Tech 21 Double Drive

This product, like many other Tech 21 products, is personalized individually for each guitarist....Which means it can be a hassel to find a sound that one can be contempt with....There are 4 buttons on the Double Drive. A level, A tone, A/B Drive (Marshall, Fender), A Drive (Vox)

Wow....It may be difficult to pull sounds from this box....But once you have found the right sound, you will surely fall in love with this product.....The tone knob, like many stated, has a very small sweet spot....Incredible Alternative Rock Tones!!!......I'm not sure if it would suite "Metal Heads"....But I'm sure anyone could find a sound suitable to their ears....The sound is so beautiful....I can only compare this product with an orange.....Then again, I do use tubes.....It does warm up my solid state as well....Unbelievable!

So far, so good!

I have not had to contact them

Unbelievable....Period!

Pretty simple to use, except the Drive A and Drive A/B knobs may throw people off. It's not like a Jekyll & Hyde overdrive, with two footswitches, but it's a cascading drive, meaning they layer on top of each other at the same time to achieve the tone you want. The manual describes everything perfectly, and it even warns you about the touchy tone knob. For $50 Canadian (compared to the new price of $135 Canadian), this pedal is a steal for what I use it for.

I use an Epi Flying V with a Duncan Invader in the bridge, going into the Double Drive, and then going into a Fender FM 212R. I use a light gain on the amp (5-7 on the first gain stage), with the Double Drive adding an overdrive to it. It gives it a bit of a bass response when it's turned on, but it can be dialed out if you really want it out.

The settings I have it on (Level: 1 o'clock, Tone: 11 o'clock, Drive A: 11 o'clock, Drive A/B: 1 o'clock), it is totally silent. It gives me a great crunch tone (yes, even with a solid state amp..), but it's not really something I'd gig with, just because it's a pretty elementary set-up. I'm quite happy with the tone I am getting right now, it gives me a Zakk Wylde/Pepper Keenan-esque drive, with screaming pinch harmonics. If I had some sort of Class A or Class AB tube amp, I'm sure I'd be confident enough to gig with this set-up.

I'm not sure if I could 100% depend on it, because the switch is pretty picky. It takes about 2 pressed before it turns on, which is fine by me for now. If you're a hard stomper, you'll have no problem turning this baby on and off, though.

I probably couldn't afford a new model of this, so I would not gig with a backup. I'm sure this would stand up a gig or two though, unless some idiot spilt their beer on it.

For the style of music I play (Zakk, C.O.C., Pantera, Sabbath, etc. inspired stuff), this is a perfect match. Great for overdriving a signal a la Zakk Wylde, or using it as a solo booster. It would be completely unusable with both gains maxed, but then again it would also sound like ****.

I kind of have formed a bond with this pedal over the last couple months, and it's become an important part of my set-up, makes my tone a lot thicker than the amps 'More Drive' feature. With the 4 years of hearing tons of different amps, guitars, and styles, it's safe to say that I may have found the overdrive I need.

I only compared it to a Boss SD-1, and that Ibanez Tone-Lok series Tuebscreamer, and I was lucky enough to test drive them through a half-driven Soldano. I though hard about which pedal to get, and I finally settled on this one, knowing that I could achieve a multitude of tones with it. It definitely helps me make music, and the ability to combine the two drives is a major selling point. If it were lost, stolen, or destroyed, I'd try and find another one just like it, but probably wouldn't buy new, because the price is a little outrageous.

Four knobs. Main volume, tone, type 1 o/d, and type 2 o/d. It is really not very difficult to get a good sound out of this pedal at all. I think it is more of having to know what you are looking for rather than just stumbling onto something. But after just 15-30 minutes or so of just looking for the sweet-spot, most users will agree that this is a very versatile and terrific pedal. For the more experienced player, it should not take too much time. For a less experienced player who may just want noise and distortion, it could take a bit longer. In either case, both types of users will be rewarded well. Manual is decent and is a basic user guide. Go by what your ears tell you. Too many reviewers on this site complain about simple distortion pedal or overdrive pedal instruction books. To those complainers I say, "Use your ears!".

