GA-GT2

About the GA-GT2

Inspired by the Tech 21 SansAmp GT2: the little tube-amp-in-a-box that let a whole generation record convincing amp tones straight into the desk — no mic, no bleed, no complaints from the neighbours.

The GA-GT2 is a guitar and bass preamp and DI plugin built to be the fastest route to a usable amp tone in your DAW. Feed it a dry DI and it hands back anything from a character-filled vintage clean to full-on heavy metal distortion, with a switchable speaker cabinet on the end. Guitarists reach for it first, but it's just as happy adding warmth and saturation to bass, and producers keep it around for colouring drum and vocal tracks. One box, a lot of ground covered.

The SansAmp GT2, and the amp-in-a-box idea it made famous

The unit that inspired the GA-GT2 arrived in 1989 as a more affordable, scaled-down take on the SansAmp PSA-1 — same core amp-emulation trick, pedal-sized and pedal-priced. It caught on fast. Punk rockers, metalheads and country players all patched it in, and bassists discovered it made a killer DI for warmth and grit. Its durability made it a touring staple. We rebuilt that circuit with our real-time, component-based simulation, then arranged the GUI as a 19-inch rack unit so you can stack several instances vertically in your DAW and layer parts without the interface turning into a jigsaw.

Three amps, three modes, three mic positions

The Amplifier Setup section is where the GA-GT2's range lives. Pick one of three amp types — Cali, British or Tweed — each with its own voicing. Choose one of three modes — Clean, Hi Gain or Hot-Wired — which set how hard the tube stage is pushed. Then select one of three mic positions — Off Axis, Center or Classic — to emulate where the microphone sits in front of the speaker. Combine them and you have a deep menu of amp characters from one panel. The Drive knob pushes the overall gain and overdrive like leaning on a tube amp's output, while the Level control trims volume without touching the tone.

Using the GA-GT2 on guitar, bass and beyond

On guitar, run the Cab Sim in for a finished, mix-ready tone, or bypass it and place the GA-GT2 in front of your favourite amp plugin like a real distortion pedal. The Baxandall-style Treble and Bass controls shape clarity and body; the Phase switch flips polarity so parallel layers don't cancel. On bass, it delivers the classic SansAmp DI warmth and saturation. The Mix knob blends dry against processed — a must for keeping low end intact on bass and for parallel guitar and drum saturation. Layering multiple distorted guitars? Attenuate the wet signal a touch on each new layer to fend off mud. It sits well next to our vintage colour boxes like the tube preamp OmniTec-67A when you want more character in the chain.

GA-GT2 Features

Three amp types: Cali, British, Tweed

Choose between three distinct amp voicings, each with its own character — the scooped Cali, the mid-forward British and the warm Tweed — as the tonal foundation before you shape anything else.

Three modes: Clean, Hi Gain, Hot-Wired

The mode switch sets how hard the tube stage is driven, from clean headroom through Hi Gain crunch to the saturated Hot-Wired voicing. It's the quickest way to move from a sparkling clean to full metal distortion.

Three mic positions: Off Axis, Center, Classic

Emulate where the microphone sits in front of the speaker cabinet. Off Axis, Center and Classic each change the balance of attack and body, so you can dial in a captured-in-the-room feel without touching a real mic.

Baxandall Treble & Bass with Drive and Level

The Baxandall-style Treble and Bass controls add clarity or define the low-end body, matching the original unit's shelving EQ. Drive pushes overall gain and overdrive like a cranked tube output, while Level trims volume without altering the tone.

Switchable cab simulation

Engage the Cab Sim for a finished, mix-ready tone, or bypass it to run the GA-GT2 in front of your favourite amp plugin exactly like a standalone distortion pedal.

Mix blend and Phase switch

The Mix knob blends dry and processed signal — essential for parallel saturation on bass, drums and vocals — while the Phase switch inverts polarity so blended and layered tracks don't cancel each other out.

Authentic circuit emulation

Our real-time, component-based circuit simulation captures the sound and feel of the analog unit as closely as possible, with every crucial part of the circuit faithfully modelled.

SSE2 and Apple Silicon optimised code

DSP operations are pipelined on the latest SSE2 and Apple Silicon instruction sets for high-performance operation, even under complex processing.

Auto-adjusted oversampling

A low-latency, linear-phase Dolph-Chebyshev polyphase design attenuates aliasing and auto-adjusts to your session's sample rate to save CPU while staying transparent.

HighDPI / Retina support

Crisp, high-pixel-density rendering on macOS and Windows for a sharp interface on modern displays.

GA-GT2 — Additional Notes