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Tech 21 Leeds
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Tech 21 Leeds
iamqman iamqman
Published on 07/01/11 at 11:38
This pedal is a very cool and a very unique pedal. This pedal is Tech 12's take of the vintage early Brit sounds from the 70's. Basically emulating a Hiwatt amp which was a very important guitar amplifier that was coming out of England with many bands of that day such as Pink Floyd, The Who, and Led Zeppelin. All guitarist of each of those bands played through a Hiwatt amplifier either on stage or in the recording session.

This pedal has some interesting control knobs such as the character control knob which takes the voicing of the pedal on a ride through different styles. Also the Fane speaker simulation which would have been the speaker of choice for Hiwatt amplifiers cabinets at the time and still to this day.

UTILIZATION


Tech 21 SansAmp Character Series Leeds Amplifier-emulation Pedal Features at a Glance:

The definitive tone of '70s-era UK punk, rock, and pop bands
Super-aggressive Fane-style speaker emulation
Speaker emulation defeat switch for use with a real amplifier
Level and Drive controls act like those on a traditional, well-equipped amp
Active Low, Mid, and High EQ controls let you dial in your sound
Continuously variable Character knob moves seamlessly among different voicings

SOUND QUALITY

This to me is a real sublte pedal and it doens't take over your natural tone of your guitar of your amp. It mostly just enhance the sound of the rig you are playing through and highlights the tonal characteristics of your rig with a HIwatt voice added.

I have to say this pedal sounds nothing like a real Hiwatt DR103 or any other Hiwatt amp. If you have played a real Hiwatt then this pedal is going to be a little bit silly. This pedal in a live setting doesn't really sound anything like a Hiwatt. I have not heard it in a speaker simulated output into a recording session so that feature might be a where this pedal can come in handy.

OVERALL OPINION

This isn't a bad pedal for some nice British tones but it doesn't sound like a Hiwatt to me. It still can be used as nice subtle overdrive pedal or something hat drives the front of your amp a little more.

At new these pedals come in at around $169, Not a bad price for the use of this pedal. You get a wide range of possible operations. This is a about the same price as the AMT pedals that do the same emulation speakers.