Its input section is set up to deal with a variety of different input levels and rackmount setups. Its front input is set up for instrument level only (-20db), but its rear input can accept both instrument and line level (+4db) signals.

Its clean sound with its tube emulation circutry dialed in fully leaves something to be desired, in my book. Blending in some of your straight signal (60% dry, 40% SansAmp), however, yields a nice split texture with the "Drive" knob set at 50%. You get a little tubey grit from the sansamp, while your low mids straight from your bass ensure you're actually audible in an ensemble. Interestingly, the more you overdrive the unit, the punchier its mids become, which makes it very useful to me as a distortion box.

I already have a Demeter VTBP-201S, and its clean sound in untouchable and terrifying. You can't make it really break up nicely, though...and one of the bands I play in requires an overdriven grunt that the Demeter wasn't really designed for.

Hence, the RBI. This unit excels at varying degrees of old-school overdrive. I'm not talking about raging, death-metal distortion here. In my book, that makes a bass disappear in the mix anyway. Instead, try to imagine more of a ballsy clipping that players like Jack Bruce and Geddy Lee get. Glissandos sound like a supercharged Harley revving up. Double stops cut through an ensemble like chainsaw. And everything is adjustable. And footswitchable. They sell a footswitch, but you can use any on/off footswitch with this thing. I'm using a generic Boss FS-5L and it works great.

The EQ knobs cut and boost by 12db, and a little goes a LONG WAY. This unit covers a lot of different overdriven sounds very nicely. Geddy's ultra-bright pingy crunch? It's in here. Tool? Yup. John Wetton's Crimson clipping? They've got a sample setting in the manual for it. Same with Doug Pinnick's King's X sound.

The unit's output sections are very versatile as well...giving you the option of using dry AND wet XLR and 1/4" (balanced OR unbalanced...nice) connectors. The effects loop has a nice "50/50 mix" setting that mixes the signal sent through the loop with the straight dry signal. Important for maintaining clarity.

All in all, this unit is constructed very well and sounds great for what I'm using it for. If you're looking for an ultra hi-fi modern bass tone, look elsewhere. This unit excels at the meaner side of things. If you're looking for that "grunt", look no further.

Construction	100%
(Constructed very well.)
Clarity	100%
(You can make it as clean or muddy as you want.)
Versatility	100%
(The only thing it can't do is ultra-clean tube warmth.)
Value	100%
(Lots of bang for the buck.)
Overall	100%
(Stand back and let 'er rip.)