Tech 21 SansAmp Character VT Bass DI 5-stars 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Great tool

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

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.