Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver Reviews

Brian
from Austin Texas
May 13, 2013

SansAmp rocks!

I bought the SansAmp to practice with (plugged into a jam hub unit) initially. Although a bit pricey, its worth every penny. The tones are really nice sweeping from a growling low end to a thinner and dryer sound. You can emulate various amp sounds which i find pretty handy. The xlr out was also perfect for the way im going into the jam hub making my practice room with the band very clean. Ill be keeping this as a stomp box option even when i play with my full rig (TC Electronics). Great sounds, great buy.

Dave Hudgins
from Spokane, WA
January 9, 2013Music Background:
Bass/vocal musician in a church worship setting.

Tech 21 SansAmp Bass Driver

This box came recommended by bass player Michael Rossback. It really gives a punch to the low notes from my Fender Jazz bass. I'm amazed at the sound quality. I play in a worship setting so I don't need to use that many of the settings, but if I did, I'm sure this box would deliver. Highly recommended if you want that added low punch.

Michael
from Columbus, OH
April 13, 2012Music Background:
recording enginner, musician

Couldn't be happier

Great pedal for on and off the stage. I use it as a DI in my studio, and as a distortion in a live setting. As as DI, it works well on its own; however, the trick is to mix it with a "live" mic. You can really hear the difference when you do that; the bass sounds more thick and round than just your mic signal. In a live setting, this thing is a box; very well built. I've gotten a lot of people needing to know what pedal I use, because I keep it out of sight (I keep it behind my head, using tiny cords to connect it to the effects in/out and a switch pedal to activate the effect loop on my head). To quote an observer a couple weeks ago, "I've never heard a bass distortion sound so good." 6/5 stars if i could.

Frobie
from Findlay, Ohio
September 26, 2011Music Background:
Active, gigging bassist, home recording, live sound engineer

My favourite bass tool

I have used this pedal for a very long time now and it has become essential in my bass rig. Nothing sounds better to me for running my bass to a mixer for recording or a live show! Other DI boxes just don't seem to work as well or sound as good. I love the over-driven tones I can achieve with this and it totally rocks when used as a preamp going into my QSC amps!! When I purchased it I thought it's price was very steep but it has payed for itself many times over due to it's quality and sound characteristics. I really think every bassist should have this...it's that good!

Jesse Brown
from Kettle Falls, WA USA
September 5, 2011Music Background:
part-time gigs

My Hero

I've had my SansAmp for abut 7 years and I NEVER play bass w/o it unless I play on someone else's SVT/Ampeg 8x10 rig. Then it's not absolutely necessary. Tone and guts; it just has that otherworldly bass sound in that little box. If you've got relatively weak or inexpensive gear, this is just what the doctor ordered. This thing fills up the whole bass spectrum. But, you should also consider the 3-channel programmable version.

Adam
from Chicago
May 12, 2011Music Background:
Awesomeness

Cheap Bass + SansAmp = PHAT!

So, I bought a cheap Ibanez bass that sounded like a rope on a broom handle fixed to a water bucket. I really didnt have the funds to pour into an SVT, so I went with this instead. I've used SansAmp equipment before in a studio setting, so I was pretty confident on the purchase. I'm totally sold on this thing! I can't believe the difference in tone when I AB it. Night and day! Through the credit card down and buy this thing. DO IT!!

Joe B.
from Phoenix, AZ
May 28, 2010Music Background:
Worship Bassist, Guitarist, & Engineer

Bass Swiss Army Knife

This thing is phenomenal for both live (PA only) and recording situations. I've used it for both. When doing worship with no amp and just PA support, it's been great. The tone is very clean and clear (if you want it to be!), and it conveniently runs off of phantom power in case you want to go battery-less.

It's also great for acoustic guitar. I once played my acoustic through this thing live, and a very experienced guitar player told me it was one of the best acoustic sounds he's heard. Of course, Tech21 makes an Acoustic DI, too, so you might want to compare. But a very versatile pedal.

This is really a combo DI and pedal all in one--with EQ, distortion (if you want), or just clean DI interfacing. Again, very versatile.

Better than a spork. This is the Swiss Army Knife.

Shawn
from Birmingham, Alabama
November 7, 2012Music Background:
Musician

Awesome

Love it and wouldn't do without it.

Jerry
from Michigan
May 28, 2012Music Background:
Semi Pro Musician, Hobbyist Recording Artist

Great Direct Box For Bass

I think that this thing is great. It provides great tone and is very portable, to say the least. This is great when you are for whatever reason, going to keep it simple and compact and run direct, either for live or studio. I didn't give it a 5 because I didn't want to mislead the reader into thinking that this was truly an on-par substitution for a quality bass rig. I love my SansAmp, but it will never hold a candle to the sound and response I get from my Trace Elliot 715x, and many other fine rigs.

chris
from NJ
May 5, 2008Music Background:
recording engineer, gigging musician

Love it!!!

I've only had this box for about a week but already I love it. It really improves my live bass tone (fender jazz>boss odb3>sansamp>2x15 stack). You can dial it in to really cut through the mix. Nice sharp midrange, plenty of that high frequency slap, and the bottom end is ridiculous. And at the end of a chain of stompboxes, it does a nice job of controlling the overall volume and homogenizing tones.

I even used it to DI record a guitar and it worked perfectly. Like others have said, the EQ on this box is very potent. Excellent product!

Chad B.
from Kansas City
September 25, 2006Music Background:
Recording/Live

Great Pedal, Well Worth The Purchase!!!

Don't let the size of this pedal fool you. It really allows you to tweak your sound and provide you the perfect bass tone into your digital recordings. The drive knob virtually eliminates the need to use heavy compression in your mix. If you prefer to use it as a live tool, the Sans Amp Bass DI really delivers! It'll make any Bass Amp sound beatuiful. I highly recommend this product to anyone. Great Job Tech 21!

Chad D
from Chicago, IL
September 10, 2012Music Background:
Pro Musician

A Good Bass DI, but...

I've had this SansAmp BDDI at one point in time for 3 years. At that time, this is one of the best DI to fatten-up your bass especially the passive ones. This delivers a rumbling bottom and more so when playing low-b 5-strings. But this doesn't have a mid EQ, just the regular treble and bass, and so, no matter how I boost my mids from my bass it diminishes when it goes thru this DI. The mid-EQ is important to me since each bass I owned had different tonal characteristics and I need to "balance" the tone for the type of music. I've had this ordeal for quite some time; then, I sold this pedal when Tech 21 came up with the SansAmp Para Driver DI which is a pedal version of their rackmount SansAmp RBI. I have since used the Para Driver DI which has 3-band EQ with mid-shift from 170hz-1khz allowing me to define my mid EQ settings.

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