Studio 21 at Tech 21: Episode 2

Tim Starace chats with inventor Andrew Barta, the "boffin" behind SansAmp. Boffin is a British term for technical expert, which is what Steve Harris referred to Andrew as being. We couldn't agree more!
www.tech21nyc.com/

[@SwedishGuitarNerd]

Andrew is so generous and passionate about the products he's created!

[@zer0dave]

Just got my YYZ pedal. I'll never record bass again without it. Great products! Thanks so much!

[@Tech21nyc]

Thank YOU so much for taking the time to let us, and everyone else, know that!

[@zer0dave]

@@Tech21nyc you're welcome! I will spread the word to my musician friends, as well! :)

[@seanyplaysbass2851]

Legends! Cant believe it took me so long to get sansamp products. Now Ill never play bass without the BDDI v2 and /or YYZ. Cant wait to use it in a live situation. More of these videos please!!

[@shawnreese6538]

I was the 13th order (I verified that while waiting for the order), the serial was 87, so backwards from 100. Makes anything sound better. I have had 2, and will gladly get another! Thanks Andrew!

[@joequintana5546]

I owned the original Sans Amp (my brother now owns it and it gets major use in his Upstate New York recording studio), and I currently carry a GT2 in my gigbag everywhere I go. I've used it on hundreds of recordings and I still do to this day. I don't use any modern digital amp modelers at all, and I never have. You can't imagine how many guitar players have asked me "What amp did you use on that song?". For over 20 years it was also used as my gain in front of a clean Fender tube amp. It's that one piece of gear that remains in my "Not for SALE" gear category. Thank you Andrew Barta.

[@charrua4108]

I connect into the front of my DIY champ running a 12 inch eminence closed back cab, amazing sound.

[@christopherjbutler]

So glad to have been one of your early customers I still have my original Sans Amp (pre-"Classic") and I am using it to this day. You make really intelligently designed, unique, and great sounding gear. I have a Trademark 60 Combo, (again one of the first generation ones with the Tech21 custom 12" speaker) A CompTortion pedal, and I had a SansAmp PSA 1 which I sold in 2019 to a studio engineer buddy of mine for way less than I later realized it was worth. I love your products and love your personal success story even more. I worked for Sam Ash in the 90's and always got to see your products right away when they came out. Keep on doing what you do, Andrew and team, you guys rock!

[@Tech21nyc]

Really appreciate you taking the time to post such kind comments!

[@FOYLERMAJOR7]

Love my FlyRig V2 with the dotted 8th delay creamy drift always on, I have the Cali aswell. Andrew's Iron Curtain approach has done away with the superficial glamour of touchscreens and focused on the sound. Ditched a Headrush MX5 as it was just too complicated and didn't sound half as good as the FlyRig. Well done Andrew and Tech21, its made gigging so much more easy and fun again!

[@jamescoderre9595]

Great Interview, Thanks Andrew ! Thanks Tim ! Tech 21 NYC / Sansamp = Awesome reliable gear. 😀👍

[@sashacoudray]

Please do more of this!

[@cleoncreates5047]

Love and respect from India! 🙌 I've been a proud owner of the Sansamp programmable bass driver di for over 10yrs and cannot recommend it enough to my fellow bassists.

[@jeddak]

fun interview! excited to see the Classic available once again

[@JTroskaTV]

I rediscovered my old SansAmp Classic from the 90’s abandoned in a drawer. I actually understand and appreciate it more now than I did back in the day. Now I use it as an medium to play my pedalboard through my bedroom hifi speakers when it’s impractical to fire up the big guitar amp. I can set the SansAmp to a clean “Fender” setting and enjoy my Big Muff and Rat pedals through little hifi speakers. Sometimes I prefer the immediacy of the simple analog speaker simulator filter to the modern IR approach, which tends to sound a little less connected-if that makes any sense.

[@Tech21nyc]

Definitely makes sense to us! Thanks so much for your comments.

