Tech 21 SansAmp VT Bass - complete review and guide for effective bass tone

This is my approach to achieve the best tones out of VT Bass and SansAmp Character Series pedals, with all you need to know about their controls.
Played with single-coil and split-coil Fender Precision basses, roundwound and flatwound strings.
Fingerstyle, pick and slap.
This is an independent review, I am not affiliated to Tech 21.
This video is generally referring to all VT BASS models, including the VT BASS DI, VT BASS DELUXE and VT BASS AMPS
00:00 - Introduction
00:31 - The Character Series
01:53 - Controls overview
03:02 - Tone variations with Character and Drive controls (with bass)
07:50 - Character control past midway and fuzzy distortion
08:59 - Introduction of EQ controls
11:31 - Demo: playing with pick
13:22 - Demo: playing slap
13:40 - Demo: playing with flatwounds
14:40 - Conclusions and cab emulation explained
16:57 - Why I like the pedal and for what uses
18:03 - Alternative solutions

[@marciosouza8656]

Great review! Your Bass sounds amazing.

[@Streetpartymarty]

Excellent review with fantastic audio. Thanks very much!

[@EmanCarbone]

Cheers! 👍

[@phipschi4255]

Amazing video. Easily the best video of the VT Bass on YT

[@EmanCarbone]

Cheers mate, thanks for watching

[@agitatorjr]

Great review

[@antonycharest4719]

I like the tone you get with it. I once owned a vt di and didn’t like it back then. Probably because that was when I first start playing with some drive and I used to play with a jazz bass. I play with P bass now and I know what I’m doing with eq and drive so I guess I will have to try it again 😂😂

[@giuseppemarino4564]

excellent review I love your bass, finally a review of a pedal that I love played with a P51 .. then at min 12:40 comes the bass line of Mr Gianni Maroccolo C.S.I "Forma e sostanza" Top Mate

[@EmanCarbone]

Con Tech 21 sicuramente vuoi ciò che ti spetta ;)

[@stephenfell4338]

Can you record two takes one wet as you demonstrated and one dry', if so whats the hook up? a very well description, thankyou and your bass playing​good too!

[@J--5]

great in-depth video on the vt bass features. the tones youre getting from your tele bass are fantastic. did i hear a bit of Jane's Addiction @ 12:28 ?

[@EmanCarbone]

Yes Indeed, a few seconds up in the mountains...

[@J--5]

@@EmanCarbone you should do a video about that tele bass.. its a beauty

[@EmanCarbone]

@@J--5 cheers... Unfortunately it's sharpish too (slab body :/ ) and that pickup spot kills the harmonics on the 4th fret

[@J--5]

@@EmanCarbone thats the type of stuff to include that would make a great video!

[@fendersunburst4832]

I own this pedal along with four other Tech21 pedals and along with my Leeds pedal it is my favourite pedal. I just play and record at home and I always keep the EQ flat for my general breakup tone and only ever adjust the Drive and Character. If I was looking for an overdriven tone using the Drive and Character I would then bring the EQ into play like you have described just to compensate.

[@EmanCarbone]

That's what I tried to get across in the video... I still see many different approaches and ways to review it around and the "copy the manual settings" method to me doesn't quite work, keeping into account how different instruments and setups can sound dramatically different. Those are just reference points. I'd love to try the "guitar" character pedals on bass too, they don't have a dramatic low-end roll-off as an actual guitar cab I.R. so I guess they work quite well. I got some good feedback on the Blonde (Fender) on bass, and California (Mesa) too for fat tones.

[@fendersunburst4832]

@@EmanCarbone Yeah I used to own quite a few which could be used for Bass at one time or another and in the character series I now only own the VT Bass Deluxe and the Leeds which is based on a Hiwatt 103 amp and is great if you are looking for that Entwistle Tommy era tone. I also liked the Oxford which is based on a Orange but wasn't to keen on the Liverpool and the Blonde. I am glad I kept hold of the Leeds as it has now been discontinued with other pedals in that series. But the VT Bass Deluxe is a great pedal if you know how to set it up properly and I love using it with my P Bass strung with TI's with slight breakup.........It sounds wicked!

[@raffaelecrupi9347]

I had the Tech 21 vt bass d.i. and i regret selling it !!! It sounded better, more real !!!!

[@EmanCarbone]

Yes... I think it's one of those things you can end up selling because you don't fully understand how it works or it doesn't sound that "nice" in your bedroom but you haven't really used it in context. Said that, it's not for everyone, especially if you need a transparent, hifi preamp to go DI. When you say "it sounded better", what are you referring to as comparison?

[@raffaelecrupi9347]

@@EmanCarbone comparison vt bass d.i. With vt bass deluxe. I don't like deluxe serie

[@reebah]

can i get jamerson/motown tone with this pedal? greetings from brazil

[@EmanCarbone]

Hi, yes, you can add some grit or tubey/vintage console warmth while turning the highs a bit down. However, you first need flatwound strings and if possible a P bass. Check my brief demo of the flats in the video (around the middle, see timeline) and you can get an idea - that line I played is quite Motown-ish. To be true, a D.I. straight into a vintage console is what was actually used for Motown takes on records, if I'm not wrong. What you mainly hear is Jamerson's style and his P with old flats.

[@reebah]

​@@EmanCarbone Thank you very much! Im a beginner and Im doing my research to buy my first preamp pedal. I have narrow down to a few options from Tech 21 (which are easy to get here in Brazil): VT Bass, Geddy Lee DI-2112 and Steve Harris SH-1. Have you tried these preamp pedals? Could you help me choose? I was about to buy the VT Bass but after I watched the Steve HArris pedal videos going through the suggested presets (which include awesome sounds sound from Harris, Geezer Butler, Jamerson, Deep Purple Lemmy and Thin Lizzy) Im in doubt again. Can I achieve these sounds with the VT Bass?

[@daisuke_thrasher7032]

So you're telling me this "isn't" John Deacon

[@EmanCarbone]

Unfortunately I'm not at the time being

[@JuanACDC]

tggggg

[@EmanCarbone]

Indeed

[@MorrisBlaster]

Too much talking