Tech 21 SansAmp Character Series British Amp Pedal

No longer available at zZounds
zZounds Gear Experts Say...
The legendary crunch of British steel and Greenback-style speakers and much more from this Anglo-voiced pedal.

The legendary crunch of British steel and Greenback-style speakers delivers searing blues to UK anarchy from this Anglo-voiced pedal. Tough Bluesbreaker overdrive, the throaty roar of a Plexi or the ballsy smack-down of a '70s Metalface, it all adds up to a well tasty spot o' bovver*, Brit-style. However you choose to build your stack of tone, lads, you can rock out with this box out.

SansAmp Character Series
Each pedal in the Character Series is loaded with the tonal DNA for a specific style of guitar amplifier. By simply twisting a few knobs, you can build those sought-after tones or hot rod your own. From rare vintage classics to roaring modern icons, every variation is delivered in the distinctive voicing of that amp style. The intuitive amp-like controls let you get your hands dirty from the get-go to explore decades of blistering tones.

Being a genuine SansAmp, each Character Series pedal is way more than a stompbox. Each can be used as a stand-alone pre-amp to drive a power amp, a studio mixer, or a PA system, with the rich SansAmp cabinet emulation that sounds huge - even straight into a computer soundcard. Or plug them into your guitar amp to take your tone somewhere special.

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 973-777-6996

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. (2 ratings)
Submitted April 2, 2010 by a customer from yahoo.com

"Great tone, simple to use, wish it had balanced outs."

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
If this is anything like my other sansamp products, I suspect it will be rockin for decades. If I could have one wish regarding this and Sansamp pedals in general, it would be that all of their products were programmable and had balanced outs to reduce noise through common-mode-rejection. But at this price-point, that's impossible. Maybe future designs could have that as an upgrade option? Please?

Sound
I still own my original Marshall 100 watt head, (circa 1972) two fifty-watt plexi's and a Marshal 100 watt head that was modified By Eddie's amp-tech, Jose. So long as you use a good power amp ( like a QSC or OLD American made Crown) and have a good cab with good speakers, this sounds exactly like the real thing. Not only that, it can sound like MANY VERSIONS of a real vintage Marshall, modified or not. It FEELS like a real amp, even when you just plug it into your mixer.

Features
SImplicity and GREAT TONE are the main features. The fact that it is small and inexpensive doesn't hurt either.

Ease of Use
It doesn't get any easier... You plug in your guitar and rock. Any twist of the knobs immediately informs you what that knob does, even if they weren't clearly and logical labeled, which they are. Honestly, you'd have to really be stupid to get a bad sound out of this. It works all across the board, even with ridiculous gain settings. It has a little "booklet" manual, but you read more won;t need it.

Quality
I have used Sansamp products for decades now and never had a problem, despite years of tortuous tours and thousands of sessions. Except for this, the newest Sansamp product I use are the GT2 and the PSA 1.1. Those two i have been using daily for the last three years. I still have my original Sansamp, (the one with the dip-switches) and it still works after over a decade. That's why I jumped on this as soon as they were available. At this price, it is mostly great, though I would gladly pay extra for a way to save several settings and would love to see a balanced XLR or TRS out. That's the only suggestion I could make to improve this or any of the other pedals in this "character" line.

Value
It's like getting three customized Marshalls for the price of a Wal Mart guitar... How good is that? ( Does that make it a "Wall-Martial?" ;-)

Manufacturer Support
The guys at Sansamp are regular working stiffs who answer phones and e-mails. They are knowledgeable and get back to you quickly. I have never had problems with their stuff, but I have had technical questions. They always answered fast... usually within 24 hours ( weekdays)

The Wow Factor
If you like pedals and love the Marshal stack sound, the "I want it factor" goes to eleven!

Musical Background:
pro session player

Musical Style:
all
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