[@N0B0DY_SP3C14L]

Fun video, and full of cool info. Andrew, thank you so much for building the Classic, and making it then way you did. I just got one a few months ago, finally. I'd been wanting one for many years, and now that I have it, I'm kicking myself for not having bought one 20 years ago. Before I got it, I was figuring I'd probably get two, maybe three sounds for guitar and one or two for bass that'd dig, but there are SO MANY GOOD TONES in that thing. The thing that gets me the most is how much the switch settings are interactive between each other. It seems like when the vintage tubes switch is on, the difference between close mic on and off is not the same when vintage tubes is off, and the whole pedal seems like that... kinda like what you expect from a good amp. Same with the knobs. Such a cool device!

[@Tech21nyc]

Wow, thanks so much for all the kind words! This just made our week!

[@theclockster]

For someone who loves the Classic pedal and owns four of them this is golden!

[@nephilymbass1]

I’m primarily a bass player and got into tech 21 with the bass driver and got the RBI as soon as it came out. I play guitar also but at first I played guitar more so that I could have more complete ideas for band demos. Because if you tell your bandmates “I have this idea, and you just play bass they don’t know what to think of it. As a fan of the brand already I got a gt2. It made getting a good direct sound so easy and affordable. Like 20 years ago I would record song ideas direact into a 4 track tascam cassette recorder., these days I use reaper so I can ad drums and everything. Eventually I sold it because fractal and the helix came along. But I always hated the option paralysis with those kinds of modelers. So I bought another gt2. It just works for me. It’s simple, almost all the guitar amp sounds I like. I do also now have an hx stomp but I pretty much exclusively use it for stereo Roland jazz chorus sounds with effects. If I want a “dry” amp sound I still prefer the gt2.

[@Tech21nyc]

We hear similar stories quite often. It's normal to be distracted by all the bells & whistles, but ultimately it's the sound that matters most. Really appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us and for all the kind words!

[@Stratoleox]

I love this videos, Nice Tech21!! I buy the bass driver v2 di a 2 weeks ago, amazing!

[@43loudman]

I hope people realize Tim is an excellent bass player, he inspired me to buy the Ged 2112 bass preamp and a decent affordable 4 string bass to learn how to play bass, all the electronics are great, but, its in the fingers and talent that makes the music, i watch this guy all the time, YYNOT is a fucking kickass band, i am blown away how talented these guys are, and how cool and down to earth, they are, really cool band,............................

[@TuneItOrDie4001]

You are really good at this Tim!

[@LIGHTintheHALLS]

TECH 21‼️🔊🤠👍

[@aaronfrazier524]

Would love a Sansamp tshirt

[@embreesmith7613]

Marshall Major One hell of a Bass amp. 😀

[@number1Don]

Fascinating story and knowledge but can you create a pedal to boost the volume of this video please. Thanks.

[@Zero_thehero]

sweetwater is out of stock with the sansamp gt2 are you making more?

[@Tech21nyc]

Yes we most definitely are. Just waiting on parts to arrive!

[@ThatsMrCollazo]

I have a Para Driver V2 and the PL1, excellent...

[@warrenmorphis4208]

This dude is Legend! From the Iron Curtain - to the biggest stages on the planet?? Talk about chasing your dream......

[@PFB1994]

Where does the Tri - OD fit into this plan? First pedal I bought back around 1998, still use it to this day. Early on I used the Calif and British, nowadays I use mostly the Tweed , it's been great no matter what music direction I've been on.

[@Tech21nyc]

Thanks so much for the kind words! Happy to know you're still using the TRI-O.D., which came out in 1994.

[@almostliterally593]

I have a GT2 and Q strip. My guitarist uses þe Q Strip as a clean DI and þen runs þe GT2 as a distortion before it. Þen we put a Boss super chorus and Matthew effects Astronomer V2 In between þe two tech 21 pedals

[@basslinger]

For someone that already has multiple solid sate amps, modeling, and fx pedals, what does the Sans Amp Classic do that I already can't achieve with my tones? I think it's just a really expensive distortion pedal.

[@JTroskaTV]

It’s not a distortion pedal. It’s one of the first amplifier emulators. It was designed to get various amplifier sounds directly into a console without the volume. The precursor of amp modeling.

[@mdrumt]

Any chance of a GT3? A pedal with more features, possibly: an xlr out with ground switch , ability to defeat the internal cabsim (like the vt), fx loop, 2 channels, midrange knob, ir loader just some ideas come to mind, also your prices here in Australia are insanely expensive.

