TECH 21 Double Drive 3X Electric Guitar Overdrive Distortion Pedal
Tech21 are known as Tone Gurus and with good reason. Their pedals nail their intended tones – every time – which is why most Pro Guitarists, Bassists and Session Players generally have at lest one Tech 21 pedal in their arsenal.
This is our last brand new Double Drive 3X – an amazing pedal and this is one that we found hidden away in the back of the warehouse in its original box (maybe the boss wanted to take it home!).
Housed in a sturdy metal box built to take some serious road abuse and still dish out the goods night after night. This unique pedal captures the lush, muscular power amp distortions of both Class A and Class A/B tube amps, tones that can be used individually or you can feed one into the other for massive ‘cascading’ distortion and limitless tonal variation.
The Tech21 Double Drive 3X is not just an ordinary stompbox but a cascading distortion pedal with 3 footswitchable presets. Just like Sansamp’s TRI-AC the Double Drive 3X runs on a 100% analogue signal path with the addition of digital switching and knob memory to “remember” 3 user settings. You can store 3 preset sounds and seamlessly change between them by stepping on the corresponding switches.
Once you’ve dialed up that million dollar tone, saving it into one of the three memories is a cinch. You simply dial in your desired tone into one of the three channels then quickly tap twice on that pedal’s switch . . . patch saved! The LEDs also let you find your preset patch’s parameters by blinking faster the closer to the setting you get until the LED illuminates solid red.
In true analogue style, you can then write down the parameters in the blank settings pages provided with the Double Drive 3X’s manual. Simple but very useful for example on a recording session where you may need more than 3 sounds.
TECH21 LAZY POT™
Another Tech21 first is the development of the LAZY POT™. This is a unique safety feature engineered for the Drive A, Drive A/B, and Level controls. When you “unlock” the EQ settings, for instance, they will “jump” to the new setting of the knob position.
For the Drive A, Drive A/B, and Level controls, however, this could result in you jumping out of your skin if they are at a high set-ting. With the Lazy Pot, there’s a slow, gradual increase to the new setting position giving you time to turn it down. This will only happen when you initially unlock a preset. Once unlocked, the pot will react according to how you re-position it.
The Tech21 Double Drive 3X may be powered via a 9 volt battery, changeable from the bottom of the unit, or via a 240V AC adapter (not supplied). The Double Drive 3X has one 6.3mm (1″) input and one 6.3mm (1/4) output, 3 stomp-type switches each illuminated by a corresponding LED to indicate when it is active.
The Double Drive 3X has two drive controls – Drive A (output stage distortion) and Drive A/B ( blend between output and preamp stage distortion) and features three tone controls (bass, mid and treble) along with an output level control.
If you are a guitarist lusting after those classic and hard rock tones, the Double Drive 3X may be just the pedal you have been looking for. If you are running modern hot pickups the Double Drive 3X will serve up sweet sustaining lead lines. You can also achieve tones such as Eddie Van Halen’s legendary “brown sound” – basically a clean sound with some very small touch of breakup. The cascading distortion effects offer an infinite number of tones that are responsive to pickup and amplifier type. Running into the front of your amp or through the effects loop will also have a marked effect on the tones you can achieve from the Tech21 Direct Drive 3X.
The Tech21 Direct Drive 3X is also a great recording tool! This is our last one one – brand new in original box with Two Year warranty!
southcoastmusic is an authorised Tech 21 Dealer.
