Tech 21 SansAmp GT2

How easy is it to get a good sound of it? It's almost impossible to get a bad one. I bought this used, like new condition ebay. There is no manual. It's very self explanatory I think not having a manual really forces you to explore the pedal. To be honest though you don't need one.

I am using a USA peavey predator strat copy with flat pole pickups, 1958 Gibson 125 tdc semi hollow and a peavey solid state amp with reverb. Let me tell you what I have owned:

Amps: Fender Harvard and Deluxe Tweed amps, Fender 64 princeton reverb, 68 champ, 68 bronco, various silver face vibro champs, silver face deluxe reverb.

VOX JMI AC-10, regular and top boost with mullard tubes. AC-4

Supro Thunderbolt.

1980s marshall tube amp combo (studio something or other.)

Kustom k-150 2x10 combo made in Canute, KS

and a bunch other amps I can't even remember.

Distortion pedals: 85-86' Rat, 80s tube screamer

This little pedal does it all so amazingly well, I'd say it covers all those 99.9% I listed all of the above because I wanted you to know I know what everything sounds like it. This little pedal does not only duplicate them but sounds actually nails the "fender" "Vox" or marshall sounds better than the real amps. Not to mention you can just plug right into the board and flick some switches. No messing around with mic placement. This pedal is less noisey than any of those amps. I say get this pedal, check the shielding on your guitar and get short cables. You will have the ultimate recording tool. This is great for practice or playing out too. I love it. I would say this pedal covers more amp/distortion pedal territory than you could ever financially afford and easier than anything out there. I've played pods and none of there models sound like the amps or the effects they are modeling. I've owned them. Get this over a digitally modeling pod. It really does sound like the real thing-even more so than the actual amp

It looks pretty sturdy and Tech 21 is a great company. I worry a little bit about the jack being connected to the pcb. But I guess this is the way they do it now. I would play out with it if I could afford to buy another (can't right now.) I don't think I would risk it considering how awesome this sounds.

sure there great

I play originals, classic rock and instrumentals. This covers everything. I was getting ready to shuck out for Lindy Fralen pickups before I got this. Perfect guitar pedal and the best investment you can make. I've been playing since I was around 5. If this was stolen or lost I'd buy another in a heartbeat. What do I love about it? SOUNDS LIKE THE REAL THING. I wish it would have came with a power supply. My advice is just buy it

So many possible combinations with those knobs and switches. Just know what you're after, set the switches accordingly and fine tune with the knobs.

For bass my switches are set to Cali or Tweed amp with Classic or Center mic and Clean or High Gain mod.

I run it in front of all my effects now for the final EQ before the amp. While the tone controls and the switches provide a wide range of sound customization, the drive doesn't get buzzy enough for my taste.

I got mine used in E Bay. It looks like it has seen better days and is still going strong.

This is a good pedal if you like to experiment alot with your tone or if you gig @ different places every night and don't bring your own amps and cabs. Your tone is in that box.

With a little time spent I got some really great tones for recording. editing? What editing..just tweek some knobs and flip a swith or two. It's moron proof. Manual was good...simple..brief...but then what else is ther to say about it.

I used it for recording into a 16 track digital workstation. I used the interanl effect on the workstaion such as reverb and delay. A little chorus too. Cab simulation also. It's quiet as can be. It got really good tones...no kidding. I have a Recto that I record with as well as the Recto recording pre....which I totaly love. This Little GT2 can get a really good Recto sound about as good as the real recto for a couple sounds. It does not have the sonic range and depth as a real recto, but if you are recording at home and need to get that sound, you CAN"T GO WRONG WITH THE GT2! Not as costly as a POD or a GNX and simpler to use. I think it's great.

Seems to be built well. No problems.

I always got an email reply every time I contacted Tech21. That means alot.

I play mostly metal...some classic rock. This covered those styles well. I have been playing 20+ years and I have used Line6, Johnson and Digitech amp simulators for recording. I find the GT2 to be very authentic when listening to playback. I was even fooled once! Only once though... ;) Shame on me. It did inspire me to write a few tunes as well. I liked it so much I went out and got the RBI for bass and it's all I have used to record bass with since!

