Recently, a friend lent me a Tech21 SansAmp VT Bass to try. The net is full of user reviews on the VT but I though it was a good opportunity to write a review focussed on the technical aspects and the construction.
I hope you will find it interesting.
/// Construction 3/5
The VT is built in a nice and solid aluminium box. It is the same box used by a lot of other pedals and the size is the same of other Tech21 pedals like the SansAmp Classic or the Bass DI.
The circuit board is completely SMD with part of the circuit inside a resin blob. I guess the resin part is to protect the design from reverse engineering attempts. An effort that in the vast majority of cases is totally pointless.
The consequence is that if the pedal stops working you are pretty much on your own. On the positive side, the pedal is cheaper to produce and it costs less.
The potentiometers appear to be of good quality. The battery door looks a little bit delicate but in these days not too many people use batteries anyway.
/// Bypass 5/5
The pedal is not true-bypass but the bypass works very well. The frequency response is flat with the pedal in bypass.
/// Connections 5/5
Input. I didnt measure it but it should be 1 M ohm. The same input impedance of almost al Boss pedals and other brands pedals.
Output. Accordingly to the manual, it can drive low impedance devices like mixers. In other words you do not need a DI to connect the VT to a mixer. If you need to connect the VT to an XLR input, a jack to XLR cable is more than adequate.
In my opinion this is a good choice. In a recording environment, cables are usually short and XLR connections are not essential. Moreover, the lack of XLR-balanced connector helps keep the costs down making the pedal more affordable.
/// Cabinet simulation 3/5
It is essentially a steep low pass filter set to cut everything above roughly 4.5 kHz.
It also cuts around -3dB at 30Hz. If you play 5/6 string and you have a cabinet that can go that low, you may hear a little bit less presence on the low-B but it shouldnt be that strong. Unfortunately, it cant be compensated by turning up the low knob. The low control combined to the low cut produces more or less a mid control tuned on 90Hz.
There is also a slight emphasis (+2dB) around 3kHz.
Unfortunately, because it cuts everything above 4.5kHz the zing that a lot of slap players like is totally removed. I would have like a switch to remove the cab simulation. It would have made the pedal more flexible. (Tech21 added a button to remove the cab simulation from the processing in a new series of Character pedals).
/// Controls 4/5
I analysed the frequency response of the pedal and I discovered I few interesting facts.
The high control is a boost only control (the manual says that the controls are +/- 12dB). For a flat position I had to turn the high knob all the way down. The mid controls is not at 500Hz (as indicated in the manual) but around 865Hz
I usually dont like boost-only high but I must admit that with the VT it works well. Because the cab simulation, the pedal is a relatively "dark" sounding and the boost-only makes the control effective and musical.
The low knob works also well. It doesnt sound boomy or too aggressive. It makes the sound fatter without changing the tone of the bass too much.
/// Mid and Character 4/5
Believe it or not, Mid and Character are almost the same control. Frequency wise there are some differences: Mid boost is set to 865Hz, Character boost is 1462Hz but Character and Mid cut overlap perfectly: 880Hz.
If you are not convinced try the following:
- Drive =0
- Volume = same volume bypass/active
- High = 0
- Low = 12:00
- Character = 12:00
Turn down mid to 0 and play something. Turn up the mid to 12:00 and set Character to 0. The sound should be the same.
So why do they operate differently? The reason is the position in the circuit. Character is before distortion, the low/mid/high controls are after distortion.
It is a simple but very effective solution probably inherited directly from the SansAmp Classic. In practical terms the Character knob pushes the saturation forward (or backward) on the midrange. Because the mid control is tuned in the same area, the tone effects of the Character control can be compensated post-distortion if the mids are too strong.
The drawback is that the Character control can generate a lot of noise if turned up above a certain level.
/// Sound 5/5
I am not heavy user of saturation/distortion/fuzz but the VT was a pleasant surprise. Not unexpectedly, it excels in reproducing amp-like saturation but even used without saturation it is a good sounding pedal.
I recommend it if you are looking for a pedal that can give you a fat/saturated sound. If you are looking for a way to EQ your tone I think there are better solutions.
