Hello there, and welcome back to another cool guitar pedal review! This time, we will check out possibly the most unique Tech 21 pedals ever, the Tech 21 Double Drive 3X.
Table of Contents
As we always do, I will provide you with some background information on the Tech 21 NYC company as well as their legendary innovation SansAmps.
I have also prepared a sound demo for this Tech 21 Double Drive 3X review article to show you what Double Drive sounds like in combination with a tube amp (using reactive loads and IRs).
You may have already encountered some of this blog’s content featuring Tech 21 products. The first time I started using Tech 21 products was way back in 2007 and it was my first ever proper guitar amp, Tech 21 Trademark 60! It was an excellent amp and a complete game-changer for a young guitar player with no gear experience! Best Tools For Guitars at Stewmac.com
I also had the chance to borrow some other Tech 21 products such as Tech 21 SansAmp PSA 1.1 and GT2. A couple of years ago, I purchased their latest PSA, Tech 21 SansAmp PSA 2.0 and enjoyed it a lot!
Check out my Tech 21 SansAmp PSA 2.0 review here
Since I’d like to revisit their wonderful product line, I got myself a Tech 21 SansAmp TRI A.C. and wanted to give it a try after 15+ years! You may also check out my review and quick demo video if you are interested in one of the easiest-to-use SansAmp pedals ever!
Check out my Tech 21 SansAmp TRI-A.C. review here
Recently, I got the chance to collect some pedals during my visits to Türkiye and wanted to feature them here for you. Double Drive 3X was one of them and I was really surprised with the results and how unique this pedal was.
Unfortunately, this pedal was also discontinued a long time ago but I believe people need to know about this wonderful design! Anyway, we will talk about the Double Drive 3X and hear how it sounds at the end of the article. Before we go into details, let’s have a look at the quick history of Tech 21 NYC company.
About Tech 21
B. Andrew Barta founded Tech 21 NYC in Midtown Manhattan in 1989, unveiling his groundbreaking invention: the SansAmp. This innovative creation was born out of Andrew’s personal desire as a performing musician with an electronics background, whose day job involved repairing, modifying, and customizing amplifiers. Armed with both technical expertise and unwavering determination, he brought his vision to life.
Ironically, Andrew never set out to become a manufacturer. Initially, he sought to sell his technology to major companies, but they failed to recognize its potential or the transformative impact the SansAmp would later achieve. Unwilling to abandon his idea, Andrew decided to forge his own path. Despite the product being unprecedented, musicians quickly embraced it once they experienced its sound. Check out the best guitar pickup company, Seymour Duncan here!
Tech 21 NYC spearheaded the direct recording revolution and introduced an entirely new category of signal processing. The trailblazing SansAmp tube amplifier emulator was the first tool that allowed musicians to craft powerful tones and connect directly to studio mixers or stage PAs.
For the first time, achieving exceptional, consistent sound no longer required endless tinkering to locate the elusive “sweet spot.” Instead, the fully analogue SansAmp packed an array of massive tones into a compact, pocket-sized pedal.
Tech 21 NYC remains committed to producing durable, versatile, and user-friendly products tailored to the needs of musicians. In an era dominated by planned obsolescence and constant upgrades, many of our products have remained unchanged—and are still in production—proving their enduring value and reliability.
What is SansAmp?
SansAmp is the first ever fully analogue tube amplifier emulator. As its French-inspired name suggests, it helps you play your guitars and basses (and many more instruments) without an amp. I prefer calling SansAmp the best analogue tube amp, distortion, clipping, break-up and fuzz generator! 🙂
Surprisingly, the core sound and tonal shaping capabilities of SansAmp design have never changed since it was released back in 1989. Some people interpret this as the company is not progressive and failing to adapt to new trends in the guitar tone realm.
However, it also shows how impressively correct and fitting the design was on the first attempt! The original rackmount SansAmp was not programmable and came in a single rack format.
The only thing that changed with the next releases of SansAmps (PSA 1 .0, PSA 1.1) versions which stand for programmable SansAmp was the programming feature along with some hardware changes regarding more memory slots and trim pot.
The sound of SansAmp has been the same for the last 30 years and never required any updates! Because the design was so great it has always offered extreme flexibility for tone shaping.
With the additional programming and storing presets feature, SansAmps have become extremely user-friendly as you can store your presets and take them anywhere with you without worrying about the knob positions. Ads - Check out these ads to support this web page
This legendary circuit has been used in all Tech 21 products and still maintains its original DNA since 1989!