[@Tech21nyc]

Appreciate your suggestions. You might want to check out the Fly Rig 5 v2: www.tech21nyc.com/products/flyrig/flyrig5/ Unfortunately, we cannot control the prices. It's a matter of freight, import taxes and exchange rates.

[@mariolamarque]

i love my gt2 best heavy sound ever!! legendary sound....I would love to get a feature where i could bypass the mic cabinet option....it would give the option to create a hybrid system using digital irs

[@Tech21nyc]

The SansAmp circuitry is actually quite compatible, as you can also use it with an amplifier. With the SansAmp GT2, setting the Mic switch to Classic mode will provide a nearly flat output, so you could use IRs with it.

[@mariolamarque]

@@Tech21nyc thank you .wondering something else im looking to be to be able to switch from clean to distortion (kinda like nirvana style)without a real amp for live performances...since i already own the gt2 pedal i want to use the gt2 as a distortion pedal and have something the emulate the clean channel....i usually i do this with a combo amp ....what of urproducts u recommend for this purpose?or maybe u got a better alternative ?

[@Tech21nyc]

@@mariolamarque The easiest solution would be to add another GT2 pedal to run clean and use your existing pedal for the distortion sounds. You would run the pedals in series. Our SansAmp Classic would also work really well as a clean channel to run the GT2 into. You might also consider our PL1 which has a great clean tone and the Feuer channel is based on the GT2.

[@tinypurplefishesrunlaughin8052]

After returning home from overseas I’m terribly sad my tm 10 was disrespected by my know it all stepson and now it doesn’t work. Man oh man I’m hurt . It’s never been opened to check anything . I hope it’s not too pricey to repair?

[@Tech21nyc]

Sorry to hear that! Do contact us directly so we can help you: [e-mail]

[@rasalapatuski78]

Is this pedal a Amp simulation?

[@Tech21nyc]

Yes. All SansAmps are tube amplifier emulators & have all-analog circuitry.

[@rasalapatuski78]

@@Tech21nyc thanks

[@rasalapatuski78]

​@@Tech21nychello i am going to buy a sansamp GT2 , My question is where is the good place to put it in pedal Chain? Front or the end of the chain? Thanks.

[@Tech21nyc]

@@rasalapatuski78 There are instructions in the GT2 manual for the best placement. In general, think of it the same way you would a conventional amplifier. Put time domain effects like reverb and delay after the GT2 and effects like OD, fuzz, compressors etc in front of the pedal. Experiment. These are only suggestions. You may find a different order works better for your application.

[@rasalapatuski78]

@@Tech21nyc thanks

[@vexguine]

I tried. I REALLY tried my way with heavy, fragile, expensive, money wasting machines that are tube amps. They are not reliable. They sound good and are part of rock history. But THEY ARE NOT PRACTICAL at all. Noises, cracks, fuses blowing, hums, buzz, fizz... If they don't get enough power, then you have a thin sound. If you overpower, they just explode on you. Damn. When you are on stage the last thing you want is your amp failing on you. And with tubs it is a lottery. You are paid to deliver a show. Why just bring the worst tool? You never know. To me the SansAmp is the best invention for guitarrists like the electric keyboard is for a pianist. Just plug in any solid state power amp and your sound is there. Ever. Forever. No surprises. And it sounds GOOD. Tube amps are still a passion... but not tools anymore.

[@Tech21nyc]

Wow, thanks so much!

[@vexguine]

@@Tech21nyc And if I may add, my favorite SansAmp product is the Tri Ac. I have the other units too but the Tri Ac is king. I can bring the three most famous amp platforms in my bag. No-brainer operation. It is a pity that Tech21 discontinued them. Can you bring it back? hahaha. Maybe a Fly Rig with the programable 3 amp choice in the future? haha lol

[@Tech21nyc]

Understood. Have you checked out the SansAmp PSA 2.0? It has a special Performance Mode for your 3 most famous amp platforms: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZqcXmOsa7OXgcU

[@wallyneff3318]

Andrew Barta is a cool guy with great products. I have used a SansAmp Bass Driver for years.