TECH 21, THE COMPANY
Tech 21 was formed by a guitarist possessing the unusual combination
of a trained ear and electronics expertise. In 1989, B. Andrew Barta
made his invention commercially available to players and studios around
the world. His highly-acclaimed
SansAmp
™ pioneered Tube Amplifier
Emulation in professional applications for recording direct and perform-
ing live, and created an entirely new category of signal processing. There
have since been many entries into this niche, yet SansAmp continues to
maintain its reputation as the industry standard.
With a full line of SansAmp models, Tech 21 also offers effect pedals
and MIDI products, as well as “traditional” style amplifiers for guitar and
bass. Each product is thoughtfully and respectfully designed by B. An-
drew Barta himself with the player in mind. Our goal is to provide you
with flexible, versatile tools to cultivate, control, refine and redefine
your own individual sound. Tech 21 takes great pride in delivering con-
sistent quality sound, studio to studio, club to club, arena to arena.
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
A Tech 21 Fly Rig is much more than a pedalboard. In a single pedal. And
no board. Less than 13 inches long and weighing just over 20 oz., this
sleek, compact unit embodies an entire rig. At the heart, is the all-analog
SansAmp, which makes it possible to go direct to a PA or mixer. For ef-
fects, you have all the essentials and some fun stuff, too. What you don’t
have are crackling patch cables, dying batteries or ground loops. No
stinkin’ van, heavy flight cases, cable spaghetti, and no dead weight.
With a Tech 21 Fly Rig, you can relax. For fly gigs across the globe, jam-
ming at the local hang, and last minute sessions, you’ll be the first one
ready to go. You can stop stressing over what to pack and agonizing over
what to leave behind. You can stop dreading cheesy backline loaners and
overheating at the mere thought of your touring rig going down. Just
pop your Fly Rig into your guitar case or backpack and head for the
door. (Be sure to wipe that smile off your face when the rest of the band
shows up sweating and out of breath.)
RICHIE KOTZEN RK5 v2 SIGNATURE FLY RIG
The Richie Kotzen RK5 Signature Fly Rig was developed in close collab-
oration with Richie, whose input was invaluable. Meticulous about
every facet of his playing, singing, songwriting and tone, Richie’s atten-
tion to the details of his RK5 was nothing less.
Since the debut of the original RK5 in 2014, Richie’s needs have
changed, both on and off the road. Therefore, we jointly developed a
version 2, to incorporate some new features and follow the same form
as later Fly Rigs, such as the Bass and Acoustic.
The RK5 v2 retains the same delay with tap tempo, a powerful boost,
and Richie’s Signature OMG overdrive. New features include an inde-
pendent reverb with choice of room size, a rotary speaker mode, com-
pression, fuzz, a tuner, headphone capability and an XLR Output.
Another difference is an on/off button for the SansAmp section. Richie
previously would use his RK5 both with and without the SansAmp en-
gaged. Now he keeps it on all the time, so he no longer needs a dedi-
cated footswitch. For live performances, with ever-changing backlines, he’s
able to get his tone and at lower volume. On Richie’s latest releases,
The
Damned
and
Riot
, all the guitars were recorded direct.
If you’ve seen Richie on tour in recent years (and if you haven’t, you sim-
ply must), you may have noticed he uses two RK5s. He has continued this
practice with Version 2 so he can quickly switch between different set-
tings of each of the effects.
Richie is actively involved and responsive in the entire design process.
Having both a working and personal relationship with Richie, is a tremen-
dous highlight in our history.
APPLICATIONS
As a PRE-AMP or STOMPBOX with a guitar amp.
You can
connect the RK5 in-line just as you would a standard distortion pedal. If
the pre-amp of your amplifier is imparting too much of its own charac-
ter on the pedal, plug into the low level input and set the pre-amp as
clean and neutral as possible. As most amps tend to be on the bright
side, you may need to start with High in the SansAmp section below
12 o’clock and adjust as necessary.
Also, be aware that most tube amps have a tone stack. When every-
thing is on max, they tend to cut the mid range. So don’t be surprised
to find that the flattest sound is achieved with bass and treble at mini-
mum, and mid at max. Since most tube amp passive tone stacks work in
a similar fashion, we recommend this as a good starting point and ad-
justing to taste.
You can also plug into the effects loop return (if the amp has one). This
will disable the entire pre-amp of the amp for a truer representation of
the pedal’s sound.
For DIRECT RECORDING or DIRECT to PA.
All of the tone
shaping and cabinet emulation needed is already incorporated into the
SansAmp section of the pedal. It can be plugged into mixers (live and
studio), workstation/recorders, and even directly into the sound card
on a computer.
GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START
SIGNAL FLOW OF THE RICHIE KOTZEN RK5 v2 FLY RIG
SET LEVEL CONTROLS FOR UNITY GAIN
Set the level controls so you have the same volume coming from your
speaker/monitor whether the pedal is active or in bypass. This ensures
the next device in the signal chain won't get slammed by a much hotter
signal than what would normally come from the instrument. Similarly,
you wouldn't want a drop in volume either, which would force the next
device to struggle for enough signal.
NOTE:
When running the RK5 Output directly to the PA, set the
SansAmp Levels fairly high to achieve the best signal-to-noise ratio.
SET ALL OTHER CONTROLS AT NOON, just to get started.
CLIP WARNING
The Level control in the Delay section has a built-in clip warning. Like a
VU meter, it will flash red to warn you if the Fly Rig is being over-
loaded.
You can then trim the corresponding control accordingly: Boost, OMG
Level or SansAmp Level. Bear in mind that occasional blinks (peaks) are
okay and can be expected when you dig into your strings, but it should
not be continuously lit.
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