Tech 21 Double Drive

easy, but to get a good sound out of this thing is impossible. trully a really bad product.

the worst. never heard anything as bad as this before. the A drive sounds o.k. very tiny and thin, the A/B side is terruble a big mess. it clips like crazy. trully trully a bad product.

dont know, i returned it the day after it arrived from musicians friend. it felt very light, the battery compartment was made of cheap plastic. so i dont think it would of been very reliable.

never dealt with tech 21. i was also thinking of getting a killer wail, but after this experience tech 21 is on my never to buy list. i dont think their products are quality products.

the worst. if you want a good distortion unit get the marshall pedals or the boss sd-1. dont spend your cash on this junk. it really really sucks!!!!!!1

Very easy ti get good sounds out of this thing. A and A/B knobs increase the saturationof each, level increases volume, tone adds treble bite. Manual is minimal but how can you make this complicated?

I use a telecaster and a L.P. Jr. through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. This is the pedal if you can only afford one amp. This pedal will give you a Marshall tone or a Vox AC-30 tone. You can also dial them in together to create some cool new tones.

Sure its dependable. I'm not going to put it under the truck tire or anything.

Never dealt with them. Hope I won't have to.

I'm into rock and altcountry. The Vox tone is great for my sound. I'm very happy with my simple but effective tone now. If I could add a feature I would put two footswitches on it to set a tone on each and be able to access them with one stomp. I guess thats a bit picky but I'm supposed to be critical here right? Very natural-sounding distortion and cool clean boost. This is pedal for musicians who like their guitar tone and just want to color it a bit. Buy it--it's cheaper than a Vox and a Marshall amp.

This is really quite a pedal. I couldn't believe the sound it made coming out of a 15 watt fender blues jr. Amazing. I already have a sparkle drive, and was looking for something with more distortion. I couldn't believe my ears! I was standing there with my strat in front of a blues jr, with this plugged in, and got this monster tone! I am in love. I'm not into metal, but this gets some cool vand halen and early ozzy tones. That's not my style really but I like playing it sometimes and it's great to have that option available to me.

Great pedal. I've been playing 8 yrs, and am very happy with it. I've had every piece of gear under the sun, and was very impresssed. Only 100 bucks? Man I wish I'd given this a try before wasting my money on high end boutique crap.

Sound quality is ok when the distortions are turned up, but compared to the GT2 or the Tri-AC or Tri-OD, they sound unrealistic and harsh. Sound is muddy, with the high-end peeled off when the distortions are turned all the way down to the "clean boost" setting. The Tri-OD gets better class-A type sounds, and the GT2 excells in class-AB arena.

I've owned almost everything Tech21 makes. Currently, I use a Tri-AC, a Tri-OD, and a Killer Wail. This box doesn't make the grade. Skip it and pick up a Classic, GT2, TriOD, or TriAC.

Easy to use. Was dialing up a variety of tones in no time.

Modern and vintage Telecasters with a couple of Juniors and Melody Makers through a tweed Deluxe. A wide variety of overdrive levels when using the mix controls for A and A/B. A bit noisy when both drives are maxxed but that can be expected. Very nice clean boost with the drives turned down. The dynamic range is wonderful.

Seems dependable. Upcoming gigs and studio work will put it to the test. Will toss the Guv'nor pedal into the gig bag just in case.

Haven't dealt with Tech 21

Rock and alt country player. 30 years playing. Main guitar is a '68 Telecaster but I also sling a '96 Amer. Std Tele, a 59 Les Paul Junior, a '65 Melody Maker and a '96 Amer.Strat through a Fender Blues Deluxe.A great pedal for dialing up overdriven AC30 to Marshall Plexi tones and just about everything in between. Would like to have seen seperate controls for bass, mid, and treble instead of one tone knob. Did an A/B against my old Marshall Guv'nor pedal, a Boss DS-1, and a Tubescreamer reissue and the Double Drive is the hands down winner. The other pedals are able to approximate the Double Drive but they are limited in the amount of variations. Just can't compete with the Double Drives ability to create a wider range of overdrive tones

Easy. This is how I like my effects pedals - especially when I fumbling around in the dark between numbers!

