Tech 21 SansAmp Character Series California

EASY ..... and FUN.

GREAT - see "Overall rating" section.

no opinion ..... but should be good as long as use 'em with your foot and not a steamroller.

Tech 21 is good with e-mail responses and gives good advice if asked for.

I???m writing this review for the Character Series California pedal, but really, I could say the same for ANY of the 4 Character pedals. These pedals are KILLER. IMO, they represent the state-of-the-art for Tech 21 - the culmintion of their years of experience in developing analog effects gear, with their penchant for integrating excellent cabinet emulation. Each of these pedals provides the true flavour of the amp(s) they're emulating. The California, as with all the Character pedals, gives you a wonderful range of clean-to-on-the-verge-of-breakup tones. This is the area that I play in the most, as I love the sound of each of my guitars when the harmonics are ringing, and the guitar still sounds like itself. There is a huge area of tonal flavours that you can move through with the Character pedals, due to the excellent circuit designs, as well as the pots being ACTIVE. This is a big plus, because each pot has a wide range of effect when the sound can be pushed or attenuated to such a degree. (Make no mistake ??? the distortions are killer as well.) I also want to emphasize one aspect of these pedals, that is based on a fundamental mis-understanding ??? they CAN be run straight into an amp's front-end, as well as into a power amp/cab, or DI. (I've done all.) I have had great results with running three of the four pedals (the Blonde being less so) into my Fender Superchamp and Genz-Benz Black Pearl combo's. Both of these cabs contain Eminence speakers (the Fender having been swapped-out by me), which tend to be a bit "darker" than Celestions, so that may be part of my success. ANY results can vary from player-to-player, based on their equipment; so, I'm not surprised that some players would have problems with sound when running straight into an amp. What I would say is this: run into a lower-wattage CLEAN channel, and watch the Treble. If any harshness occurs in the upper registers, scale back on the treble and presence. You may even have to go down to zero. Also, watch the channel Gain, since this is the signal strength feeding the preamp. I also have a Tech 21 PE60, and of course there's no conflict here, because the PE60 doesn???t have a preamp. Running into a board is hailed by most players as the best situation; but again, my results are clear ??? the Character pedals CAN function great in ANY setup ??? it just depends on the equipment involved. My emphasis is on live play, so I never would have accepted them if they only sounded great through a board. (For the record, my guitars are: PRS Mira; G&L ASAT; G&L Legacy; Reverend Club King HB. All guitars with std 10-gauge Elixir strings; humbuckers for the Mira (w/coil tap) & Reverend; single coils for the Legacy & ASAT.) So, if you've been considering giving any of these pedals a try, GO FOR IT. I don't think you'll be dis-appointed. They're a great alternative to digital processing, because they're analog, yet give you much more bang for your buck than the plethora of over-hyped/over-priced "boo-teek" pedals on the market. Best of luck.

The fact that they give you sample settings is a good plus. But i do not like the fact that the volume control can go from line to instrument level. I prefer the way the tech bass driver DI work with a switch for Line/instrument level. What happens is that when the volume raise a bit you are overloading the input of your amp/soundcard and every control on the pedal raise or increase volume. When you go out of the range needed by what you are plugged in it sounds farty a bit. When you switch the pedal on and of if there is no change in volume you are at unity gain (INSTRUMENT LEVEL)

I used it with PRS SE costum, Godin XTSA, Yamaha pac112 with upgraded pickups. Once you nailed the problem of the volume you can get very nice tones. I found a way to put the bass treble and mids i like(active controls cut or boost) I place the drive around the middle. The i control the overall distortion with the character knob. It makes more sense because it start with mark 1 to a rectifier, the mark1 is way cleaner than the recto. Because every control affect the other move them bit by bit until you get the sound you want. That sound is dry so add a bit of reverb so it feel like a miked amp.

This is my 3rd tech21 product none of them failed so for. If it was not good i would not have bought a trademark 60 and a bass driver. By the way the bass driver is the best tech21 i own so far!

Very nice costumer support i wrote to them just for curiosity and they mailed me a sticker and a brochure of their products!

Good pedal i like it, but you need to work it to get the best of it!