Tech 21: Leeds - Direct with Strat and Les Paul

[TheHarrisLP]

Hi Brett! Thank you for your insightful reviews of the Tech 21 products! I´ve been a fan of mr. Barda´s creations for many years, using quite a few of them in both studio and live situations. I still use my old Sansamp (pre Classic) a lot. I am quite qurious about the Character Series though, especially the Leeds, British and California... would you say that the Sansamp covers what these pedals can do? Don´t wanna spend the money if i don´t need to :-) Peter, Sweden

[LIGHTintheHALLS]

Great review Bman! I bought a Leeds after seeing your vids here. Had a Hiwatt and to get it to sound like my Leeds pedal would require me to get clearance from the police because of the volume. I now go into into a powered monitor with other effects and I get a stunning tone at a reasonable volume. I also love the dynamic response.

[pjgmusic]

Howdy, Burgs. I've been noticing in your recent vids that you are playing through an actual Hiwatt these days. If I'm not mistaken, when you first demoe'd the Leeds pedal, you had not yet ever played through a Hiwatt. Now that you are (or seem to be) a Hiwatt man, what is your opinion of the Leeds compared to the real deal?

[Ilovemyfender2]

Now you need to a/b the Leeds to your new hiwatt :)

[bloc22]

great demo my friend

[pjgmusic]

Great demos. Would like to hear some more clean tones. I have the VT Bass & love it. Am considering either the Oxford or Leeds. Which of the 2 in your opinion is more versatile and are both capable of squeaky clean tones? I like to run clean into amps and use OD's for dirt, so I need something that can get very clean, but also want the option of dirtying it up.



[Burgerman666]

@pjgmusic The Leeds is probably the better of the two for clean cleans. Although it wouldn't be my first choice for that application - I'd rather use the Blonde which makes a great clean Fender base for pedals before it. The Oxford is all about T-Rex style rawk and the Leeds apparently does the clean to cranked HIWATT thing really well, although I've never been fortunate enough to try the real thing so I can't testify. Thanks for the kind words!

[pjgmusic]

@Burgerman666 So, are you saying that the Blonde handles pedals better or just that you prefer it over the Leeds since obviously they do well as clean amps.

Also, I read that another person who demo'ed the Leeds said that he found it to be more authentically "tube-like" than the blonde. I'm assuming that he meant he found it more responsive to pick dynamics etc.

Could it be perhaps because it's a slightly newer design? Would you even agree with that assessment?

[Burgerman666]

@pjgmusic When you think about it, most pedals (at least those built in the USA) are voiced more often than not with a Fender amp. Rare exceptions would include the Tim and Timmy which were made to kick up Paul's Marshall. Muff are great with HIWATTS as Mr Gilmour has amply demonstrated. So the observation of the Leeds being more tube-like may be true, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to carry pedals better or as well as the Blonde. I need to do some more experimentation. Hmm..

[pjgmusic]

@Burgerman666 Thanks again, sir. That's a great point you make about which amps sound best with pedals. And Fender is usually the clean sound I have in mind. Yes, please do some more experimentation and post your results. I've been checking out your posts for a while and value your opinions. One last question: Should the new speaker In/Out button factor in my decision? Would having it make enough of a difference to sway me one way or the other in making my choice?

[Burgerman666]

@pjgmusic The speaker in/out button is Tech 21's bow to pressure from their customers who 'demanded' the Character Series be capable of functioning as regular stompboxes as well as what they were always designed to be - preamps. It works OK (basically a different EQ curve) but if I was looking at amps-in-a-box to use as 'regular' stomps I could think of strong competitors, some of whom can be found on this channel. Preamp? One of the best. Stompbox? Very good, but there are strong competitors.

[pjgmusic]

Great demos. Would like to hear some more clean tones. I have the VT Bass & love it. Am considering either the Oxford or Leeds. Which of the 2 in your opinion is more versatile and are both capable of squeaky clean tones? I like to run clean into amps and use OD's for dirt, so I need something that can get very clean, but also want the option of dirtying it up.

[claudiodifazio14]

How do you know in what order to put the pedal. Please answer! Great playing by the way. Thanks!!!!

[Burgerman666]

@claudiodifazio14 Generally, you should use your ears to decide. However, a delay will always work better following an overdriven preamp rather than before (because you don't want dirty delays, right?). And a fuzz usually precedes everything because they're fussy. :)

[claudiodifazio14]

@Burgerman666 Thanks. But i have one more little question... Your talking about the order from guitar to amp or amp to guitar? and what thats distortion/muff pedal ive never heard of Dice Works?

[Burgerman666]

@claudiodifazio14 Guitar to amp - although the setup in this video doesn't involve an amp at all as the Leeds takes its place. Dice Works is a one man operation. He makes killer fuzzes, mainly muff derivatives. Do an eBay search for seller 't-booster'. Cheers, BK.

[claudiodifazio14]

@Burgerman666 Thanks so much!!!!!

[claudiodifazio14]

@Burgerman666 I can't find this t-booster guy.. Thanks so much!!!! You are the greatest man!!! Cheers

[spakuloid]

More treble please. Crank it so it sounds like a cat being run over by a train full of rusty nails.

[MrMemag]

Yeeeeeeesss,finally! Thanks!

[Zhorellski]

Cool review Burgs! what about US STEEL?

[Guitarstafeste]

THANK GOD I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THESE NEW TECH 21 DEMOS FOR SO LONG!! Sounded great but I'm more excited about the Oxford "Orange" emulator, as I like darker amps. Keep it up burgs, you're the best!

[cosmogang]

I want that delay.

I think it would compliment my rig nicely.

[BiggSteve777]

I just went a little numb myself when you kicked in the Fuzz Epic @ 1:08. Sounds like a fantastic trio.