Tech 21 Double Drive

After a few minutes of getting my head around the controls I had found a whole scope of tones I thought were usable.

The manual is brief and gives a good idea of the A/B and A drive controls and also notes the actually frequency from low to hight that the tone is set to. Lovely

Firstly I tried this with my Tele running into an Engl Thunder on the clean channel thru a Frmaus 2x12 with V30 speakers. Using the mix pups. the A drive which, is akin to Vox did a voxy tone well and as I flicked down to the bridge pickup there was the glassy drive which we have heard on a thousand classic records. I was more interested using the A/B to drive my clean a little for more indie type sounds which I achieved pretty quickly.
I was interested in this pedal as I wanted a lighter drive which didn't colour the tone of the guitar as much as my Maxon OD808 or my line6 M13 OD patches and then use my 808 for the more driven tone. This thing lets the sound of your guitar thought and adds to it rather than compressing it and colouring it like my 808, which is not a bad thing when used for more crunch setting or with humbuckers.

After being very happy with the sound of my Tele, I plugged in my Framus which has a JB in the bridge and tried to match the Lead channel on my Engl head. The Harmonoc content was there but the bass boldness and over width wasn't. The clarity on the lead tones blending both ODS knobs was rich and great for leads so this pedal would sit great in an indie rock band or in a metal band as a solo sound of a nice crunch tone.

The last setup I tried was a 1971 fender deluxe reverb with my strat. Amazing blues tone on the neck pickup thru to AC/DC classic rock on the Bridge.
This pedal inline with my 808 is great. I wouldn't solely buy it if your looking for that mesa/5150/engl high gain sounds as there is no pedal which can do that, thats why those amps are so damn pricey, but for a versatile all-rounder this is by far the best OD pedal on the market.

Its made of metal. My mates sansamp is 6 years old and still goings so I would say all good

It hasn't broken and I don't think it will.

As above if you want something to let the sound of your guitar shine and achieve a wide array of tones from indie/rock/lead this is a great little pedal.

No a plug and play pedal, but spend a bit of time with it ( as others have said ) and you'll be rewarded with a wealth of great tones.

I use a tele, a strat, a 335 into various solid state and tube amps. This pedal sounds very, very good with all of them. It really does the job with solid state amps. From sweet clean boost, to just on the edge blues tones, to screaming rock tones...and everything in between, it does the trick quite nicely. The beauty of this pedal is how it lets the natural, inherent tone of your guitar shine through. The controls work well and the tone control is especially musical. Most pedals iwll sound good in your bedroom, but the real proof is on stage. The DD excels in this area. The tones cut through the mix, yet are never thin or shrill.....although I'm sure you could dial those tones up if you so desired. Running it in combo with a Bad Monkey provided some killer tones too. It seems to pair well with my other overdrives. All in all, this is a keeper. I had heard good and bad about this pedal, but for me, it's all good. I'm a happy camper to have in my tone chest. Beats the crap out of many higer priced, botique pedals I've had.

In all my years of gigging, I have NEVER had a pedal fail, so I don't see any problems with this one. It seems to be of sturdy build quality.

Never had an issue with it, but I understand Tech 21 support is top notch.

I play blues, rock, country.....whatever.....but everything comes from a blues base. For me, this pedal is excellent for forging and defining my own tones. While I never try to sound like anyone but myself, I'm sure you could tweak it to find tones of your favorite artists.

It's a very musical pedal that responds well to your touch and the guitars volume and tone controls. It lets who you are as a player come through and doesn't force you to sound like someone else. High marks for this pedal. It just works, and I like that.

This is the Red Limited Edition pedal and I picked it up for a song on e-Bay. I won't go into all the features but need to reaffirm other reviews that this is truly a tweakers dream. The cascading gain between Drive A and Drive A/B and how, much like many tube amps, affects the volume and to some degree the tone. All adjustments of gain cause necessitate an adjustment of Level and Tone, and until you get the hang of it (and you will!), it might piss you off a little. The online manual is a HUGE HELP and you should read the setup section.

