Tech 21 SansAmp Para Driver V2 DI Pedal Reviews

EQ pedal, OD pedal, preamp, DI ... get one.

It has the classic SansAmp drive that I've been needing for so long. This particular unit is quite diverse in its application because of its controls. It was between this and the Bass Driver for me, but I didn't want to pigeon hole myself with something designed specifically for one instrument or frequency range. I couldn't recommend this enough.

The delivery was quick and Sweetwater is always communicative. There's really nothing to complain about.

also great with my reverb

I love this pedal. I use it in a couple of ways: as a DI for the acoustic set, as a different drive pedal for the electric set, and as something to save my bacon if/when the amp on stage starts acting up. I originally thought I'd use it to be able to leave the amp at home, but honestly the sound using it as a pedal is great. The bottom-end of this thing will massage your innards!

My objective was to add a di to split a clean eq"d Signal to the house on one channel and an affected signal on a 2nd channel. This pedal gives me a wide range of options and does everything I envisioned by giving a wide range of adjustments. Very happy.

SansAmp does it again with this versatile powerhouse! I use this live and in studio for electric guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass, and also run one of my upright bass pickups through it. I play electric guitar straight through the sans-amp into my analog mixer for live gigs and it sounds awesome for those smaller spaces where it's hard to get amp volume and PA volume to not be overbearing combined. for recording it's really nice to not have to run a headphone mix and deal with all of that. I honestly feel like headphones take a lot of the feeling out of playing sometimes.
If you play guitar or bass of ANY sort, get this. If you play synths, get this. I ran my microbrute analog synth through this thing with the drive cranked all the way up and about shook my house apart! Run any synth through this and then through a Uni-Vibe on the chorus setting and be prepared to visit another planet!

Don"t hesitate to purchase this little gem. For both live gigs and recording this little box can provide the tone you need!

I bought the SansAm Para Drive DI 2 to upgrade from a low cost Joyo American pedal I have used to record for several years. The improved sound quality and flexibility of the SansAmp was noticeable before I even turned a knob. I traditionally used Fender Twin or similar tube amps and was able to get the tone and response I wanted with very little tweaking. I also tested it with a higher drive setting and the "artificial reality" of a cranked-up amp was very convincing. So far I've used it with a home-made Strat and an Epiphone Dot. I also used the mid range sweep feature to successfully tame the peizo pickup in an acoustic guitar (Taylor 314ce). The SansAmp build quality is top notch by any standard, far exceeding the Joyo (which was OK for a $35 pedal, but you get what you pay for). I wish I had bought a SansAmp when I first started recording four years ago. It's the real deal.

I have this at the end of my pedalboard chain and use it as a DI for gigs/recording and preamp before my tube power amp/speaker. Not only does this pedal clean up my tone, but it sounds fantastic DI. I'm a working musician that plays heavy music; this pedal is a no brainer if you A) want better tone and B) hate lugging around a cabinet/head/power amp/etc. Buy it.

Makes anything sound better into anything.

I love Tech 21 stuff - I've owned various amps and pedals over the years and it's always been top notch, bulletproof stuff.

I hate the sound of piezo pickups (generally speaking) and decided to give this thing a try. It's expensive, but not the most expensive of the tone-shaping DI boxes. Build quality is great. I put the Blend knob up all the way and it does a good job of removing the piezo quack. Very versatile tone controls. The mid shift is a nice feature and makes it extremely handy. I've been using this for a few months now in an acoustic duo and I want from hating my live acoustic tone to being pretty well satisfied. If they made this box with a built in compressor I'd buy one ASAP.

This DI works great whether you play bass, acoustic, or electric guitar. Works just like the front end of most amps you would plug into. Very quiet and reliable. I have this on the end of my signal chain so I can play a gig without a backline if necessary.

This box has accomplished what I wanted it to. I have the RPM in my rack setup and wanted a pedal to mirror what I get from my rack setup, and this one does just that. I like having control over the mids. Had the PBDDI and it was very nice but not what I was looking for, that one mirrors the RBI. Now I can get my tone in my rack setup or my pedal board setup for those gigs going right to the board.

This unit is so versatile that I still haven't being able of figure out what it can't do
My bass is a complete new instrument, I use it when I mix bands live and in studio and can't wait to use it on drums

Quiet,.great features,. Best D.I. box I've found.. Very versatile overdrive is a very cool bonus,. John short came thru again. Will probably get a couple more

Just a great preamp! It's not to far from my 1987 Ampeg SVT HD in tonality. I have always liked the over drive section on the Tech 21 devices. I would definitely recommend this unit to any one that wants a beefier tone much like the big tube amps, but in a little package. Not much else to say, great price too.
I love shopping at Sweetwater, they have great Sales Engineer's. Mine was Ken Davis.