Tech 21 Double Drive 3X
Tech 21 Double Drive 3X is a 3-channel, fully programmable version of the infamous Double Drive with active 3-band EQ. I believe this Tech 21 product is the most overlooked as it’s not easy to understand for most players what it really does.
Maybe Tech 21 should have called this SansPowerAmp :). It has all the features and is ahead of its time in terms of the compact three-slot design with digitally programmable while maintaining a 100% analogue signal path just like the Tech 21 SansAmp TRI-A.C.
This time, instead of offering amp emulation, Double Drive 3X offers two different power amp distortion characters which can be found in Vox style or Fender/Marshall style amps.
It has two drive controls for Class A (Vox) and Class A/B (Marshall/Fender) that you can use individually or blend. If you think about it, this can not be achieved in real-life situations easily! This means you can create an infinite number of power amp distortion emulations!
On top of that, you can use the Double Drive 3X as a clean boost (up to 10dB) or as the filthiest fuzz sound you could ever imagine!
It features exactly the same ease of operation just like the SansAmp TRI AC and you don’t even need to read the manual! All you need to do is do your blend of power amp dirt, EQ it as you desire, adjust the level and double-tap on one of the three slots and you are done!
Using Double Drive
According to Tech 21 NYC, you can use the Double Drive 3X by connecting to any amp (tube or solid-state) and also directly connecting to a SansAmp pedal.
Connecting the Double Drive 3X to any amp or signal chain is extremely easy as well. There’s only one input and output just like the TRI AC. Using the controls is also a no-brainer. There are two Drive controls that you can set the Class A and/or Class A/B type of power amp drive.
As mentioned, Class A offers Vox style power amp distortion while Class A/B offers Marshall/Fender style one.
The amount of harmonic content within these power amp distortion is based on the input level so it’s highly dynamic and will yield different results based on your guitar pickups and how hard you pick the strings.
These drive controls have no effect or are disabled when they are at the minimum position. With this feature, you can use these drive characters individually (by disabling one or the other) or blend them.
Just like the SansAmp TRI-A.C., Double Drive 3X also offers an active tone stack that you can cut or boost ±12dB from unity gain at 12 o’clock. The same feature set applies to the power requirement as well.
You can easily power up the Double Drive 3X with a 9V battery which lasts around 100 hours as well as a standard 9V DC power supply. Power consumption is pretty low and is just 5mA.
Tech 21 NYC used the same product template for both TRI-A.C. and Double Drive. It’s almost an identical twin guitar pedal featuring identical feature sets, input/output and power requirements.
Double Drive 3X is a fairly light pedal and built like a tank with its nice and sturdy metal chassis. For your reference, I’d like to share the tech specs of Double Drive with you here. Then we will continue with the demo video and my review!
Tech 21 Double Drive 3X Tech Specs
| Tech 21 SansAmp Double Drive 3X Tech Specs | Tech Specs |
|---|---|
| Number of Power Amp Models | Two Different Characters |
| Power Amp Models | Class A - Vox AC30®-style Class A/B - Fender®-style/Marshall®-style |
| Programmable | Yes, Digitally Programmable |
| Signal Path | 100% Analogue |
| Number of Presets | Three Slots |
| EQ | Bass/Mid/Treble |
| Active EQ | Yes, 12dB Cut/Boost |
| Frequencies | Bass @ 125 Hz. Mid @ 500 Hz.Treble @ 3.5 kHz |
| I/O | Standard 1/4" I/O |
| FX Loop | No |
| Power Requirement | 9V DC - min 100mA PSU 9V Battery |
| Power Consumption | 5mA |
| PSU Included | No |
| Made In | USA |
As you can see from the tech specs and the introduction, it’s a very simple pedal with features way ahead of its time! It’s possibly the most unique pedal ever as I’m not aware of any analogue power amp emulation pedals!
Before we jump to the review section, let’s listen to the simple demo video I made for this article. In this video, I used my Ibanez AR300 electric guitar plugged into the Double Drive 3X. Then the signal goes to my Marshall JVM 410HJS amp.
As always, I used my Two Notes Captor X with Marshall impulse responses and recorded the signal via my RME Babyface PRO FS audio interface.
I only added Lexicon PCM Native Bundle reverb for ambience and room feel.
Tech 21 Double Drive 3X Sound Demo (no talking)
Tech 21 Double Drive 3X Review
As I briefly mentioned in my other guitar pedal review articles, I have been collecting some guitar pedals and trying to feature them here on my blog. When I was in Türkiye for my vacation, I got in touch with a guitar player who was listing many items and I got my Tech 21 Double Drive 3X from him along with other pedals.
