Tech 21 SansAmp Character VT Bass DI Reviews

Ampeg in a tiny Box

I had the original VT Bass v1 which I loved. This is an evolution of what made that great. Very solid build as you'd expect from Tech21 and the edition of the Bite and Speaker Sim switches give great fleixibility. If you want Vintage Ampeg SVT sounds without the weight then this is your ticket. This is also the only negative about the product but then it is the VT Bass DI!

A little rock box!

Until now I just have used it as a pedal but I gotta say theres a enormous difference between the "size" of the sound when the SansAmp its on. And the character knob allows you to change your sound very fast and with great quality.It's very easy to use both in the studio and rocking out on the stage. Rock solid reliability and good sound for just about any genre of music out there. It's the ultimate bassist tool. This unit rocks. I use it paired with MXR M80. Use the SansAmp for the clean tone, and the MXR for the distortion and together for a hell of a lot of noise!

A real wonder box!

After a few weeks of recordings, gigs and rehearsals, I can honestly say: this is a very serious bass tool.

I use it in gigs as a direct box - on bypass, it delivers a very high quality direct signal, which is cool. But the true wow moment is when it's on. The majority of the gigs are played with no amp, monitored with in ears. What this box does to my tone is unbelievable. With the character knob between 9 and 11 o'clock and speaker simulator engaged, the high frequencies never sound metallic or clicky. The low end is huge, up to the point they need to be cut with the EQ. The drive adds more character, and together they deliver a huge tone. Fingers, pick, thumb, slap, it all sound much much better than a simple direct signal. This box does exactly what it's designed to do, and nothing less.

In recordings, I use it as an overdrive, in parallel to the clean signal. With the character knob turned above 2 o'clock, it delivers a real bad ass drive, which is very dynamic, touch sensitive and rich in harmonics. it's recommended to blend in the dry signal in that application, simply because the lows decrease dramatically with the character knob beyond the 12 o'clock position.

In rehearsals, I use it as a preamp, in any room that has an amp that I don't like its tone. I just connect it to the power amp input - and suddenly I don't hate the tone! If the room has a good amp (such Mesa Boogie/Ampeg all tube classics), I use the box as an extra drive, blended with the dry signal.

If I want a more "vintagey" sound for things like old school funk etc. the character knob just above the 12 o'clock position and a healthy amount of drive gets me there very quickly.

It's hard to believe how versatile this box is.

I never leave home without it.

Ampeg in a box

This pedal has saved me thousands of euros. I no longer need to buy a giant expensive Ampeg stack to get the Ampeg sound in my bands rehersal space. I no longer need mics and a ton of knowledge to record my basslines.

I use it as a preamp into my Kustom DE300 with Kustom 410 speaker and it totally makes up for all the shortcomings of that amp: EQ section that does nothing.

The versatility is also tough to beat. This pedal is a preamp, a stompbox, an EQ (when the pedal is not engaged, and when it is engaged), a DI and a distortionpedal if you turn the gain up. For the price you get a lot of different uses out of it.

The best part: I love how it sounds! It may not be totally authentic according to the corksniffers, but it sounds tubey (is that a word?) and warm. I play anything from blues to death metal and it works for both. Thats how versatile it is.

If there is anything bad about it I would say that the knobs are a little too easy to manipulate. They are really sensitive, which is a good thing as it gives you a wide range of sounds, but it can be bad if you are clumpsy like me and get your bass cable tangled in it while running around and it either changes the level or the gain which are at the corners of the pedal. But I suppose a little common sense or a wireless system would solve that.

For the price, and if you like Ampeg, it is a no brainer! Hurry up and buy!

Great Product

I use this pedal live at all the time and have also used in the studio.

The pedal is design to emulate an ampeg svt which it does really nicely.

It works a lot smoother with passive basses than active basses.

The bite button is nice but if you are in a venue with a noisy power supply this button really exaggerates it.

The speaker emulation button is always on for me, in fact this was my main reason for buying this pedal.

I use this pedal with my in ear monitors, I don't use an amp live, I have used many preamps in this way live and have found them to be very clicky and sterile, the problem being your bass doesn't sound like its going through an a bass cabinet, the speaker emulation on this pedal really solves this issue for me.

the all analog circuit is all great.

Great upgrade from the VT Bass

This is more than just an effects pedal, it can be used as a direct injection box, a pre- amp or a just for tone shaping in front of an amplifier. It's primarily aimed at achieving the classic Ampeg SVT or B15 tone and I think it pulls it off very well. The addition of the blend control in this model is a nice feature and gives the option to use the pedal as an unaffected basic eq. The build quality is fantastic, I can see many a sound engineers face lighting up at the prospect of working with this great sounding, professional looking tool. I've been using this pedal as a pre-amp and find the drive and character controls set at noon give a subtle creamy sounding 70's rock tone, this box really shines when paired with a Precision Bass. I've already recorded several tracks straight to the desk through the DI, this is where the speaker simulator come into it's own.