Seems intimidating at first but just dive in and try out all the settings and you will see how easy it is to dial in killer sounds. The treble and bass knobs are extremely powerful so you are able to take your sound in many directions. Same thing with the drive knob-from a slight hint of edge to over the top !! One note, don't expect sparkling clean sounds for an acoustic or jazz gig. That's not what this pedal is really designed for-if you need ultra-clean the Acoustic DI is the way to go and then some.

There are a ton of great sounds in this box, you just need to spend some time finding them. To me, setting the mic placement switch to 'off-axis' makes the biggest difference of all. If you happen to dial in a weak sound try the mic switch. Soemtimes that is the only change you need to make to suddenly get a great sound. I don't know how they do it, but the sounds are very warm and ambient. Not like most other solid-state sounding box units-Pods,Boss, Digitech,Alesis......Again, don't expect sparkling clean sounds out of this box, the Acoustic DI is designed for those.

Five years of great service and no problems at all.

These guys rock. They always answer your emails quickly and are very honest about what their products can and can't deliver. They are also very good about offering insider tips as to how to get that little bit extra out of the unit.

This unit is a great way to record direct, plu straight into a PA, can be used as an effect pedal, and can be kept as a 'spare amp' on a gig. There are loads of great sounds in this box, they are fairly easy to dial in with abit of experience, and they sound great. For the price this is a fantastic product.

I have owned alot of gear over the years and the GT2 is the best Preamp/Dist. pedal a player could have in his arsenal. The knobs are very sensitive and just a slight turn can change your sound and tone.
As far as using it just plug it in and go. This unit is designed for any music format, but it is best suited for Rock / Metal
I give it a 10

I use a Mesa-Boogie Stereo 100 tube amp, with GT2 Set in the Mesa Setting for a heavy chunk sound and followed by an MXR EQ,Holy Grail Reverb, Boss CE2 Chorus, Line 6 Delay. There is no sound or hiss at least that I have noticed and the GT2 always sounds the same, I can get pretty much any type of sound I want with a little tweeking.

I have had my GT2 since 1992 and it has always been a reliable part of my rig but I hate to say my GT2 is finally starting to give out, so I plan on buying a new one soon, I have never needed a backup pedal but I always keep one handy just in case there is always something that could go wrong during a gig.
In my opinion though after 13 yrs of pretty mauch playing everyday it served its purpose above and beyond what I would expect it to.

Never needed to!

I play a wide range of styles as far as music from Manowar to Madonna, and my sound at least to me has never been an issue.
I have been playing guitar for 25 yrs now and I'm a gear head I know my stuff and I will say that I always return to my GT2 nothing compares or comes close to the sound it offers. As I said earlier I would buy nothing else at this point, I have used rack equipment, every pedal in the world, and this is the best.
I wish that puchasing these units would be easier and I would like to see some other products like, EQ's, Delay, Flanger, Chorus, Wah, and Volume pedals from Tech 21.
I wish I was signed to a label so I could be endorsed by the company.

Relatively easy to use - no problems there.

I bought mine used, so maybe I got a bad one. But I was really disappointed with the sound of this box. After reading all the glowing reviews here on Harmony Central, I was prepared to be very impressed with it, but for the most part I wasn't.

The sound I liked the most was the Tweed/Fender clean tone. I won't say it perfectly nails the Fender sound, but it's close enough, and very useable. Although I sold my GT2 after about 6 months, I almost kept it for that one sound. I liked the California/Mesa Boogie high gain tone, but, damn, it sure was noisy, as was the Marshall. I know that it's to be expected, to some degree, when dealing high gain, but even keeping the settings at moderate levels, it produced way too much noise, especially for recording. Using it live, it might be more tolerable, but in the studio - no way (at least with unit I had).

I tried it direct into my Mackie VLZ mixing board and monitored on Yamaha NS10M nearfield monitors. I also played with it through my Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ and Fender Blues Jr. tube amps, as well as a solid state Marshall, using a variety of guitars including a Gibson Les Paul w/ Seymour Duncan humbuckers, Fender Strat w/ Lace Sensors, and a 72 Telecaster Custom w/ Duncan Little '59 in the bridge, so it was tested on a pretty good cross section of instruments. I'm glad so many people have had positive experiences with the GT2, but I was really disappointed.

