Tech21 SansAmp GT2

This was the first pedal I bought when I started playing guitar regularly again in 1997. I was looking for something that would give a little more versatility to my sound. I like my Champ and Princeton but I also wanted to get other sounds as well as trying to improve the sound of my Peavey Bandit. This pedal fit the bill nicely then and I still use it from time to time.

The control knobs are pretty simple. The Level controls the volume while the Low and High EQ the sound. The Drive knob affects the overdrive/distortion level.

There are also 3 3-way switches on the unit. The MIC switch settings (Classic/Center/Off Axis) simulate the positioning of a recording mic. This seems to have a subtle EQ effect when playing through an amp and is more obvious on a recording. The MOD switch (Clean/Hi Gain/Hot Wired) simulates drive stages in an amp and, as one would expect, this affects how the Drive knob behaves. The final switch, AMP (California,British,Tweed) simulates a MESA Boogie, Marshall, and Fender.

My favorite setting for this pedal are the switches set on Classic/Clean/British with the High about 1/3 to 1/2 the way up, the Low 3/4 to all the way up, and the drive about 1/3 of the way up. This gave a nice 'Bluesbreaker' like quality to the sound. I would often chain this effect in this order: Guitar -> VeryTone -> Hotfoot -> SansAmp -> EchoFX. I used this combo until I bought the Korg AX1000G. However, I found the blues/rock tone of that combo superior to that of the Korg's settings. While the tone on the V-Amp is comparable in quality to this setup and records better, the SansAmp combo has a rawer, wilder, sound that I sometimes find desirable.