My setup is Strats (texmex usually with self-scalloped necks) > Vox 847 wah > Keeley TS9 mod pedal > Tech21 Double Drive > EH small clone to Marshall mgdfx 50 watt combo. I have also just received a Keeley DS1 Ultra Mod but have not really had much of a chance to give that a try as the Tech 21 Double Drive has turned into such a great performer. I usually use the clean channel and keep the Tech 21 DD on. It is thick, crunchy, and leaves the Strat with a real gooey kind of dist/od that would make any crunch-head happy. On a good portion of my strats i use a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage 402 or 403 or 404 or 409 pickup in the bridge position. These are hum-cancelling pups that are really great sounding!

I set the Tech 21 Double Drive as follows; with the master volume on the amp set at least 50% higher than the volume on the clean channel, I set the Double Drive volume at minimum 1-3 o'clock, the tone to about 12-1 o'clock, the 1st o/d (next to tone control) at about 3-4 o'clock or just enuff to back off from the max eliminating any hiss, and the last knob at about 2 o'clock.

With this setting, my bottom end is thick and does not lose any definition. Chords ring out beautifully. I have to mention that not only will power chords ring especially well, but even Robin Trower type of open/power chords ring well with beautiful overtones. The soloing on the top strings is sharp, and yet thick at the same time. Bottom end has plenty of meat and there is almost no noise or hiss even at louder volumes. Keep that 1st o/d level below max when playing loud and the second o/d knob at 3pm or less and the noise will be almost minimal.

I set the TS9 to be max on the volume and a bit less on the level so when i do any soloing i just hit the ts9 on and i get the extra punch i need. Still not noisy.

A great pedal. Really thickens up a Strat well. Bluesy on the neck pup. I played outdoors last weekend in my drummer friend's backyard with this setup and he absolutely cud not believe the sound and volume of this setup. It virtually filled up the neighborhood! He is in 3 bands currently, and his guitarists have pretty big equipment and this setup smoked them! Loud, thick, sustaining, note ringin' out delight!!!

Get 1!

Built well! Looks cool. Not worried about reliability in any way. Besides, they have a great reputation, and I can't imagine they would refuse a request to fix any problem that would arise.

Have not had to deal with them yet, but not worried if I have to. Since I have not experienced it yet, I can only give an 8 here which is based on my belief of their solid reputation from people I know.

Play blues and Hendrix/Trower type stuff. Just jamming and having fun. No serious band. However, I am very critical of my sound. I fell in love with the Tech 21 Double Drive. I was actually going to check out a Rat and found the Rat not what I was looking for. I happened to see this in the case and just checked it out and bought it on the spot. Lucky me! Would buy again if lost or stolen.

Great pedal. Part of my main board now!

Thanx Tech 21!!

Tiene 4 controles: level, tone, class A dist, class AB dist.

