30 Years of SansAmp: A History of Elevated DI Tone

Before digital modeling was even a spark in anyone’s imagination, achieving an authentic-sounding, direct-injected guitar tone was nearly impossible. Until 1989, that is. It was during this magical year that Tech 21 gave us the SansAmp, and the world of DI-ed guitar has never been the same. In this article, we’ll dive into the history — and the continuing legacy — of Tech 21’s industry-changing, analog-fueled DI tone machine: the mighty SansAmp.

Sans the Speaker, but Not Sans the Amp

Thanks to today’s state-of-the-art digital innovations, amp and speaker modeling are as common to musicians as fleas are to a dog. This was definitely not the case at the dawn of the 1990s, however. Sure, a small number of ampless DI solutions existed during that time, such as the Scholz Rockman, plus a few other scattered offerings. That said, the sound quality of these units was a compromise at best. Moreover, the sonic palettes offered by these devices were extremely limited. As a consequence, the most effective early electric-guitar DI solutions relied on speaker emulation rather than full-blown amplifier emulation.

The most popular speaker-emulation device used during this era was arguably the Hughes & Kettner Red Box, which, at least in its initial incarnation, was a guitar-specific direct box with a built-in EQ curve that mimicked the sound of a guitar cabinet. To use the Red Box, you ran a signal from your amplifier’s speaker output into the Red Box then into your recording setup or PA system. The results could sound surprisingly authentic, especially given the technology available when the Red Box was originally released. As such, it marked one of the earlier attempts at providing guitarists with a DI-ed sound that didn’t resemble a swarm of angry bees. That said, as good as it was at the time (and remains so today in the Red Box 5), the Red Box still required a separate amplifier — it wasn’t a standalone amplifier-emulation solution.

Other similar devices, such as the Palmer Speaker Simulator and the A/DA MicroCab, were also made available around this time. Their emulation capabilities, however, like the Red Box’s, were limited to speaker cabinets; for actual amp tones, you’d need to pair them with an actual amplifier.

Andrew Barta: a Tube-free Tonemeister

By the time the 1980s came to a close, players had grown tired of half-baked guitar DI solutions, and they were hungry for a standalone amp-simulation product. Little did they know that an inventive guitarist named Andrew Barta was cooking up all kinds of tasty tube tones in Midtown Manhattan — using solid-state circuitry, no less. Barta didn’t intend to build a revolutionary product or to start a company. According to a 1996 interview with Sound on Sound, Barta simply wanted what all other players wanted: to achieve killer tube-style tones without the need for heavy tube amps.

Fortunately, Barta’s skills weren’t limited to playing the guitar. He also possessed a formal electronics education as well as considerable knowledge of guitar-amplifier design, which he accumulated during his tenure as an amp technician, amp builder, and distortion-pedal designer. Therefore, Barta was able to leverage his knowledge and experience to craft the unassuming, stompbox-style device that we now know as the SansAmp.

The Tech 21 SansAmp Is Unveiled

Initially released in 1989 by Barta’s newly formed company, Tech 21, the original SansAmp (which was later rebranded as the SansAmp Classic) is a peculiar beast. At first glance, it appears to be a simple distortion pedal. Once you dive into its features, however, you’ll discover a pioneering guitar-DI solution chock-full of organic, amp-like tones and convincing speaker simulations. What’s more, unlike today’s DSP-fueled amp sims, the SansAmp contains 100% analog circuitry with not a single digital algorithm to be found.

The SansAmp’s primary controls are laid out in a manner familiar to anyone with any experience using guitar amplifiers and distortion pedals. The unit’s top-panel Presence Drive, Amp Drive, Output, and High knobs enable you to dial in your upper mids, level of distortion, output volume, and high-end bite, respectively. You also get a side-panel, 3-way Lead/Normal/Bass switch that voices the unit in a manner similar to a Marshall-, Mesa/Boogie-, or Fender-style preamp, respectively.