Using a Fender Twin / Hot-Rod Deluxe. Great sounds - this is the overdrive I've been looking for (and I've had plenty of the little blighters). The big issue with most overdrives/distortions is that they sound great in the shop/bedroom, but crank them up during a practice or a gig and you're back to the 'wasp in a jar' problem.

Haven't had it long enough yet, but the footswitch looks sound, and the box is metal, so it's in with a good chance of surviving prolonged stomping from my Doc Martens!

Had not reason to call.

I play 60's/blues - this pedal is a great match.

All I would add to its successor is an additional footswitch so that I could switch between a low-gain setting and a hi-gain setting - switching both in could provide a third, monster-gain, setting.

4 knobs, easy peasy lemon squeezy..
volume level is straightforward 'nough so really you have only 3 knobs to tweak.
manual gives 5 suggestions but you oughta just try it yaself.
all settings are very easy on them eardrums..

holy moly!
haven't heard such great overdriven tones out of a stomp box since, like, ever, man!
you are not going to be disappointed with this baby.
just set the A/B drive on full and mix it with the A drive half-way and you'll pee in your pants!
sweet creamy sustaining tone is how i'd describe the result.
forget about what ya read in the ads on even and odd harmonics..
whatever they did in this box, they sure did it right..

looks sturdy 'nough...

haven't had to deal with them yet...

have finally found the holy grail of overdriven tonage.
it fits nicely between my strat and my marshall combo

Quite easy; 4 knobs, only 2 of which you'll change much.
Good sounds pretty much right out of the box. Getting a specific
sound from your mind, however, like any effect, takes a bit of dialing.
The default easy settings are low-gain Marshall and Vox drive.

Manual should have more suggested settings. They must have spent a fair amount of time tweaking this thing; you think they'd share some of the insight gained.

Using Tele with SD Broadcaster PUs mainly; 2nd axe is ES-135 with P100s.

Not noisy at all; a very musical, professional-sounding pedal.
The effects are quite good; I just got the thing and am reluctant
to gush just yet. As I say above, though, low-mid gain Marshall (where you can still hear every note)is easily achieved as is Vox gain.

However, I have found it hard to get a realistic Fender breakup a la cranked Deluxe. It can mimic a cranked Bassman better, but I still haven't found that luscious, classic rock and roll tone.

I wanted this to warm up a Princeton Chorus with 2 Jensen P10Rs in it, as well as give me some bit of Vox jangle. The jangle is there, and this is an easy, inexpensive way to get that at bedroom levels without cranking tubes.

I must also say that this pedal does not color your sound, which I consider a compliment and a sign of a good piece of equipment. The bypass also seems absolute. Another plus.

I have not really explored the cascading effect that his pedal can achieve. Right now, I am trying to find the sweet spots of each effect separately.

Just got it. Seems solid.

N/A

Good match for those looking to dupe EL-84 type gain on an amp that uses other tubes or is solid state. If you are looking for that, try this as I don't know of any other pedal out there that can do this. Vox used to make a pedal, but I cannot find it, and that pedal would still be one-dimensional, so try this. It is very versatile.
There is nothing to say negative about this pedal; so I won't. It is well made and sounds very professional.
I would not get this pedal to put into a Twin or other loud clean amp if you were looking to emulate the sound of a Fender cranked.
However, for blues/rock flavors a la Marshall (not metal, alt, grunge) and Vox-ish sparkle---this pedal shines.

Dead easy but there are really an infinite number of sounds available due to the interaction of the two drives and the tone. Some very cool sounds available and yes it does do a fine job of emulating the POWER amp stages of class A and A/B tube amps as they approach meltdown!!! Can be a little disconcerting to other band members but to me thats a plus!!

