Behringer GDI21 V-Tone Guitar Driver DI

I bought this as I wanted a cost effective option to use in place of carting an amp around on gigs. All my tone comes from a simple pedal board so I just needed something to sit between that and the P.A and take the role of the amp.

Te build quality I found pretty robust - it’s made of solid feeling hard plastic and the controls have a reassuring resistance so they won’t accidentally move and change your settings. The pedal has a lot of tonal options but crucially for me seems pitched more as a drive pedal than a strict amp simulator. All but one of the settings are drive based so my only option was the clean tweed and even then it would begin to drive my clean signal unless the drive control was completely off. The sound I got in the one setting that was useable for my purposes was okay. Not great but not hideous. The pedal has an odd sort of mid range hollowness that was difficult to EQ away on the P.A desk. However, in the context of the mix this was acceptable and for the money I can’t really complain.

If using as a drive pedal - though I’m not sure why anyone would - the sounds are a little brittle and harsh - and again all have that odd EQ voicing. The higher gain tones are smoother but the mid point drive sounds are quite nasty sounding to my ears.

So I wouldn’t really recommend this as a drive pedal as there are other better options - though obviously at a higher price point - and if wanting a simple amp simulator and if budget is an issue I would just about recommend this but in the knowledge that you will likely only find one of the amp models useful in this regard and that you will need to EQ on the desk to voice in the mix.

If this pedal were more expensive I’d look at other options but at this price point it’s worth a punt.