My new Tech21 SansAmp Character Series VT Bass Amp Pedal

djshawn47 · #1 04-29-2008, 11:47 AM

Just got mine in the mail a couple of days ago. Very cool looking pedal and built solid. Love the fact that the battery compartment is accessible without having to unscrew the faceplate.

Pretty much does what it says. Emulates a variety of tube and grit tones to get some of that warmth and grit that many tube amps have to offer. Dosent sound exactly like a tube amp, but gets very close. Definitely a pedal that is useable in many situations, espescially for Solid State amp users, looking for some of that tubey goodness.

I got it for my Aguilar 728/680 combo, because although this rig is tube heaven (Ive never heard another amp do lush pillowy tubey goodness, like this), it does not do grit, at all!

A couple of issues with my pedal. The level knob has a scratchy pot around 10:00-11:00 o'clock, I emailed Tech 21 and they responded right away with instructions on how to clean to get rid of the "scratch". havent done it yet to see if it solves the problem, Im guessing it will.

Also- I was excited to try out the suggested settings that the manual offers. I was particularly interested in the "SVT style" settings, but my amp could not handle the output of those settings- It was so hot that I had to turn the gain and the master almost all the way down on my amp. Thus, These settings are pretty much useless to me, because the difference in volume were so great when the pedal is on vs. off. You cant go to SVT on the fly. You have to make major adjustments on the AMP to use the setting, and then reverse them to go back to the regular signal from your amp. Maybe Im doing something wrong...anyone have a suggestions, please feel free to throw them out.

The "fat tube" setting was a lot more useable. Adds some nice warmth and fatness to your tone, its not overly exaggerated, but I defnitely could see use of this setting.

The "Rage" setting gives you a pretty cool fuzz sound, very midrangy, crisp, crunchy, robotic fuzz, that dosent break up. Definitely a cool tone, I dont know that it would be used all that much though.

I definitely would reccomend checking this pedal out. Its a very cool, useable pedal, but IMHO its not going to put the tube amp market out of business any time soon.

karter2000 · #2 04-29-2008, 12:52 PM

I just got mine as well, and so far I really like it. I bought it as a replacement for my Behringer BDI21, and for pick playing. Like I said in other posts, I find it to be a little more transparent in the mids than the BDDI/BDI21.

I've only briefly played with the overdrive settings, but what I've found so far was enough to ditch my Ashdown J-Lo Hyperdrive. There wasn't any need to have both around.

Lyle

Bass Boy · #3 04-29-2008, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karter2000

Ashdown J-Lo Hyperdrive.
Lyle

So does the J-Lo give your sound Big Booty?

If you guys can post some sound clips of the various settings that would be awesome.

Zooski · #4 04-29-2008, 09:49 PM

i found this video demonstrating some of the settings. Whatever setting is at about 8 seconds is absolutely amazing and the overdriven-sound ive been looking for in a pedal.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xr8kdWpB3U4

Timi · #5 04-30-2008, 12:15 AM

Sorry if this has been asked elsewhere, but does the pedal have a speaker sim or is it just an amp sim?

40Hz_of_Love · #6 04-30-2008, 06:02 AM

It has a speaker sim output.

Clarky · #7 06-30-2008, 03:32 PM

Sorry, this is probably covered elsewhere but does the new VT bass pedal offer more than the Sansamp Para DI (as I read the latter has the Mid that the standard BDDI lacks)?

Asking as we Brits will presumably have to wait for months more before we can get our hands on a VT Bass and I was wondering if I can achieve the same with the Para?

Thx Clarky

dannybuoy · #8 06-30-2008, 04:09 PM

Well the VT Bass is supposed to emulate the sound of an SVT. The Paradriver is more generic in that it's designed to be used with guitar, bass, horns, vocals, etc... it's not just a BDDI with an added mid control. So while it may sound good on bass it will probably sound rather different.

crapusername · #9 06-30-2008, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clarky

Asking as we Brits will presumably have to wait for months more before we can get our hands on a VT Bass and I was wondering if I can achieve the same with the Para?

Thx Clarky

Not true dude - i saw one, 'on the shelf' in Denmark Street about a month ago. Didn't give it a go though as there wasn't enough time to do it justice.