Tech 21 SansAmp GT2

The Tech 21 SansAmp GT2 is an amp emulation and distortion pedal from Tech 21, introduced in 1993 and, by the maker's own account, unchanged since. It packs the company's SansAmp Tube Amplifier Emulation technology into a box that, physically, resembles a fuzz box, with four knobs and a mechanical stomp switch¹. Where a plain overdrive or distortion pedal colors your sound, the GT2 models a whole amp: Tech 21 says its 100% analog circuitry "encompasses the entire signal chain, from pre-amp to power amp" and on to speaker simulation².

The controls

The GT2's control set is deliberately simple. As Paul White put it in his November 1993 Sound On Sound review: "Controls are simple, Level, High and Low EQ and Drive, very much like an overdrive pedal or fuzz box."¹ The final control is the footswitch, which functions as a bypass, with a red LED showing when the GT2 is active¹.

The Mod switch sets how hard the emulated amp is pushed. White described the third position as "Hot Wired (a sort of 'high gain' High Gain!)", meaning it stacks even more gain on top of the Hi Gain setting¹.

California, British and Tweed voicings

The Amp switch is where the GT2 picks its amp. As the Sound On Sound review explained: "The switch labelled Amp may be set to California, British or Tweed which roughly equates to Boogie, Marshall or Fender."¹ Tech 21 still publishes California, British and Tweed sound samples on the product page².

Each voicing covers the full chain, not just the distortion character. The built-in speaker and cab simulation is part of the analog signal path, and Tech 21 describes its design goal for it²:

That speaker sim is what makes the GT2 usable as a direct-recording and live-DI tool: the output already carries a complete amp-and-cab sound, so it can feed a PA or recording interface without a separate speaker simulation box².

How it works inside

Under the hood, the GT2 is not a digital modeler. White's review detailed the circuit: "SansAmp's circuitry is based on a FET implementation of both preamp and power amp stages, including a push-pull output stage", though he noted the actual power output is very small¹. In other words, the pedal builds a miniature analog amp architecture, and the emulation comes from that circuit design rather than from software.

Where it came from

The GT2 arrived in 1993 as a stripped-down member of the SansAmp line. White framed its position clearly: "the GT2, which is significantly cheaper than the original SansAmp, doesn't replace it but rather offers a simpler product with marginally less flexibility."¹ At launch it sold in the UK for £142 including VAT¹. Tech 21 states the pedal is unchanged since that 1993 introduction².

What reviewers and players said

Published commentary on the GT2 has been positive. Writing for JHS Pedals, Josh said of the original circuit: "The SansAmp GT2 that this is based on is phenomenal. I can't recommend that enough because it's built like a tank."³ The pedal also has a long history with players: on the tagboardeffects blog, one builder recalled that he "was used this pedal back in 90's, although this great pedal disappeared at some point", and later built a clone combined with an Equinox II reverb⁴.

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