+ kilo amp for smaller clubs since it only takes space and no one from the audience actually cares about your gear. Especially if you don't have too much space in your car, having a proper DI / bass preamp to substitute the amp is a must. Then I bought the ultimate classic MXR M80 - did the job well and I am actually still happy with the purchase.

However, recently I started thinking of changing the type of sound a bit - into something more overdriven than distorted. The well-known Sansamp DI is too expensive for simple testing, and friends have already told me good things about the Behringer, so I decided to give it a go.

The best piece of gear you can buy for this money, really.

I'd say this one is even more versatile than the MXR, and it can easily evolve from a nice bright sound to quite a serious growl, making the bass sound like a guitar if you play with the Treble knob. And without sacrificing the low end! Tested it both home and on stage.

The only bad thing is the unit is made out of plastic and stomping might result in breaking it. So I am simply not switching back to clean channel while playing. Oh yeah - and if it breaks, I can just buy another one. Or two...

What I like:

--Very good signal-to-noise ratio. I was expecting such a low-priced item to be hiss prone.

--An excellent active DI and very good preamp for clean to warm sounds. Don't increase the gain too much to get distortion. It doesn't sound good distorted.

Not so great:

--Limited EQ controls, bass and treble only. A parametric Mid Frequency control would be great, and its perfectly doable even at this price point. Witness the acoustic guitar version of this preamp also made by Behringer: lower price with the Mid control.

--Harsh distorted sound when gain is pushed past 2 o'clock or thereabouts. You'll need a separate pedal for useable distortion. But I never heard distortion pedal that sounded good on bass.

I recommend it, a preamp is necessary for decent sound with electric guitars when not going through an actual amp that's being mic'ed. The price is right. I'm using it with both my basses and my electric guitars. Works great with both kinds of instruments at low- to mid-level gain settings.