Tech 21 Sansamp Psa 1.1

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ericlingus

New member
I'm thinking about buying this. What do you guys think of it? It doesn't have any effects right? What different parameters does it have? How versitile is the distortion? Is there really just one type you can get or are there many? If anyone has one i'd really appreciate it if you could post a clip of it. How is it for plugging into an amp? Is that a viable way to use it or is it really just for DI? What advantage does it really have over the GT2? Also, are there any other guitar pre amps like this one around the same price range that are better than this?
 
I have the PSA-1 in my rack and use it both for dirty gits and bass. It can go directly to your amp via the 1/4" unbalanced line (it has 2 of them). It also has 2 xlr outputs for direct.

Once you learn the knobs, you'll find it very versitile. Although it can record direct, it really shines when you mic your amp.

I also use it when recording direct for my bass tracks...it really helps to put a nice punch on things.

As I also learned, it can be used on piano too during mixing...or even drums. The particular unit in my rack was purchased from Ralph Grierson's rack, an longtime Disney pianist.

If you have the opportunity to try it out, I'd suggest that. For me, the tone is awesome and the almost infinite combinations of settings are very appealing to me.

Plus...the new version 1.1 has a few more features that were desperatly needed. If you haven't been to their website, check it out http://www.tech21nyc.com/psa_1_1.html

Oh...and their customer support is more than top notch...really!
 
I have a mesa boogie F50 combo amp. I would like something that sounds great DI'd as well though when im not able to crank my amp. So that's mainly what i'll be using it for. ALthough i'll probably mess around with using it with my amp as well.
 
ericlingus said:
I have a mesa boogie F50 combo amp. I would like something that sounds great DI'd as well though when im not able to crank my amp. So that's mainly what i'll be using it for. ALthough i'll probably mess around with using it with my amp as well.
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It sounds ok when direct, but it also sounds like it is direct. But, if you do any bass tracks, then direct is great. I believe that the sound clips they provide on their site are all direct, so you can probably gauge what it will sound like.

It will sound different than a modeler, since it is not a modeler. You probably don't, but just in case you do, don't expect any direct source to sound like a miced amp.

With all of that said, I too purchased the PSA-1 as a direct recording tool, but have since used it as my primary preamp for my guitar amp and am extremely happy with it when it's miced.
 
I have the GT2 and trademark 10...both great...Bass direct great...and the amp miked in my isolation cabinet gets super results.

If Mesa would only make a 8" model...it would sound like a tech 21 tradmark 10.
 
I loved my PSA-1. The way the controls work is, each one has a different type of distortion/tone. You use the knobs to vary the ratio of different distortions. It works on the idea that different tube amps sound different because of the varying ratios of the different types of distortion. (preamp, power amp, cabinet, etc...)
 
Not to knock a decent product like the sans, but another very usable direct recording preamp is the Session Award JD-10. Doesn't quite do extreme metal, but a beauty for cleaner tones, blues, classic rock and sustained solo stuff. Very good speaker simulator and EQ.
 
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