The SansAmp’s top-panel Character section, however, is where things really start to get interesting. Comprised of a bank of eight DIP switches, the Character section allows you to fine-tune the SansAmp’s overall sound using nebulous descriptors such as Mid-Boost, Low Drive, Clean Amp, Bright Switch, Vintage Tubes, Speaker Edge, and Close Miking.

If you’re of the opinion that the SansAmp’s DIP-switch bank looks unfinished and out of place, then there’s a reason for that. In the same 1996 Sound on Sound interview, Barta explains that the DIP switches weren’t intended to be a feature on the device. Rather, they were included on the prototype unit as a means to calibrate its overall sound. Barta further advises that he planned to remove the DIP-switch array after he nailed the ideal settings.

According to Barta, guitarist/producer Mick Jones (of Foreigner fame), after running the prototype through its paces, was the person who advised Barta to leave the DIP-switch array on the final production unit, describing it as one of the SansAmp’s best features.

The Secret to Killer Tubeless Tube Tone

At first glance, the SansAmp appears to be an extremely full-featured distortion pedal, and at its heart, that’s what it is. That said, the SansAmp replicates the sound — and feel — of a tube amp so faithfully that you can’t help but imagine that there’s something a bit more complicated than clipped transistors, op-amps, or diodes among its mysterious innards. Truly, once you really delve into the SansAmp’s circuit, you can’t help but marvel at its sophistication. Its high-impedance design incorporates a miniature amp-like topology but is built from FETs, instead of tubes, with a push-pull output stage that mimics a tube-fueled power section, an emulated phase-inverter stage and output transformer, baked-in EQ curves that approximate the sonic characteristics of a speaker cabinet, and response shaping that mirrors a microphone and its placement.

Unlike typical distortion units built upon basic clipping circuits, the SansAmp is remarkably amp-like, offering dynamic response with an inspiring amount of touch sensitivity — even at high-gain settings. And because the sound of the SansAmp fits effortlessly into a mix without much EQ and tweaking, the unit is a shoo-in for live and studio applications alike.

The Industry’s Response to the SansAmp

The industry’s reaction to the SansAmp was tremendously positive, finding favor with engineers, producers, and guitarists everywhere. Indeed, during the early 1990s, it seemed as though every performing guitarist and recording studio had one of these revolutionary units in their repositories of gear. Les Paul was one of the first SansAmp owners, which, according to a 2022 interview in Mixdown magazine, was used by his bass player. According to Tech 21’s magazine advertisements, members of KISS, Def Leppard, Living Colour, and Metallica have also been cited as early SansAmp adopters.

The SansAmp garnered well-publicized enthusiasm within the grunge community, counting Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and Stone Gossard and, most famously, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain among its many devotees. Indeed, the SansAmp gained a great deal of high-profile visibility during Nirvana’s In Utero era as an essential component in Cobain’s guitar rig, both onstage and in the studio.

Other notable, ’90s-era SansAmp users were Larry Oakes (Bad Company), Robert Quine (Lou Reed), Paul Pesco (Madonna, Steve Winwood), Doug Wimbish (Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger), Rik Emmett (Triumph), Chris Currell (Michael Jackson), Ray Gomez (Stanley Clarke), Jeff Campbell (Sting), Jeff Golub (Rod Stewart, Billy Squier), and Carlos Alomar (David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney).

The SansAmp Through the Years

The original SansAmp’s success led to the SansAmp GT2, which was released in 1993. The SansAmp GT2 follows the same basic template as the original SansAmp but eschews its predecessor’s somewhat unwieldy bank of DIP switches for a more streamlined, intuitive set of controls. The SansAmp GT2 has proven to be one of Tech 21’s most successful products, so much so that it has remained in constant production — and fundamentally unchanged — since its original release. The year 1993 also saw the unveiling of the SansAmp PSA, which is a rackmount preamp designed to appeal to professional studios. The PSA delivers the same sound as its pedal-size ancestors but includes MIDI presets, an effects loop, and stereo outputs. After releasing two revisions, the PSA-1 and the PSA-1.1, Tech 21 eventually ceased production of their rackmount PSA units.