Sonido increible. Si hubiera que ponerle un solo pero, seria que a altos registros de ganancia es algo ruidoso pero, ?que pedal de distorsion con la ganancia casi a tope no es ruidoso? :-)
Como todos los pedales de Tech 21, derrocha calidad a raudales. Tengo bastantes pedales de overdrive/distorsion (ThunderTomate TS808, Boss OD-1, ThunderTomate Muffiman II y Marshall Bluesbreaker II) y he tenido otros tantos (Boss DS-1, Marshall Guvnor Plus, Marshall Jackhammer, Rat 2, Fulltone DP-1, etc), y el sonido del Double Drive te enamora desde el primer momento. Y esto, tanto si lo utilizas como booster (con el level y el tone casi a tope y los knobs de dist a cero), como overdrive (class A/class AB) a registros medios o como distorsion (con los controles A/AB a tope). Incluso, si pones los dos controles de ov/ds a tope se consigue un sonido cercano a un fuzz. Esta ultima posibilidad es la que menos me gusta, pero esta ahi como opcion. Se nota un incremento de ganancia brutal entre el 8 y el 10 (a tope) en los controles de ganancia (A/AB); es curioso... El sonido de la distorsion A es algo mas opaca que la AB, q es algo mas aguda y brillante. Los dos sonidos te enamoran al instante.
Mi equipo actual es el siguiente: LP Standard ebony '91 - Boss BCB60(pedalboard) con: Boss AC-2, Marshall Bluesbreaker II (modo booster), ThunderTomate TS808 o Boss OD-1, Tech 21 Double Drive, EH Small Clone, Boss PH-2; - Marshall DSL-401. Los pedales los utilizo sobre el canal limpio del Marshall, con tres sonidos saturados base: TS808 a media ganancia para ritmicas crunch, Double Drive con la ganancia A a las 3 p.m y la AB a las 9 p.m, y el Bluesbreaker para darle mas sustain a alguno de los dos sonidos anteriores (en solos).
Como el Double Drive tiene mucho realce, conviene jugar con los controles de leve del pedal y del ampli una vez tengas tu sonido saturado A/AB ya que se puede sobresaturar demasiado. Los controles del pedal son muy interactivos y elcontrol tone puede llegar a ser hiriente en determinados momentos (igual se busca este sonido en algun momento...)
Tenia muy buenas referencias de este pedal y estoy muy contento de haber acertado. Como todo, pruebalo y si no te gusta lo puedes vender rapidamente, je, je...

Muy bien construido (como todo lo que fabrica Tech 21) y con una estetica maravillosa. Me encantan los productos Tech 21.
Solo le pongo un pero a los pedales de esta marca: la conexion ac de corriente es en el lateral, lo cual a veces es un incordio. Seria mucho mejo si lo tuvieran arriba como los Boss, Fulltone, Marshall y tantos otros.

Gente seria los de Tech21. Les pregunte por la garantia y en 24 h. me respondieron.

Soy musico aficionado y toco desde hace 13 a?os. En casa toco un poco de todo, aunque mis predilectos son Beatles, Rollings, Free, Led Zeppellin, AC/DC, Weezer, Oasis y Los Nikis (grupo punk-pop espa?ol de los a?os '80s). Estoy en un grupo de versiones (cover band), basicamente de pop-rock 60's-70's (beatles, Creedence, Clapton, etc...). Mi equipo lo describi arriba, aunque en casa toco con un JMP-1 + Boss GX-700. Tambien tengo una Les Paul Special Faded Double Cutaway (P-90's), que la utilizo sobre todo con mi grupo.
Si se me perdiera o estropeara (esto ultimo lo dudo, je, je...)el pedal, me compraria otro sin dudarlo. El pedal tiene muchas cosas positivas, fundamentalmente su gran calidad y el tono que se consigue tanto si tocas en un ampli a valvulas como a transistores; tienes un increible sonido valvulero y profesional a golpe de click

This thing has ALOT of different sounds. Take your time and play with it before you deside on it. I found that starting with all my knobes set to 12 and either increasing or decreasing from there was a little easier.

To start out with, I listen to and play indie/alt rock. I do not go looking for that perfect I have a custom strat and a Fender Toronada with Classic 57's installed through a stacked Tech21 Trademark 60 w/ Power Engine 60. I do not use this amp to model anything, so I won't try to say "my amp sounds like..." It sounds very clean which gives me a lot of room to play with different FX. I run some Boss stuff, a Zvex Wah, and a, Electro Harmonix Bass Balls. Lately I have been on a distortion/overdrive kick recently. Normally I use a Boss DS-1with the distortion level turned all the way down. However, this was no longer giving me the "umpf" I was loking for. I started looking at a bunch of the boutique stuff that is out there. Zvex, Smart People Factory, Toadworks were the main companies I was looking at. These were all good sounding pedals, but they all sounded to much like themselves if that makes sense. Bascally, when you hear a Zvex pedal, there is no denying that it is a Zvex pedal. I needed something that had a big sound and also had a lot of variation. The Double Distortion was just that pedal. It lets you vary the sound between that of a Class A and Class B tube amp. It's Tone control is also very sensitive. So the slightest turn can impact the sound. I think this pedal has a very unique sound, but still manages to be versetiel.