For my part, first I adjust Drive A for sustain, then Drive A/B for gain/saturation level, then tone for where I want it to sit in the mix, and finish with Level. The tone knob is VERY sensitive, but works better than any I've used and I've used many OD and distortion pedals. Also, the on/off switch is an actuater and NOT a DPDT or other True Bypass switch, and takes a while to get used to.

Giving this a 7 because again, you need to tweak it. However, once you get it set, it's a killer pedal and only occasional adjustments are needed.

For a stomp box Distortion pedal, it kicks ass at a great price!!!

Forget using it as a modeler because I haven't yet played the pedal, amp, or processor that models an amp perfectly. However, this thing has gain for days if you need it, a tone knob that works, and one AMAZING feature most others don't; it's buffered exactly like a tube amp!!! What that means is that it will drive anything you put in front of it, and dropping a modded tube screamer or other quality OD in front of it produces the most unbelievable lead tones you'll ever hear coming out of a stompboxes. Run this into a tube amp that likes pedals (some of them don't!), and you have a sonic combination that will leave you and the rest of the band looking around in amazement because you just can't believe the tone is coming out of pedals. It's honestly that good!

My signal chain:

>Vintage SG, Les Paul, or Strat > Korg DT-10R Tuner (primary buffer) > Keeley modded Vox 847 Wah > Analogman CompRossor > Keeley modded TS-9 w/true bypass > Tech 21 Double Drive (secondary buffer) > Maxon FL-9 Flanger (sec buffer) > Retro-Sonic Chorus Ensemble > Retro-Sonic Analog Delay > MI Audio Boost n Buff (final buffer) > any available amp.

This is not a True Bypass pedal, but for you TBP freaks, trust me, the value of good buffers cannot be underestimated. It's a mathematical fact that more than 4 TBP pedals in a row results in signal degradation. If you don't believe it, try going back and forth between plugging directly into your amp and your expensive TBP board. Every TBP switch and plug drains a little signal strength which eventually manifests itself as highend loss, the exact thing that TBP is supposed to cure. Placing buffers at key points will fix this, with the most important RIGHT AFTER THE GUITAR (see my tuner in my signal chain).

The buffer in the DD is one of the best around, and because it emulates a tube amp, it will optimize the tone of whatever you is in front of it.

Giving it a 9 which I consider very good.

Tech 21 has been around for years. Mine is a used model from the 90's and it works perfectly. I've been relying on it for months and through some grueling gigs witout a spare; so far, so good. A 9 for now and a 10 if it lasts over 2 years.

They emailed me the link to the manual to this out of production model within 2 business days. What more can you ask for?

I play all styles of rock and pop, some country and jazz, some heavier and some funkier stuff. The tone of this sits well in the mix with a two guitar band, although the buffer is so good I'm now using my TS-9 for rhythms that need a little fur, my DD for slightly more fur (i.e. heavier songs), and the combination of both for awesome, singing leads. I've been playing over 30 years and have owned or played many, many, many different amps, guitars, and stompboxes, and tend to buy mostly high-end stuff. This was by far the least expensive device on my board, and at this point the most important.

I'm going to keep watching e-Bay and purchase any others I can find because I'm sure they'll be highly sought after in the future. As I only have one right now, if it were lost I would be completely depressed because my tone would suffer.

Giving it a 10 because the bang for buck is top notch!!!

4 knobs that all react exactly as they should. The tapers are great and it's easy to get everything from a light drive to screaming sustaining leads.

I'm using a Gibson SG Classic and an SG Special as well as a 2007 Gibson Explorer. I play through Duncan, Ampeg and a 1970's JMP. I have owned more overdrive and distortion pedals than you. I swear...LOL! I've played over 20 years and have tried hundreds of pedals. Everything from the standard Boss, MXR, and Ibanez stuff to the newer boutique pedals.

I worked in a Vintage store in Boston around 1991-1993 and I've had vintage Fuzz Faces, Maestro Fuzz-Tones, Octavias, Etc. I remember when the Way Huge stuff came out, very cool!

I have had boutique pedals by MJM, Fulltone, Greer, Blackstone, HBE, Menatone, M.I. Audio, BJFE, Prescription Electronics, LovePedal, and way too many more to list. I am a pedal junkie, I have a problem.

