American rock tones in a versatile, easily-controlled pedal.

Does a 2-faced blonde sound like trouble? When those faces are silver and black, the Tech21 Blonde distorion pedal rocks pure American tone to the stratosphere. Get sparkly, spanky cleans that overdrive with a satisfying low-end rumble that becomes the punchy bark of hard-pushed tweed, maxing out in a fat sizzle of lead boosted tone. Take the reins and don't spare the emulated Jensens, this Blonde is a wild ride through American rock history.

Each pedal in Tech21's Character Series is loaded with the tonal DNA for a specific style of guitar amplifier. By simply twisting a few knobs, you can build those sought-after tones or hot rod your own. From rare vintage classics to roaring modern icons, every variation is delivered in the distinctive voicing of that amp style. The intuitive amp-like controls let you get your hands dirty from the get-go to explore decades of blistering tones.

Being a genuine SansAmp, each Character Series pedal is way more than an effect pedal. Each can be used as a stand-alone pre-amp to drive a power amp, a studio mixer, or a PA system, with the rich SansAmp cabinet emulation that sounds huge even straight into a computer soundcard. Or plug the Blonde, or any Character Series pedal into your guitar amp to take your tone somewhere extraordinary.

Tech 21 Blonde SansAmp Character Series CS-BL Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal Features:

• Knobs: Level, Mid, Character, Drive, Low, High
• Cabinet emulation
  
  Uses:
• Stand-alone pre-amp can drive a power amp, studio mixer, or PA system
• Plug into guitar amp
• Plug into computer soundcard

Get the tones you're looking for at a price you can afford. Call or click today to order.

Tech 21 Blonde SansAmp Character Series CS-BL Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal

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Average of 4 User Ratings

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Direct Recording Dream

Posted by Colin N. from Ontario, Canada on Oct 18, 2009

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Hobby/Semi-Pro

Reviewer's Play Style: Rock, Blues, Pop

I tried one of these after reading all the glowing reviews and after giving it a good test through my amps and also direct to my recording console, I just had to buy it. I have always appreciated the classic Fender amp sounds and this pedal will run the gamut. The character knob is the key, as it will take you backwards in time from blackface clean and sparkle, on to tweed mid-range and grunt. There is more gain to be had than any of the Fender amps the pedal emulates and the tone controls are very interactive and powerful. This is a very useful pedal, especially direct to a PA or recording. If you run the pedal through an amp you will have to flatten your eq in order to get the full effect. Most amps have their own sonic signatures but, this pedal will give you different flavors to play with. Get this pedal, if you want classic Fender sounds to record with as this is where the pedal shines. It is far more natural feeling then digital amp simulators.

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Very economical considering...

Posted by Anonymous Musician from Dallas, Texas on Jun 14, 2009

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Professional musician

Reviewer's Play Style: Classic rock, country, 90's alternative

Now, is this thing as good as a trailerful of vintage fender amps - no, but if your a working class musician with a bad back like me it's pretty close! I run mine through a Tech 21 power engine 60 and I have a miriad of convincing fender amp tones for less than the price of a foreign made blues jr. The cleans sparkle and the distrotion sings with sustain and harmonic overtones. Sustain is great whether clean or dirty. The suggested settings that Tech 21 provides are a good starting point, but tweaking the pedal to your own taste is where this baby shines. I'm looking foward to trying the other three character pedals. Twang on!!!

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Blonde

Posted by Aslan from Kansas on Nov 19, 2008

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: active musician

Reviewer's Play Style: Rock, Blues, R&B

I bought this pedal to use as a backup in case my amp died at a gig so I could go direct to the PA and still keep playing. I wasn't expecting it to be be like a real amp but after plugging it in and tying different settings Myself and the band we're really impressed. This pedal sounds just like a Fender amp, and with the character switch you can go from blackface to blonde to tweed tones. I put a at Rat in front of it and a Carbon Copy behind it and could cover just about any song. These pedals are way beyond any digital modeling type of pedal, I love it!

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Not Just an Effects Pedal

Posted by TelePlayer from Mississippi on Aug 30, 2008

Experience w/product: I own it

Reviewer's Background: Active Musician

Reviewer's Play Style: Rock, Country, Gospel

Tech 21 Blonde SansAmp Character Series CS-BL Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal Knobs: Level, Mid, Character, Drive, Low, High Cabinet emulation

Uses: Stand-alone pre-amp can drive a power amp, studio mixer, or PA system Plug into guitar amp Plug into computer soundcard

The Blonde is much more that just a Distortion Pedal. Tons of USABLE tones. I tried this at my favorite music store and was hooked immediately. I played the Blonde using my Nashville Tele through a generic little key board amp while the salesman played a tele through a Fender Blues Deluxe. With just a few tweaks we found it hard to tell which was which.

The Low, Mid, High tone controls all have an cut/boost range that would be adequate for any venue. With the Character and Drive set below 12 o’clock you super clean tones that really shimmer. Very reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You.” At higher Gain levels you can get anything from Tran Siberian Orchestra to a Ted Negent tone.

I tried this with my Tele, a Les Paul and a Casio, all sounded great.

There is enough tonal variation to fatten up a Tele sound or slim down a Les Paul.

Works just as well plugged into our PA.

The only down side is a little noise at very high gain levels.

I would highly recommend the Blonde to anyone who wants a Fender sound are just wants some tonal variations.

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Tech 21 Blonde SansAmp Character Series CS-BL Distortion Guitar Effects Pedal

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