Tech 21 SansAmp Character VT Bass DI Reviews

Very versatile preamp/DI

I bought this preamp in order to circumvent all preamp sections of amps I play at the rehearsals and live gigs since not all have my desired sound.

The character/drive section allow me to go from very clean to Lemmy sounds in matter of seconds and the EQ section is +-18 db which is more than I'll ever need.

Speaker emulation is essential part of the pedal; no more clanky DI to FOH.

Essential pedal for all gigging bassists.

Probably the most versatile bass pedal on the market

This thing, besides being basically an Ampeg in a box, can also do sounds from subtle, transparent coloring, through classic Sansamp Bass Driver sounds, all the way to distorted modern ones similar to Darkglass stuff of Tech21DP3X. It's very versatile if you know what the knobs do. Plus it can run on phantom power as well.

A very nice and versatile pedal, with a few minor quirks.

The pedal offers a broad range of vintage sounds, from clean to high gain. It feels sturdy. The coloured DI is very useful in live situations.

I would have preferred the in- & outputs at the top instead of at the sides, partly because it is not the last pedal in my chain. The noise level at high gain settings (character and drive past 12 o clock) makes me want to run it through a noise suppressor.

The knobs are sensitive: a small adjustment can change your tone quite a bit. Choosing a different kind of tone requires adjustments on several knobs, which is not very intuitive and make quick changes tricky. The knobs turn easily: quite often by accident. It is hard to remember settings with this many knobs.

At most settings, playing with my active bass with bridge humbucker, lower notes are distorted more heavily.

It drains battery when guitar cable is plugged in and device is turned off

It drains battery when guitar cable is plugged in and device is turned off

The XLR phantom power big plus.

Excellent preamp/DI

I have been using the original Tech21 Bass Driver DI (the two-band EQ model) for 20+ years but recently bought the VT DI because I wanted a way to quickly change my tone when switching between active and passive basses.

I love the tone of the original bass driver, but now I find myself using the VT almost exclusively. It has all the features of the original, plus 3-band EQ and a much better drive section. The drive knob works together with the Character knob to create some really nice overdrive tones. I mostly like a warm SVT tube-like tone, but you can get heavy distortion also.

I originally ordered the YYZ pedal, which sounds great if you want Geddy's tone, but I returned it because I wanted something more versatile. The VT is it. You can dial it in from clean to dirty.

On top of that, I'm sold on the build quality of Tech21 products. They last forever.

greatest DI ive ever used

if youre in the market for a new DI with stupid amount of control... this is your guy.

Great tool!

Very versatile, great sound! Option of blending with clean sound is great. Built very well.

Must have tool for recording and live playing. If you need fat and warm "ampegish" sound, phantom-powered DI/preamp, distortion stompbox, this is THE thing. It is really useful and especially the blend knob makes it really easy to make your sound better while retaining character of the original sound...

I use it mostly for "basic" sound, if there is no possibility to bring my Ampeg V4B. I set quite distorted "SVT" tone and put the blend knob just around 9', then it works somehow like "parallel compression" and I've got clean and punchy sound with "tube honey" in background... Love this preamp!

A very good DI, a lot of options and posibilities

I am playing with a pop-rock band and this was my first DI. It is very versatile and useful, my bass has a heavier and beautiful sound, I also like the drive and character options, it gives a punchy sound, exactly what I was looking forward.

Pros

- It has a lot of options , so you can adapt for whatever genre you're playing.

-It has extra buttons ( bite, volume )

- It has useful outputs, you can use different cables(normal, XL)

Cons

-It makes a little hum when you are on the drive option at maximum

-The battery and power supply are not included

For it's price , it's the best pedal you can get, it worth every penny. The more I use it, the more I find new ways of improving my sound, so you need to spend time mastering it

Great multi purpose pedal -useful in emergencies!

This pedal is up to the usual high standards of Tech21 gear. It can be used in many ways. You can bypass the amp simulation circuitry and just use it as a volume boost, a 3 band active eq. pedal, a DI box, an overdrive pedal or an amp (SVT style) simulator for live or recording work. I always have mine with me in case of amp failure and very often have used it in conjunction with my amp to go into the PA for extra support or to my other band mates monitors.

The amp simulation is good but I find the higher overdrive / distortion levels a bit hissy. Its eq. is shared by both the dry and overdrive circuits, so if you are attempting to blend overdrive into your clean signal, any adjustment of the eq will effect both -which is a bit of a drag because sometimes a thinner overdrive with removed bass sits better on top of a dry signal but here you can't eq. the two separately.