I have had my Double Drive for many years, and I always come back to it. I am using an old big box Rat and my Double Drive as my main distortion pedals. The DD sounds just right in a band mix, where many of the expensive "boutique" pedals failed for me. The controls on the DD give you exactly what they are supposed to, the tone works great and both drives deliver very different sounds that can be mixed together with excellent results. It just works perfect for me.

I honestly can't understand why so many players rave about the BJFe, Blackstone, LovePedal and OCD pedals, None worked well for me. I really liked some of the Greer and Prescription pedals, but so many of the others are way over-hyped by bedroom tone-aficionados. I bought an OCD v3 because of the rave reviews, and it sounded very processed and Hi-Fi, sterile. I also thought the EQ was weird, kind of mid-scooped (same with the Blackstone 2SV3). I actually loved the Blackstone 2SV2 I owned years ago; it was very dumb of me to sell that. Also, the M.I Audio Crunch Box sounded quite similar to the OCD.

Anyway, the Double Drive is like a meat and potatoes tone. I don't believe that it truly captures vintage Vox, Marshall, or Fender amp sounds, but Drive AB gives a bright Vox-like Overdrive and Drive A gives a nice Marshally tone.

I generally don't like pedals that try to emulate amp sounds; I feel they mess with the EQ in a weird, unnatural-sounding way. The DD is different. If you really like the sound of your amp, the DD is a great pedal for adding just a little grit, a heavy distortion, or a totally saturated lead sound with tons of sustain. The tone control is very musical with a great range.

I have never owned a pedal that did light Overdrive, Distortion and saturated lead tones as well as the DD.

This box gets a 10 for sounds and bang for the buck.

I've owned mine for years, it looks like it's been through a war and it has never failed.

You can get a friendly engineer on the phone...Wow!!

I was not a fan of the original SansAmp, the GT2 or the Tri-AC. None of them sounded right for me. I do dig the CompTortion, especially for leads.

The Double Drive is reasonably priced, and sounds much better than 99% of the vintage, production, and boutique pedals I've tried.

Have a blue one, played this two years before this post.
It is quite a strange pedal in fact, not that easy to use since it is so responsive to your set up. If like me you own/play different guitars through different amps then the double drive is very time consuming. It lacks channels, or programs and tech21 does now the 3x.
The drive knobs on my pedal have a very narrow range near max, it boosts unevenly (very smooth from 7 o' to 4o' and then twice all that up to 5o'). Annoying to say the least.
It could use a bit more gain on A/b mode.
Using the two gains push noisefloor up, no wonder but comparatively to standard dist pedals you have far more singlecoils noise for a given amont of drive. Annoying one more time.
No distortion pedal, but a flex-a-ble overdrive.
Volume boost uneven, reminds me of my fender deluxe112 (nothing, then too loud...), annoying again.
I like the bufferred output very much, it allows me to use a 10ft cable from guitar to dd and then a very long cable to my amp at the other side of the stage. No sound loss, great! And I don't even need a psu, since the dd only pumps 5mA from the battery (an Energizer lasts at least 100 hours in this pedal, no one can top it).

I had a bad time with my many guitars/amps. It works well with a twin, or a jc120. Good with a blues junior too.
With my vox vr15/30 not so, with marshall same thing.
Difficult is to chose between light overdrive, clean boost, or full drive. What works well with an amp doesn't with another guitar, and so on for days...
No noise except when using both gains (often A/B at max and A at noon), and there is no choice if you want a good drive sound. Singlecoils not wanted.
Nice tone pot, way useful. Silent switching, no lag.
In fact it is in the sansamp classic's league, needs external eq, and is not plagued by obligatory speaker sim. Same overall softness too, and I guess that's the real point.
You have to try it with your very setup or you won't be satisfied.
I didn't try it with an eq pedal after it, since the dd itself is picky picky...

I use gt2,tri ac and original sansamp for years without the slightest problem (and being pedals they are carried without care, bumps in amp's backs where they share space with beer cans and so on).
That's where the price reflects, tech21 products are professional products, and when you need to rely on them it's priceless. In the same lap of time two boss pedals simply died (an eq and a comp), and two Ibanez wouldn't switch on or off properly (cs5 and ts7)...