You can throw Tech21 stuff of a bridge and it would still work.

Never needed to deal with them. Like I said, you could throw this stuff off a bridge and it woulod still work.

I think it's a great pedal. Big and ballsy. If you are looking for a heavier sound, you may want to try the XXL pedal. This won't get that tone. However, for big sound similar to the sounds of Rival Schools, Afghan Whiggs and old Sunny Day Real Estate...this is your pedal!

I have owned this pedal for a couple of years. When I first bought it, I thought it was just ok....but what I discovered is that the controls are very interactive and very sensitive. You could interpret this as "hard to use" but what I found is that after I found the correct settings for my equipment and my ears, it's probably the smoothest overdrive I've heard, and I own an original ts808, a Roger Mayer fuzz face, a Boss OD as well as a whole lot of others in the past that I no longer own because they sucked. My point is that at first this pedal may seem just ok, but if you spend some time to get the settings right, then mark them so you can easily return to them, this is a very underrated pedal. I give it only a 7 for ease of use because the documentation is lame and the knobs have no numbers, which they need because the majic markers wear off and are hard to see at 3am.

I play a Les Paul and a Stratocaster and I own several vintage fender blackface tube amps (super, vibroverb, princeton). I haven't played this through a transistor amp. I mostly play classic rock and blues, been playing for 30 years now.

The sound quality once you get the settings right is excellent. Liquid smooth sustain (less buzzy than a ff, less raspy than a ts) with excellent touch sensitivity and good retention of the instruments/amps character, which is fairly rare in OD boxes. It's the kind of violin tone where you want to play and not put the guitar down for hours. That said, I think it excels for lead work, with the settings I like I think you lose some clarity for rhythm....I like the 808 tube screamer sound better for SRV type chunky rhythm/lead/blues playing and this one better for late 60's 70's hard rock lead sounds. It does not have true bypass which I think it should have, and hacking it up to do that is not easily possible given it's design.

I took it apart. It's built solid but not as good as some boutique pedals. It has a quality aluminum housing, but it could be thicker. The connectors are soldered to the board, which makes it very hard to replace a bad connector. I liked the sound so much however, I bought a backup. All that said, I've never had an issue yet in two years, but it hasn't been used as a hockey puck. I did try it out as a basketball once, still works but didn't bounce very well.

Never dealt with them....such an expressive pedal should come with better documentation and examples.

I'd give it a 10 overall if it had true bypass and numbered calibrated knobs....but it does retain most of the tone in bypass mode, and it can also give tons of clean, non noisy boost non bypassed if you need it. You just lose a tad of fullness and sparkle...vs a true bypass from guitar to amp. If you have good ears and play through a good tube amp you know what I'm talking about.
Other than that, sonically, I think this is one of the best overdrive pedals out there. It's definitely a pro quality sound, as good as anything I've used. Definitely in the top 5% but don't judge it quickly. Spend some time tweaking to get it right. The controls are very interactive, and very sensitive. With 4 knobs, that can take a while. In particular, the tone control has a magic "honky" setting for a particular amp/guitar/pickup combo. Find that setting.

