Tech 21 SansAmp Character Series VT Bass DI

We all have more preamps than we need, right? Our amps have them, and a bunch of pedals have them. But the products from SansAmp are better than the rest. They are amazingly versatile, and I was really surprised at all of the different, nuanced sounds that I can get out of it. The manual comes with quite a few settings to get you started. You can go from super sharp and articulate to thick and thudding, or you can crank up the gain for a really wide range of overdrive. Then you can hit the "bite" button to give your sound a noticeable edge. It has a "character" knob, and I am not sure how to describe it, but it runs through a range of different tonal characteristics. Try to find a video that demonstrates what it can do, and you will see what I mean. For the money, and with the high quality of this pedal, I think it is an essential piece of gear. Ok, since it says that I should talk about durability, I will add that this feels like, and appears to be, really solid and well-put-together. I don't gig, but it feels like one of the more solid pedals that I own.

I love the tones you can get out of this sansamp model. I am a gigging musician who goes direct into pa. Why lug a heavy cumbersome amp when you can get an awesome tone with this box. I highly recommend this for anyone who is a working musician and loves that ampeg tone. You will save space on transport as well as your back not having to lift heavy amplifier.

While the VTDI objectively made my bass sound better, after a few months of playing with it regularly and experimenting with different settings I've come to the conclusion that I just don't personally like the the "vintage" sound that the drive on this aims to reproduce. If you're into that "Ampeggy" tone you'll probably be very happy with it.To me, the drive sounds harshly digitized and farty whenever you're not playing very softly. Playing hard with the drive past 9 o'clock or so just sounds bad to me. I like it more with the drive way down, but at that point I feel like I'm avoiding the defining feature of this pedal and using it as an overpriced EQ. I'll most likely end up selling my VTDI and looking into the normal Sansamp BDDI and/or some of the cheaper alternatives.Other minor pros and cons:+ Build quality is great+ I love having the option of a parallel output- Having the XLR jack on the left takes up way too much space on a board unless you place this at the far left. XLR jack at the top would be more manageable.- I don't like that the footswitch is a non-standard size so you can't fit a topper onto it. For an effect "always-on" effect it's arguably not a big deal, but I don't really see the point in these wider and shorter switches except to save a few mm of vertical space.

Ive been jumping straight into the house board ever since I got this. It sounds great. The person running the sound almost never cares as much as we do about the quality of our tone and this puts that control right back in my hands. The plus side is all I Gotta do is bring my bass and this DI. I could leave my amp at home. My preference is actually to use both the DI to plug into the front of the house and when I Ampeg stack but that’s for bigger gigs.I like the tone of this thing so much I use it when I’m playing Just with my amp as well.

The tone out of this small pedal is huge! Sounds just like an SVT but with greater EQ ability when recording direct through the XLR output. I won’t record with anything else now!

I plugged my bass into this thing and cannot believe the complete transformation by bass and amp went through with the stomp of a switch. I cannot explain how purely evil and gut-punchy my entire bass rig just became. You MUST get this box no matter what bass rig you have. It out-VST's the actual VST by miles, and with ANY bass and ANY amp, and I'm including no-name, pawn shop garbage here. Trust me, this is the most important $200 you'll ever spend for any bass you will ever own, no matter what the amp you use. Got a bunch of gear for your bass already? Throw it away. Get this. Seriously.

I absolutely love this thing!! Having tried the original SansAmp that you see on a ton of Bass Pedal Boards, I went for this to try something new, and hopefully get a kiss of that Ampeg Bite in my tone. Let me tell you I am blown away. I absolutely love the tonal options with this pedal vs any other I've tried. If you're looking for a good Tim Commerford-esque rig, this is essential for RATM stuff.The perfect amount of bite to clean, just a stellar pedal.

I got this for our bass guitar at church, and will be using it with some effects pedals. It sounds great and works really well. I love all the different options on it, and it seems to be really versatile with the different things that can be adjusted. The Character and Drive knobs provide a wide variety of tone.There is one drawback I've realized. Since I'm using this as a DI, it pretty much has to be last in the chain. But normally a Drive pedal doesn't go last in the chain, after other effects like Delay and Reverb, which I plan on using. That means I have to place those effects before this one instead of after, and while that will probably be ok, it isn't ideal or my preference. What might be a cool alternative design is to be able to have the effected 1/4" output of this go through the rest of my pedals, and then back into a 2nd input on this unit before being converted by the DI.That being said, I'm really happy with the way this thing sounds, and also with the way it functions as a DI. I just wish it was possible to place my other effects after the Drive effect instead of before.