Seems pretty solid. I didn't have any problems with it.

Here's one category I can give a high rating in. I was in contact a couple times with Tech 21 and they were extremely responsive and helpful.

Either, other guitarists are more tolerant of noise than I am, or maybe the unit I bought had some problems - although it seemed to work fine electronically. The Fender clean tone was excellent, but the Marshall and Mesa Boogie tones had too much noise and hiss, even at moderate levels. I also didn't find much to like in the clean settings of those two as well. I really spent a lot of time in the 6 months that I had it, trying to tweak some useable sounds, but in the end I gave up and traded it in.

I have no doubt that all the people who have rated it so highly have found some great sounds that work for them, so no disrespect, but this box definitely didn't work for my use, especially for lead tones - which for me lean towards soaring melodic Santana/David Gilmour sounds. The actual tones were decent, but, as I said, too much noise. I even had a conversation with someone at Tech 21 about it, and I just couldn't dial it in for the right tone without the noise. I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and have owned a lot of equipment. I was very impressed with Tech 21 as a company and would have no hesitation trying out some of their other products. I'd also be curious to try some other GT2's to see if they are any better than the one I owned. So, based on my experience, I can't recommend this box very highly, but with so many other guitarists raving about it, I'd advise someone to check it out and see if it's right for them.

Easy as can be: 4 knobs, 3 switches and of you go. It's all analog, no memory, no midi - just a one trick wonder. The manual is clear, with nice starting examples.

Guitar (strat, superstrat, les paul)to gt 2 to amp/mixing board. Easy as that. High gain settings ad some noise, but within limits. This is mainly for my home studio to track guitar without upsetting the neighbours - but it sounds very good for such a small stompbox. Of course will a/b ing with the originals reveal differences, but at this price I don't complain. In a mix the guitar sound will stand out, and prove itself with dynamics and fluidity compared to my POD mk2 which sounds compressed and a bit dull and fluffy.

It is dead easy to get good sounds of this little helper, and playing around for half an hour gets you from funk to ultra metal and all in between. I already had a Sansamp Bassdriver, which sounded so good I decided to give the GT 2 a try, and both my POD as my BassPOD are going to retire.

Compared to the digital stuff, the Sansamp gear sounds more open, and chords have more contend. The sound is more in contact with your playing than the Line 6 gear.

It's build rock solid, and I would gig without backup.

Never dealt with them, so I don't know

The unit is bought to track guitar parts in my homestudio, but ir seems handy to take it everywhere my guitars goes. In it's own right the sound is very good, and keeps me playing for hours. Normally I play bassguitar (yes through a Sansamp Bassdriver!!!), but for songwriting and fun, I play a bit guitar. I'm not in the top of guitar playing, but I enjoy it next to playing bass.

It would be nice if Tech21 made a unit that has the programmability of the TRi AC, and the flexibility of the GT 2.....but there must be wishes in life.

As stated before, my Line6 POD is going to retire. The GT 2 plugged into my silverface Fender Champ sounds real nice.

Pretty easy. 4 knobs, level, high, low and drive, 3-3 way switches. Mine didn't come with a manual because i bought it used. It was easy to get going with it and get some good sounds right at the start.

I run a fairly simple setup, Guitar -> GT2 -> GE-7 -> Clean channel. Sounds good on most settings - it can get noisy and buzzy, it really all depends on how you adjust the settings. It does a better job than most pedals at reproducing the amp sounds it is supposed to emulate. Higher notes sound real good and have a nice attack. Can sound crunchy or smooth, mellow or harsh.
After going through a few 9v's i decided to get a universal power supply with voltage select for it, that way it can be underpowered to get different character. I usually run it at 4.5v - 6v, it retains its sound at those voltages and doesn't get too barky or loud. I also grabbed a Boss ge-7 to enhance the pedals sound. If you're getting bored with the pedal at all a ge-7 might be what you're looking for.