This is a follow-up to a review I posted in May '04

Well due to laziness I haven't put this box on EBAY but I have found a use for it. It seems to do a fantastic job at light, edge of breakup distortion through my '79 SF Deluxe Reverb set clean. I'm talking "Castles made of Sand" or "start me up" overdrive as well as modern country OD. Using a tele or strat I set A/B to noon as a starting point and can add A up to noon before the sound deteriorates. This setting adds that shimmering fatness to clean tones that is VERY reminiscent of my Deluxe on 4-5 with a tad more midrange (not a bad thing). Chord clarity is excellent and the nearly flat bass response of the pedal(there is some rolloff)is a welcome addition. At this low gain setting the farty unmusical bass found in the higher gain tones is almost nonexistent. My modded TS-9 sounds thin, nasal and lacks definition by comparison.

The DD still gets a 6 because I can only find one sound that works for me in this box. However, the mostly transparent light OD tone is the best I've heard from a pedal. It kills my modded Boss BD-2 which sounds scooped, harsh, and has a fizzy unnatural decay by comparison. TS style pedals, while good for midrange heavy lead tones, are particularly horrible for rhythm OD light or otherwise. So for now the Double Drive has earned a spot on my board as the lo-gain box until something better knocks it off.

Takes a few seconds to get some great warm overdrive. Editing is as simple as turning a few knobs. The manual is worthwhile only for it's explanation of the sensitivity of the tone knob. It is a little bit funky, but obviously the people at tech21 know about it.

I've played it on an Epiphone Elite Casino and a Gibson SG into a late '60s Fender Twin. It's class A style OD sounds great. I messed with the A/B a little bit. It sounded good too, but I'm not as into that kind of tone. I got this pedal for one use and it does exactly what I need. This is a good pedal for Beatles, Stones, Badfinger, etc.

Seems like it's built pretty tough. The footswitch doesn't seem to be going anywhere (wish I could say the same about my Line 6 DL4... but that's another topic). I don't forsee needing a backup for it.

n/a

I play a lot of British Invasion music so this pedal is a great match. I've been playing for about 13 years. If it were stolen or lost I might invest in a fulltone dual drive, but for the money this pedal is great. I love the class A overdrive. I would love it more if it had 2 footswitches for each gain stage. It's a great pedal, it does one thing and does it well.

Easy to get good sounds from this unit. The manual is easy to understand and will give good starting point.

This pedal can sound just like a Marshall amp by using the A/B drive and a less fizzy distortion with the A drive, A drive has a little more mid to it as well. I play an Epiphone LesPaul standard to the Double Drive a/b with an American Women pedal to an Marshall AVT 150 combo.I like the A drive sound for rock ballads and lighter rock tunes, also works well for rythmn on American Women. A drive is really compressed from 2 oclock and up so some chucky or muted stuff doesn't sound very good, but below that it sounds great. Still working on a mixed sound that I'll use. There is some noise when the gains are cranked. I keep the tone between 2 and 5 depends on the song. Lots of sounds to be found.

Seems to be built strong and would use without a backup pedal I have options with my set up.

E-mailed Tech 21 about the Double Drive and got a response in 2 days not to bad, the info given was helpful.

I play mostly 70,s & 80,s rock pedal will give me sounds to make what I play sound close to what I hear on the records (note records)

This posting is to correct errors made by an earlier poster. The reason that most distortion pedals lack bass has nothing to do with the bottom half the wave being clipped as both halves of a pure sine wave represent a single frequency. The reason that one experiences a loss of bass with most pedals has to do with pre-clipping stage equalization. The standard design practice is to place a high-pass (bass cut) filter or series of filters before the clipping stage as too much bass in the signal during clipping results in a ?farty,? less focused tone.

This posting is to correct errors made by an earlier poster. The reason that most distortion pedals lack bass has nothing to do with the bottom half the wave being clipped as both halves of a pure sine wave represent a single frequency. The reason that one experiences a loss of bass with most pedals has to do with pre-clipping stage equalization. The standard design practice is to place a high-pass (bass cut) filter or series of filters before the clipping stage as too much bass in the signal during clipping results in a ?farty,? less focused tone. A low-pass (treble cut) filter is placed after the clipping stage to remove harsh higher-order harmonics from the modified signal.