Find one sound and stick with it. Or buy one more for another sound and stick with both. From what I hear the dd3x is not that good, I guess the active eq doesn't suit the original design, which is good.
I compared it with t-rex dr swamp, which maybe I should have bought instead(more consistent from one amp to another, slightly airier sound, and two channels).
With my twin reverb I use a behringer od100 for warm, solid distortion and dd for this slightly crunched tone so difficult to obtain. With my bassman reissue it is just the opposite.
Again: try it on your very setup...
I like this pedal, it's professional period.

It's very easy to use, only four knobs, two drives a tone and a volume.

It sounds sooooo wonderful (yeah is THAT good). Well, for starters i'm not a purist or a blues player, i like distortion in the means of metal, to be more precise, on the means of more modern players. I also play punk, but first things first.
I play this little baby with mi '80s Ibanez Studio (love her too) through a cry baby, a ts 9 and the DD (plus many more things after it) through to a Sovtek Mig 50 (the one with no master volume), to a 2x12 with two G12t75s. The sound i get from it is absolutely great. I play in a band with another guy and he has a Carl Martin MKII. We're head to head, my sound is always complemented on. The distortion is smooth and clear. You can drive it up to the max and the notes will still be there! It's veeery sensitive with the knobs, specially the tone knob. It has a whole lot of volume, i normally use like at twelve o'clock. It makes a great match for the ts9, they are a killing couple. We use down tuned guitars and the DD stays clear and does the job all the time.

DEfinetely, don't be misslead by the girlie 'clicke' from the switch, it's very reliable. I always gig with a Voodoo lab overdrive as a backup, but i do not think i'll ever need it... but u never know, u know?

never dealt with them

Well if u read by now, my conclusion is very obvious. To me it's a very good piece of equipment, and for the music i play, distortion is the key part of your sound. And this little baby is the heart and soul of my gear. I have tried tones of distortion pedales, i found some very good ones down the line, but i'll stick with this one, it's a true gem, and more when it's paired with the ts9 (another piece of heaven brought to earth) If lost or stolen i would definitely buy another one.

Pie

Been playing for over 20 years... all kinds of music. up to this point my main pedal was a tube screamer, but it always lacked something. I went to the music store recently and tried EVERY distortion and overdrive pedal. couldn't find the sound I was looking for. then I stumbled across DD. SWEET! ever kissed a girl and it felt like all your dreams came true? it may not be for everyone, but it's the sound I've been dreaming of. I play a Jimmy V Strat thru a Tech 21 60 watt.

never had to call them.

Blues is my thing, but I play a little country, a little jazz, a little classic rock, etc., in a working band. I love the sound of the DD.
If you're still looking for "that" sound, give it a try.
Peace.

4 knobs, bob's your uncle

depends what you are looking for. Me i like a nice smooth clean & bright distortion. this box won't be for metalheads unless you are looking for an old school sound. with careful tweaking on the pedal and your amps eq, you should be able to achieve a sound you like. i give it a 9 only because this pedal is not for everyone but if you are looking for something that will deliver anything from robben ford style smoothness to Van Halen "Meanstreet" this pedal rocks.

not had any problems with it, I have a 2 year old son who always manages to get to it and it works absolutely fine. If i did have any critisism, it would be the switch seems a little spongy. wouldn't gig without a back up because of this

can't comment

fantastic pedal if you know what you are looking for. as i said before it is not for everyone, but tone is a matter of opinion there is no right or wrong. me personally i love it. Plus I got the cool red one so it sticks out like dogs balls

4 knobs. level--tone--a/b--a. pretty easy to use but you will have to experiment to get the right sound for you depending on the amp and axe you use.

ok. here is where it gets a little stupid sometimes in some of these reviews. tone is a personal thing and again it all depends on your setup, style and what sound you are looking for. THIS IS NOT A DISTORTION PEDAL, IT IS AN OVERDRIVE PEDAL FOR PETE`S SAKE! IT WILL NOT SOUND LIKE A DAMN BUZZ SAW. GET A BOSS METAL ZONE FOR THAT SHIT. IT IS MADE TO SOUND LIKE CLASS A & CLASS A/B TUBE AMPS........

