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Sans Amp VT Bass from Tech 21

Basscake

Basscake

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Oct 23, 2008
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149
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@ home
Yes I tried the vt bass a few days ago.

I really dig the distorted "dirtier" sounds of that unit. Not so much the clean settings. Here we go:

When I plugged in a Stingray my first impression on the overdriven sounds was like "Ooops, a bit harsh on the treble side." So I cut the treble a fair bit. The 3bd.eq of the VT does a good job here. I had the impression that Tech21 had rather passive instruments on their minds when they designed the VT. Whatever....

After that I had heaps of fun knocking down the shop with roaring, growling and hissing distorting sounds. It stays quite focused without loosing the bottom end and the punch. Unfortunatelly a common thing with many other pedals. Not here.
I also like how it reacts to your finger and pick attack. A wide dynamic range. A lot of dist.pedals give you rather a on/off scenario. With the VT there is a lot you can control by your playing style.

It takes a bit getting used to that the controls interact a fair bit. If you crank up the drive-button or boost some frequencies on the EQ you'll have to adjust the volume and so on.... It's just like on a "real" amp.

As for the "cleaner" sounds it did't convince me completely.
I felt that i lose clarity and contour in the usually very crisp stingray-Sound. Also it produced some hum. Not really bad but audible nontheless. Nothing to bother when you dail in a bit of distortion.
But that might all just be part of the Ampeg-modeling :D

My very personal conclusion:
I would use it rather as a high-class overdrive-pedal than a preamp.
That is where it really shines imho.
All in all I liked it better than the "normal" Sansamp which has a strange "mid scoop" that i don't like to much. It has a DI out though...

I hope that helps.

Greets
basscake

And sorry for the crapy language. I'm not a native speaker...
 
Last edited:
Aussie Mark

Aussie Mark

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Nov 9, 2003
Messages
5,646
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Sydney, Australia
I've had one on my "small gig" pedal board for a few months. Great little pedal to warm things up a little and add some grit if needed.
 
MingusBASS

MingusBASS

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Joined
Apr 17, 2004
Messages
3,364
Location
Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States
I think it's a great pedal. Like the other guys have said, it's great for warming up your sound or adding some grind without losing the bottom end. Geddy Lee and Chris Squire for days.

That being said, ain't nuthin like the real thing. :p
0710092003.jpg
 
Zippydog

Zippydog

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Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
223
Location
Chicago
Grand Wazoo said:
Has anyone tried one of these?
Click to expand...

Oh yeah!!!

I love this thing! I've had lots of pedals, but this one is just a bit magical in what it does and is easily my current fave. A great pedal that makes my Bongo...well...Bongoier.
 
Grand Wazoo

Grand Wazoo

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Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
2,830
Location
Planet Remulak :)
Zippydog said:
Oh yeah!!!

I love this thing! I've had lots of pedals, but this one is just a bit magical in what it does and is easily my current fave. A great pedal that makes my Bongo...well...Bongoier.
Click to expand...

That is a very funny statement!! hahaha the Bongo goes.... Bongoier now I have to get one of them pedals just for that lol.

Thanks everyone, I will be checking that pedal out very soon.
 
the unrepentant

the unrepentant

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Joined
Nov 15, 2007
Messages
1,191
Location
Bangor, UK
I'm thinking about getting one of these or a sansamp bass driver DI, are these VT ones good for metal? It does sound nice, but i'm not totally sure how it would sit in the mix. I know john campbell from lamb of god uses the BDDI, and it sounds amazing.
 
Deaj

Deaj

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Joined
Oct 18, 2004
Messages
161
Location
Kingston, WA
Basscake said:
My very personal conclusion:
I would use it rather as a high-class overdrive-pedal than a preamp.
That is where it really shines imho.
All in all I liked it better than the "normal" Sansamp which has a strange "mid scoop" that i don't like to much. It has a DI out though...
Click to expand...

I have one and I use it as stated above - it's fantastic in this application!
 
R

Redblade

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Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
53
Location
Iowa
I bought one recently and sent it back. I really tried to like it after reading all the positive reviews.

Like others have said it does produce a pretty good overdrive, if that's what your after. But I think there may be other pedals that are better suited for this.

I bought it to use as a preamp and for clean sounds. Motowny and funky punchy fingerstyle sounds. Needless to say, I was hugely disappointed and it made me realize I don't need anything else in my signal chain. Like someone else mentioned, it *really* scoops the mids, which to me is a bad thing. I guess I don't see what all the hype is after trying one but I know I am in the minority. I would say if you like your mids to stay intact, stay away from this pedal.
 
ou7shined

ou7shined

Active member
Joined
Jul 2, 2009
Messages
30
Location
Aberdeen, Scotland
Overrated IMHO.
I had one of the first units to hit the UK shores and spent months trying to nail what I hoped it could do (or what the then sparse reviews said it could do). In the end I felt that it almost lived up to my expectations but it was just too harsh sounding all the time and so it gradually just became a disto pedal for guitarists to use when they visited mine for a jam. I ditched it (a good move as the price had gone up considerably from when I bought mine) and I embarked upon a quest to find a decent real valve solution - currently digging DHA.
 
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