Although the original SansAmp was designed with guitarists in mind, it was also used by a significant number of bassists. In light of this fact, 1994 saw the initial release of the SansAmp Bass Driver DI, a stompbox-style model tailor-made for bassists. The late ’90s also saw the release of Tech 21’s user-friendly MIDI Mouse foot controller, their SansAmp-fueled Trademark 60 combo amplifier, and their Power Engine 60 powered extension cabinet.

In 2001, Tech 21 delivered another home run for bassists: the SansAmp RBI. This rackmount bass preamp is a pumped-up, turbocharged version of the SansAmp Bass Driver DI bolstered by an effects loop, a Mix 50/50 switch, and generous output options. The fact that both the Bass Driver DI and the RBI are still in production — and still top sellers — is validation of their time-tested quality.

By the time 2004 rolled around, studio engineers had begun to adopt DAW-centric workflows. In keeping with the times, Tech 21 partnered with Bomb Factory to produce the SansAmp PSA-1 plug-in. Longtime SansAmp devotees, such as celebrated audio engineer Tchad Blake, were finally able to ditch their hardware units and work completely in the box. The Bomb Factory SansAmp PSA-1 plug-in currently comes bundled with Avid’s Pro Tools DAW software, enabling Pro Tools users to amp up their mixes with that familiar, analog-style grit — without leaving their computer.

The SansAmp Evolves

In 2008, Tech 21 leveraged their considerable amp-in-a-box expertise to create the SansAmp Character Series. Comprised of nine pedals (seven for guitar and two for bass), this series was designed to emulate specific amplifier models. All pedals in the series include Level, Mid, Low, High, and Drive knobs for dialing in your sound and a continuously variable Character knob that sweeps through the various models in the emulated amp line, spanning decades of sounds. Each pedal also includes a SansAmp button that engages a model-specific speaker simulation by employing Tech 21’s acclaimed 100% analog emulation technology.

The Character Series was later followed by the SansAmp Character Plus Series. Each pedal in this series offers two channels and not only emulates a specific historic amplifier model but also pairs the emulation with a specific historic dirt box. The Character Plus Series’ current lineup includes the Screaming Blonde, English Muffy, Fuzzy Brit, and Mop Top Liverpool.

Released in 2014, Tech 21’s Fly Rig series of multi-effects pedals was designed to completely replace a musician’s backline during a live performance. These outstanding all-in-one guitar rigs derive their core tones from a SansAmp circuit and are augmented by distortion, boost, delay, and reverb effects along with an effects loop and a tuner. There’s a version of the Fly Rig for players of all stripes; Tech 21’s current roster includes the Fly Rig 5 v2, the Acoustic Fly Rig, and the Bass Fly Rig v2 alongside the Richie Kotzen signature model.

The SansAmp’s Analog Magic Lives On

More than three decades on, the SansAmp is still relevant, garnering enthusiastic endorsements from such celebrated musicians as Geddy Lee, Steve Harris, Frank Bello, and Dug Pinnick, all of whom keep their custom-tailored SansAmps at the heart of their rigs. The multifunction SansAmp VT Bass DI, the state-of-the-art SansAmp Programmable Bass Driver DI, and the tone-sculpting SansAmp Para Driver DI are also available.

Tech 21’s most recent offerings include the SansAmp XB Driver, which is a feature-laden, 2-channel bass preamp and DI, and the most recent iteration of the Bass Driver, the 30th-anniversary Limited-edition Bass Driver DI, which flaunts an anodized, precision-machined aluminum-billet housing and all-metal knobs.

Which SansAmp Is Right for You?

Whether you’re a guitarist or a bassist, a live performer or a studio rat, a Tech 21 SansAmp is guaranteed to help you elevate your craft. Give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700 and discover the analog-fueled magic of the SansAmp!
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