I hope you will find it interesting.
/// Construction 3/5
The VT is built in a nice and solid aluminium box. It is the same box used by a lot of other pedals and the size is the same of other Tech21 pedals like the SansAmp Classic or the Bass DI.
The circuit board is completely SMD with part of the circuit inside a resin blob. I guess the resin part is to protect the design from reverse engineering attempts. An effort that in the vast majority of cases is totally pointless.
The consequence is that if the pedal stops working you are pretty much on your own. On the positive side, the pedal is cheaper to produce and it costs less.
The potentiometers appear to be of good quality. The battery door looks a little bit delicate but in these days not too many people use batteries anyway.
/// Bypass 5/5
The pedal is not true-bypass but the bypass works very well. The frequency response is flat with the pedal in bypass.
/// Connections 5/5
Input. I didnt measure it but it should be 1 M ohm. The same input impedance of almost al Boss pedals and other brands pedals.
Output. Accordingly to the manual, it can drive low impedance devices like mixers. In other words you do not need a DI to connect the VT to a mixer. If you need to connect the VT to an XLR input, a jack to XLR cable is more than adequate.
In my opinion this is a good choice. In a recording environment, cables are usually short and XLR connections are not essential. Moreover, the lack of XLR-balanced connector helps keep the costs down making the pedal more affordable.
/// Cabinet simulation 3/5
It is essentially a steep low pass filter set to cut everything above roughly 4.5 kHz.
It also cuts around -3dB at 30Hz. If you play 5/6 string and you have a cabinet that can go that low, you may hear a little bit less presence on the low-B but it shouldnt be that strong. Unfortunately, it cant be compensated by turning up the low knob. The low control combined to the low cut produces more or less a mid control tuned on 90Hz.
There is also a slight emphasis (+2dB) around 3kHz.
Unfortunately, because it cuts everything above 4.5kHz the zing that a lot of slap players like is totally removed. I would have like a switch to remove the cab simulation. It would have made the pedal more flexible. (Tech21 added a button to remove the cab simulation from the processing in a new series of Character pedals).
/// Controls 4/5
I analysed the frequency response of the pedal and I discovered I few interesting facts.
The high control is a boost only control (the manual says that the controls are +/- 12dB). For a flat position I had to turn the high knob all the way down. The mid controls is not at 500Hz (as indicated in the manual) but around 865Hz
I usually dont like boost-only high but I must admit that with the VT it works well. Because the cab simulation, the pedal is a relatively "dark" sounding and the boost-only makes the control effective and musical.
The low knob works also well. It doesnt sound boomy or too aggressive. It makes the sound fatter without changing the tone of the bass too much.
/// Mid and Character 4/5
Believe it or not, Mid and Character are almost the same control. Frequency wise there are some differences: Mid boost is set to 865Hz, Character boost is 1462Hz but Character and Mid cut overlap perfectly: 880Hz.
If you are not convinced try the following:
- Drive =0
- Volume = same volume bypass/active
- High = 0
- Low = 12:00
- Character = 12:00
Turn down mid to 0 and play something. Turn up the mid to 12:00 and set Character to 0. The sound should be the same.
So why do they operate differently? The reason is the position in the circuit. Character is before distortion, the low/mid/high controls are after distortion.
It is a simple but very effective solution probably inherited directly from the SansAmp Classic. In practical terms the Character knob pushes the saturation forward (or backward) on the midrange. Because the mid control is tuned in the same area, the tone effects of the Character control can be compensated post-distortion if the mids are too strong.
The drawback is that the Character control can generate a lot of noise if turned up above a certain level.
/// Sound 5/5
I am not heavy user of saturation/distortion/fuzz but the VT was a pleasant surprise. Not unexpectedly, it excels in reproducing amp-like saturation but even used without saturation it is a good sounding pedal.
I recommend it if you are looking for a pedal that can give you a fat/saturated sound. If you are looking for a way to EQ your tone I think there are better solutions.
plus it's adding $30 to the price of the pedals. i'd rather pay $60 and get mike's mod, which not only makes it more usable for bass but preserves its usefulness for guitar. and it doesn't add back in the high end past 4.5!!