The GT-2 has three switches with three positions each, mic position, modification (amp gain/character) and amp type. They can be flipped to create alot of different sounds. The 'Mic' switch simulates mic positioning with the first being an off angle setting (airy, less direct) center yields a very direct tone with focused highs and mids, and classic is a real midrangey tone. The mod switch lets you select the type of amp gain, hot wired, high gain and classic. And finally Amp lets you choose the amp type, California (mesa) British (Marshall) and Tweed (fender) The switches can also be set to 'in-between' each setting - although this wouldn't be easy to do while on stage, it is possible with some fiddling. Doing this results in even more sound possibilities. For instance if you set the mod switch in-between "high gain" and "classic" you get the loudness of the classic setting but with the smoother sound of the high gain setting, like a classic amp being overdriven. The in-between British and Tweed setting is the only one that sounds kind of strange, the others seem ok. Not sure if doing this can damage the pedal but it is interesting to try out.

Seems well built, doubt it would break under normal use.

Haven't talked to them. They seem like a pretty cool company though.

Pretty neat pedal. Does a good job at emulating the different amp types. Good tone, nice pick attack. Good build quality. The only thing i wish it had were more, more, more. They could load the thing up with switches and it would be alot of fun. Does a better job than alot of other pedals. Sounds good with a ge-7 after it too.

Very easy to use. The manual explains the basiscs and give you some decent default settings. The controls are pretty sensitive so it may take some time to get the sound you are looking for.

I don't give a 10 because nothing is perfect but wow, this thing is really nice. I had a Boss DS-1 which was fine but not very flexible; before that, crappy solid-state amp distortion. I am using this straight into a Yamaha MT4X casssette four-track, sometimes with chorus and reverb, OR in front of a early 60's Ampeg Jet. It pushes the hell out of that amp!! Also sounds good enough to run straigh into a board and out the PA. Like I said above, the controls are very sensitve, and if you are using an amp, that as well as your guitar and the pickup selected will affect the overall tone. It is quite and is such an improvement over any other distortion/overdrive unit I've ever dealt with (I'm 41, been playing since I was 13, the usual covers and original band experience). The setting in the owner's manual are pretty good - I like "Bluesbreaker" and "Van Halen Style", and "Metallica" for your standard Neanderthal Metal Chug .... this guy has some additional settings on a web page; I like "Pagey" and "Smashing Pumpkins":

http://members.tripod.com/Milaa/SansAmpGT2/indexGT2.html

Built like a tank ... ha-ha, a long ways from the Ibanez "Soundtank" series. The battery lasts a long time, I would use without a backup.

I have not, got a cherry deal on Ebay, but I hear they are very responsive ... It's a small company and the stuff is made right here in the USA!!

This is a very helpful tool. I chose the GT2 because most of my playing is into the four-track. If I played out more I would get the Tech 21 Tri-OD ... the exact same controls but you can program three distinct sounds so you have more options in a live setting. I think it's great for pushing a small class-a amp .... if I run this pedal hot into the Jet, I'm getting close to stack-a-licious sound (minus some of the breeze)! I play mainly different styles of rock, but getting more into what might pass for movie sountracks if I was more talented:)
Other gear: 90's Alvarez bass, Guyatone chorus, Boss RV-2 reverb, DOD Digital Delay, Shure microphones, 90's Washburn USA-Jackson Mercury guitar, 1973 Guild D-50 acoustic guitar, 60's Kay Classical Guitar, "Stradivarius" Violin from Romania (inherited from Aunt).

very easy to get a good sound out of this thing. i plugged it in put in what i thought was a good setting and went. only pedal in my life i liked from the 1st second.

to me it all kinda sounds the same, a one trick pony. you cant get a mean mean tight marshall sound that is very fun to play, very tight and spongy. still doesnt sound like a real tube amp but not bad at all.

ive found ligter distortion settings are fine, i was surprised at its hot gain.

looks pretty stable

im using this with a mesa 2:90 power amp. this is more than likely the real way to run this thing being that if it was used as a pedal and not a preamp im sure your amps EQ would mess with the tone.