Recently, I released the Tech 21 SansAmp TRI AC, Ibanez BB9 Bottom Booster and TC Electronic Röttweiler review articles, you may also want to check these out!
Although I had used Tech 21 products for a long time and pretty much knew what they were offering, I never came across these unique Double Drive pedals. Tech 21 Double Drive 3X always remained a mysterious pedal to me in the SansAmp universe.
As most guitar players (including me) don’t have experience with real power amp drives, it may not be easy to understand why one should require such a component in their signal chain.
Guitar players often rely on the preamp drive and are used to play, hear and feel how they react and respond to their playing. Power amp drive on the other hand can be only achieved by cranking a tube amp. Tech 21’s Double Drive 3X intends to give this sag and spongy playing sensation without having to crank a tube amp! Ads - Check out these ads to support this web page
Just like any Tech 21 product, the EQ section is so powerful and can yield extremely different results based on how you set them. Along with a very simple pair of Drive controls which will give you Class A and/or Class A/B power amp distortion, you can immediately start using the pedal and get results.
Unfortunately, this pedal was also discontinued a long time ago. The one I got did not come with a manual so I had to check it on the official website. Fortunately, Tech 21 has a dedicated section on its official website that features all discontinued products.
Check out the official Tech 21 Double Drive 3X product page here
I think this pedal format with limited controls gives guitar players so much headroom to focus on their playing, rather than tweaking tons of dip switches and other settings.
In the demo video, I tried to stick to just factory presets from the official manual and used those settings on the clean channel of my Marshall JVM 410HJS as well as used a boost setting to drive the OD1 channel further.
I strongly believe Double Drive 3X adds a very unique sound and feel to your signal chain. While testing, I realised the added sag and squishy harmonic content on the strings and really enjoyed the feel of it.
Of course, one shouldn’t expect to get modern metal sounds or anything. It does a couple of things and does it really well! Just like I mentioned, I think it’s possibly the most unique pedal ever and open to experiments with multiple signal chains.
I’m now planning to try these direct with impulse responses as well as with my SansAmp TRI-A.C. I’d also like to try these with other drive pedals while using my amp.
The only drawback of the pedal is that the drive settings can be easily overshot. It has so much gain and distortion to offer and once you try increasing those drive controls, it can be too much immediately.
But the trick is to use Double Drive by adding a little bit of these lovely power amp distortions to your signal chain. Especially, when you want to boost your overdrive channels, you should be careful with the amount of drives.
Using the Double Drive 3X on a clean channel is much easier and also gives better results in my opinion. You can have the wildest sags without cranking any power tubes and that unique feel is guaranteed!
Although I’m a big fan of Tech 21 company, I’m a little bit upset with their product strategy. Don’t get me wrong, they still release great products but also they stop producing their legendary products or they sometimes release anniversary models just like they did with the SansAmp PSA 2.0.
It’s the same situation with Double Drive 3X and SansAmp TRI-A.C.! It was discontinued a long time ago and it’s not the easiest guitar pedal to find used on Reverb or eBay.
I’d be much happier if they kept producing their entire product line such as the Double Drive series, SansAmp TRI-A.C., the PSA 1.1 rack version and their legendary Trademark amplifiers. But I understand they are struggling with the costs and sales as they insist on manufacturing these with the highest quality standards possible!
I think Tech 21 could have been killing it if they were to release their Power Engine amp series for the modern guitar players who could use them with the cutting-edge modelling technologies today.
In short, I would recommend Tech 21 Double Drive 3X to any guitar players out there who are looking for experimental guitar setups. You can really turn your current signal chain into a completely different feeling rig. However, I would not recommend this pedal to modern metal players as it doesn’t offer tight chugging guitar tones. It’s rather for more classic hard rock, rock and blues type of guitar tones.
Where to Buy Tech 21 Double Drive 3X?
If you are ever looking for a Tech 21 Double Drive 3X for sale on the internet, chances are you may find some on Reverb.com and eBay as well. It’s impossible to find brand new ones but there are still listing this pedal in good condition (I’m one of them!).
As you can already realise from the articles I have been publishing here, I have one on sale and I will be doing this gear rotation to feature more and more gear for you! So if you are interested, please contact me or directly purchase this from my Reverb shop (only shipping within the EU).
I hope you find this Tech 21 Double Drive review article honest and insightful! Thanks for visiting my blog and supporting me so far! I will hopefully see you in the next review here!
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