SansAmp Original Vs SansAmp GT2 for Nirvana Tone

Here’s a quick shootout video between an original 90’s Tech 21 SansAmp and a newer GT2 for Nirvana riffs.

I have dialled them in to be close in tone, but 100% perfect isn’t possible (or at least I just couldn’t make them sound perfect). In the room while I was playing they sound much similar, but recorded you can definitely hear a difference, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Getting two of the EXACT same pedals to sound the same can be difficult owing to different tolerances in electronic parts. So keep that in mind.

But anyway, I think both pedals sound amazing, and do great with Nirvana style riffage!

I don’t believe one is necessarily better than the other, I like having both. However I use the GT2 more these days since it is less noisy and those of you who know my history with the SansAmp know i have broken 3 original/classic units, while my GT2 has never had an issue!

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the two! Does the Original sound closer to actual Nirvana tone (think In Utero tour), or do you think the GT2 actually gets closer in this video?

Comment below!

Tracklist:

0:08 Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
0:40 Very Ape
1:44 Tourettes
2:39 Milk It
3:25 Drain You
4:05 School
4:49 Breed
6:05 Heart Shaped Box
7:00 On A Plain
7:52 Negative Creep

Gear used:

Stuff used to record audio:

Fender KC Mustang
SansAmp GT2
SansAmp Original
Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp
Harley Benton GPA-400 Power Amp
Marshall JCM 900 1960A 4x12 cab loaded with Celestial G12T-75 speakers
Shure SM57 Mic (pretty sure it’s fake)
Scarlett Focusrite 2i2 interface
Logic on MacBook Pro

Usual kind of amp settings were used on the mesa preamp: vol - 3 master - 3, treble - 9, bass - 4, middle - 10, reverb - 2. No graphic eq or bright switch or anything like that. I did add a little bit of presence on the power amp. You can see my settings at the end of the video 9:26

Thanks for watching the video, hope you all enjoyed it!

As usual I don’t own any of the songs in this video, all rights go to their respective owners.

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