Anyway, for all that it brings in one box I am satisfied.

Tech 21 SansAmp Character VT Bass DI ? Perfect tonal options

All I can say is that this pedal is awesome. It?s basically several Ampeg rigs in a compact pedal format. Granted it will never be a 100% perfect tonal match or replacement to a full Ampeg rig, but it does get close enough for those that long for the tone. The controls are pretty straight forward and it?s easy to dial in a vast range of tones, from classic SVT to Portaflex and beyond. If you are looking for subtle tube emulation or full blown grit or anything in between, this pedal can provide. I like it so much that it is now always on in my setup. The construction is robust and footswitch and knobs feel sturdy and silent. It would be a great addition to any bass player?s pedal collection.

Pros:

Good tone shaping options

Solid construction

Reasonable value for money

Cons:

None so far

Verdict:

I?m very pleased with my purchase. A great sounding quality product, would highly recommend this.

Excellent unit

I use this pedal as a preamp for studio and live use. For live use, I send the 1/4 jack to the fx return of my amp and the xlr out to the mixingboard. It works great.

I find it sounds better than the onboard preamp in the Ampeg V4B, for this reason I use the pedal in the poweramp input of the V4B, bypassing the V4B's preamp. Same with my other amps, including a Bugera BVV3000 (Ampeg SVT clone).

The unit sound very warm and organic.

Great does exactly what it isi supposed to!

I had a VT Pedal before and I sold it but this is now part of my set up and sounds great on both active and passive basses. It is my goto DI for recording.

I purchased the original VT Bass pedal two years ago,but I could not turn my active bass up full, there was no blend feature so i sold it and purchased the VT Bass DI, This has the same problem,I could always just turn my guitar down but I prefer to play at full output, also the blend control affects the output and I found myself constantly adjusting and re tweaking the settings This unit is very well constructed and does produce a good SVT sound also the DI facility is great I feel the Unit is better suited to passive basses, home recording with the VT Bass DI was great although for me the complexity is too much to deal with in a live situation

Best Sansamp of the range.

Excellent piece of kit. Was very easy to dial in a gritty SVT sound then punch in the overdrive for massive tone. As always, balance in the low end by bringing the clean function in. Takes a while to experiment with but it's a DI and a very portable one built like a tank. Excellent product.

Very useful pedal

I've used the older Bass Driver for many many years. It warms up the sound of many amps, gives a quality DI and has many great features. This is a more varied take in the original design, the flavour being more specifically B15/SVT emulations, with the ability to go from warm and smooth to dirty and distorted.

One thing I noticed - the blend function works slightly differently. 100% effect on the VT is perfectly useable - on the Bass Driver it is too much and overblown.

My only criticism would be a slightly cheaper build quality compared to the older Bass Driver (sockets and battery housing) but everything works fine, so time will tell.

Good for DI, no so much for OD

If you use this as intended, it's great. Gives a good approximation of an Ampeg SVT for recording and live (to a mixing desk). I really wanted it as a drive pedal and I don't think it's particularly suitable for that.

It has a very smooth drive which is great when you use it as an 'always on' pedal but as an overdrive I didn't like it: not enough bite, aggression or character for my taste.

Ended up building a Caitlinbread SFT pedal clone, which suits by needs better.

Absolutely essential.

I was weighing up whether to buy this or just the standard BDDI and I went for this given the idea of "tube emulation"..

.. and what a good call it was. You'll never get a 100% perfect recreation of a full Ampeg stack as that's literally impossible in a little box but this is unbelievably close. I play mainly grunge/stoner rock stuff and this has all those Nick Oliveri-esque tones on tap, whenever you need them. I too bought this because I was sick of lumbering bass cabs and heads around the place for some sound engineer guy to pop a DI box on top of my amp and completely bypass my whole rig. Like, seriously? Anyway, I bought this because of the DI capability and it works perfectly. It even has a -20b button on the XLR out for the soundboard if you play a little bit loud and their systems can't cope with it.

Overall it's perfect, it comes with a little booklet that has loads of presets, my favourite being the Chris Squier "Roundabout" type preset, and the speaker emulation is incredible for recording out of the box. 10/10, wouldn't leave the house without it.

Favourite

A very reliable and versatile preamp, with some great sounds. Particularly good on festival stages, but I wouldn't be without it in the studio either. It provides a 'weight' that I associate with a valve power amp. Really fun to use (and fun to carry).

Great tool

Does it all. Classic, modern, rock, jazz, extreme metal, whatever. Great tool with great live and studio solutions. Great speaker sim!