I bought this with high hopes but with less expectation. It delivered everything I hoped for and exceeded those expectations. I pay a Taylor 416 and although the preamp on the guitar is great this sansamp makes it phenomenal. I play guitar at church and I also run the sound board. Acoustic is always the most difficult instrument to cut through the mix... Not with this; even without the amp emulator engaged the DI signal is very strong in a good way. The emulator is also helpful with finger picking to raise your volume to match strumming; I like to use it as a boost when I need it. Now for electric.... Can't use an amp? This is one!... All you need. I go straight into the board and it sounds identical to an amp. Put pedals in front? Even better. I'm a minimalist when it comes to pedals and such because I travel from two venues and this is perfect for it. Plugging it into an amp is just as good crystal clear and has a great EQ you can get when engaged. Unbelievable. It is worth the money if I could I would have three: electric, acoustic and recording.

This really does deliver the full, rich tones that you would expect from a tube amp. It has added a whole new dimension to every bass I own. And Bart and the Sweetwater team delivered top notch service as always. This is a company that truly understands that consistently great service is what distinguishes them from everyone else, and keeps their customers coming back.

trying to find the right speaker amp combobut it also works geat with my reverb

I use for guitar and bass direct to house. Have used with great results for viola and acoustic guitar as well. But primarily a bass player, I can tell you sound guys love the consistent hassle free performance of this. I do use a compressor before it to help a bit, but it does pretty well on its own. This simply blows version 1 of the bass driver away. I can't speak for version 2 since adding a mid control, but I would expect para driver to have better overdrive characteristics than either bass drivers. As for guitar direct, is it as good as an awesome tube amp? No, but in certain settings,like church, it solves numerous stage/ sound/ micing problems. Maybe 1 out of 100 people in that setting will be able to figure out there's no guitar amp if you have a decent overdrive and reverb on your pedalboard. Anyways, this should be listed under bass effects for shoppers who don't know it's just a baby rpm. IMO the best bass d.i. available and NOT even listed in the bass preamp category! Version 1 of para driver gets 5 stars, v2 gets 4.5 due to its hard to see if the mini switches are engaged or not. Not a deal breaker.

I'm more of an engineer than a musician. My goal was to design a system that allowed me to plug into any random PA and sound good with any kind of guitar, bass, keyboard, etc. The way I do this is plug a Tech 21 Character pedal into this, or plug them the other way around. Either way works, just depends on what you want to do. Using this pair creatively, along with delay, overdrive, etc., I never need to carry more than 6 pounds anywhere I go, or whatever I play. And I'm all analog until I hit the reverb and delay (and analog equivalents exist for both). The only reason I don't give them 5 stars is because Tech 21 never shows the two being used together....and for some reason they don't integrate the two into one, lower total cost, box.

Simple to use! Just what I need to eliminate having to have an amp on the stage, and to allow the folks running the sound system to better control what the congregation hears.

I wasn't happy with my Martin HPD-41 going into a Bose L1 Compact at all. I have the LR Baggs M80 pickup. It was pretty lifeless. I couldn't blame the guitar because it is fantastic. The Bose was pretty sterile sounding, but I knew it had potential to put out great tone depending what went into it. I also have the Bose L1 1s with a B2. I have plugged the Baggs M80 into several PA systems and it has no character. It feeds back very easily and it sounds almost Piezo-shrill most of the time at every jam session I've been to. Truly, no sound man has been able to make it sound good.

Enter the Tech21 Para Driver V2. I have three other Tech21 products, so I had high expectations. A little tweaking and my guitar now sounds pretty good. It is now usable onstage with the Bose. It has a full sound now and you can hear all the notes of a chord.

This is the newly redesigned Para Driver. They added a button called Rumble which strips your guitar of all tone leaving it sounding wimpy and shrill. They added a button called Air which added nothing good. Keep in mind, my experience is only with the Baggs M80 which has really not lived up the its hype. Since they were redesigning it for the next generation, it would have been nice to have a feedback notch filter like everyone else does because that would have been useful. The upgrades are pretty bad in my opinion. Simple: don't use them. It is still a great unit. The Rumble and Air must be useful to someone otherwise they wouldn't be there. I have a lot of respect for the Tech21 stuff. I have a Blonde, a Liverpool, and a Programmable Bass Driver on my pedal board.

Bottom line: My acoustic guitar sounds very good through the Bose. It sounds professional enough to use in front of an audience now. If your amplified guitar sounds weak or sterile and you know it isn't the guitar or what you are plugging it into (Martin & Bose in my case) you might want to try the Para Driver.

Listen this pedal is useless. I mean if you really need EQ processing on your bass use your bass head/amp or use outboard gear with audio engineers adding EQ processing to it. As far as bass, now I Do bass DI on an expensive DI and an expensive bass. Patch a plugin from PT HD in it and you're good to go. You don't need all this other stuff. Listen if you want to spend extra money for stuff you don't need be my guest but all I'm saying is that this particular pedal is totally moot and not worth the cost. That being said, I suppose if you're a picky bass player (aren't we all?) then perhaps you can find variant degrees in this pedal. But my advice - save your money.