Using with Reverend Rocco, Tech 21 killer wail, reverend Drivetrain, Doyuble drive, Voodoo lab micro vibe, MXR Phasre 90, dod echo. boss ce 2 chorus into Tech 21 TM 60. (great amp). Pedal is going to give you noise due to the level of gain available. Not a drawback. Quite easy to dial up "just on the verge of overdrive" tones through to complete insanity. As I have said the controls are b=very interactive and once you get used to whats doing what you can just go from there. It is very responsive to different guitars too. Very adept at sending an already smoking amp into massive harmonic nirvana!!! (that may not be encouraged by certain amp manufacturers!!!)

Never had a problem with any Tech 21 gear, built to last. Gig without even thinking about backup, though I have the reverend too and the amp which has wonderful overdrive distortion already.

Only ever dealt with Tech 21 direct once and they were very helpful, you get the idea that they take great pride in their work.

Play rock/blues covers originals etc, been playing for 18 years or so. Suits all of it well, as long as you can remember what your favourite settings are. Would recommend it in an instant, just spend some time getting the sounds you want and have a good mess with all the controls, sometimes extreme sttings are cool too.

Very easy to work with. Only 4 knobs: Level-Tone-DriveA/B-Drive A.
It is very sturdy build, juist like all the tech-21 things.
Good manual, altoug you have to get used, that the signal is going trough the Drive A-voicing first. So you can get a Drive-A patch, or patch A/B or blend them together. Very good thinking !

Sound ! That's for certain. First of all, I have other tech-21 stuff (GT2-Tri AC- TRI O.D-Double drive). They are all good. But the tri-A.C is comming last place. The double drive now, the voicing is different to the TRI-AC, it is more the voicing of the TRI O.D..
This thing emulates the class A amps verryyy well. You get a really warm, sweet and mellow vox tone out of the drive-A voicing.
It is not harsh at all, in comparing to the boss GT6 or Digitecs e.o.
You really have a good dynamic control by playing style and roll of the guitarvolume, just like a real tube-amp does. I play this Double drive trough a Peavey Delta blues (el-84's) and also trough different fender tube amps.('65 deluxe reverb, Super reverb, twin reverb, bassman) They all sound very nice with the double drive.
Now the drive A/B (fender and marshall type) is less impressive.
But that issue is far better with the GT2 and the tri O.D.
you can also link other pedal together with the double drive, like chorus, or other clean booster. Just place them after the double drive.
The tone pot is very acurate. It reacts on the slightest change.
I always start at 12 o'clock, wich is bassy, and start twiddling around.
I use this pedal as well with a strat, tele, les paul (look out for the tone pot) es 335 (very nice) and a full jazz body (very impressive).
To me, this double drive is next to the classic and the gt2, the best tech-21 pedal there is.
The drive A/B is also satisfying, good voicing, good if you haven't got anything else. There are other makes that does this job also very good, but when it comes to the A-class amps, this is the thing.
I can deal in a sound, blindfold you, telling you I am playing trough Vox or Orange, and you WILL believe me.
I am working in the biggest music shop in town (muziek en vizie - Antwerp (Belgium)-Europe) and I have convinced many musician by doing this trick.
Well done tech-21

Completely noiseless, unless you dial the full max of the gain, but that is normal. True by-pass like other tech-21 stuff. I have other pedals as back up, I play in a rythme and blues band (bluesbrothers-roomfull of blues style) so I rely on other pedals also.
But I won't be afraid for a pedal break-down of this double drive.
Very long battery life.
Just like other tech-21 stuff, never had any problem with any of them.

Never had any problem with any of my tech-21 pedals.

As i wrote before, I play mostly rythme and blues, and old soulmusic, with different guitars (strat-tele-es335-les paul-full jazz bodys -p90 pichups) and different amps (all tubes - fender- peavey).
Now it is hard to find a good vox amp, and most of the used ones are in such a bad shape, and the prive is real high, I went looking for alternatives. I have tried many class a-emulators (every make there is) and to me, this double drive is the closest thing you can get.
you may even A/B it next to an original. Forget all the line 6, pod's,
boss and digitecs!
As I wrote before the a/b drive is also top quality, but not exclusively for tech-21. But the drive A is oolalah!