i use a `78 gibson les paul custom. i have used this pedal on these two very different sounding amps with my les paul and here is what i got.......

this pedal sounds great on my `84 peavey heritage vtx with the level at 3/4, the tone at max, a/b at 3/4, and the a set at 0. instantly had a very good sound and tone, very easy to tweak. can get a great marshall tone with ease. took about 30 seconds.

now, on my `81 marshall jcm 800 half stack it takes a lot more tweaking to get a good sound but it can be done. this is what i do. level at max, tone at 3/4, both a & a/b knob at 0. works like an old tube screamer this way. boosts the pickup signal to create a real good overdrive. with the marshall gain set at 5 and the master at where ever you want it you will get a fine overdrive tone. could`nt ask for a better tone...

my peavey has a tube power section with solid state preamp. the marshall as we all know is all tube.

in my opinion this pedal with the overdrive set too high causes the pre amp tubes in my marshall act strange and get a totally unusable,muddy sound. the marshall already sounds killer so with the pedal set as a booster you will get much better results..

as far as the peavey goes this pedal really makes that amp sound good as hell. i actually use my peavey more than the marshall because of ease of transport and small stages. the peavey does a fine job and sounds great with the right equipment. i need clean tone and dirty tone for different songs and the marshall is never completely clean. that is why the peavey does a much better job for a variety of differnt songs...

looks tough enough to me. i have read reviews about the stomp switch seeming a little weak. that is because this pedal does`nt use an actual click switch like some do. it is a spring loaded switch that touches a small actuator in the circuit board to bypass..so far so good....

very very very good. i emailed them with questions and the responded with in 24 hours with very good and complete answers. they are clearly not affraid of sharing their knowledge.........

this pedal is one of the best i have used. like i said before it all depends on what you are looking for. i would definitley try one if you can before you buy as it may not suit your needs. i play soouthern rock,blues,country,metal in my band the TECH 21 DOUBLE DRIVE suits my needs perfectly. if it ever got stolen i just hope i am not the one who catches the damn thief because i would be in jail the next day..............

Definatly one of the easier 'odd ball' drive pedals on the market. I was up and running with a tone I was happy with in minutes (actually I found many settings I liked! which is strange cus usually I only like one :P)

The manual is good, especialy since it explains the tone knobs strange-ness, and how the two drive knobs react with each other.

Mine is the black limited series one. Dunno if their is a sound difference

Recently I have scaled down my rig from a huge setup consisting of 2 amps, 13 pedal boxes, tuner, power supplys, wireless, five guitars, and even an e-bow. In my scalling down to less than 1/4 of all that I had to find stuff that replace my EQs, and drive pedals with something that would be able to cascade into my Crowther Hot Cake, and still sound good on its own so I can have 3 different drives, but only two boxes.

The Double Drive is the one!

With the both drive knobs turned pretty close to 12'oclock (right before it starts to get gritty) I get this wonderful natural smooth overdrive out of my AC30. Even the bridge of my Gibson 335 is still smooth and powerful. No strange harmonic frequencys, and no gritty trebely breakup, just nice alt-rock style drive!

When Cascading into my Crowther Audio hotcake (which is set for a much heavier sound) I get a very miniscule volume increase, and keep the whole rig keeps its definition while getting that third channel Dual Recitifier sound. The most surprising is that both pedals are actually set for a deeper tone, and when cascaded into each other I get a really bright, and cutting tone! Great for lead lines or times when I need to be on top the mix.

I'm a lil scared about the switch. It dosn't got the nice 'CLICK' but instead has a girly 'clique' to it. I know it's not a big deal, but non-clicky switchs scare me.

never delt

I play in an original rock band, and have been using a huge number of stomp boxes for years. Now with my new simplified rig I only put the best stuff in.

This box will most likely always have a place in my board, its sounds great, its light, and gives me exactly what I need. It even replaced my Sparkle Drive, which has been a mainstay of my tone for years! I might upgrade it to the tripple memory version when it's available and replace my Hotcake!

Stolen? I would hunt him down and kick his/her ass because its now discontinued!