Tweet
Thinking about buying one of these...Anyone have any experience with them in a live situation? What sort of price am I looking at for a new unit?
-
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
New, they are sorta expensive, list is over $700us. But, they hit the street around $499 or so. I bought mine used for $250 and eventually sold it for around 300 bucks I remember, but it was mint.
I've used that preamp live a lot and for a tube "emulating" unit, I think it can be a pretty cool piece. If you listen to Sinergy: To Hell and Back, that is what they sound like, and they are very heavy and cab get a fairly cool clean sound. Nice tight edgy distortion.
I've used it with solid state power amps, Marshall 9200 and VHT 2150 tube power amps. It worked well with all of them really, but sounded best with the solid state and the VHT though, I felt that the EL34 tubes compressed it too much and gave it an odd sound.
Reliable, and fully MIDI programmable. Nice preamp really.
Probably not worth the $500+ but are a fine deal used.
Wish that I hadn't gotten rid of mine really. -
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
Thanks for the reply! With such a positive review from a guy who swears by his CAE/VHT setup, I'm definitely getting more interested in putting one of these in my setup...Comment
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
Well, it's no CAE, but it does do some things I like better. A little crisper (solid state distortion) with a nice edge and squeals.
If you like the Sinergy CD To Hell and back, Alexi used that unit and it sounds exactly like that guitar sound. No mistaking that.
I remember getting it and thought it wasn't so great, but after taking time tweaking it, I was eventually very happy with it.
There are controls to get a fender strat thin sound, to a thicker humbucking sound. A control that alter the Q of the sound like a parametric or wah.
With parameters listed like Buzz, Crunch and Punch, ya gotta love that, haha...
The only thing I was wanting from it was a bit thicker sound. And you hear the same thing in Alexi's sound, just a little thin. But cool...
You've seen the site I guess ehh?
http://www.tech21nyc.com/psa.htmlComment
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
It is a nice preamp, but I had difficulty REALLY getting it dialed in. It can be VERY heavy though. FWIW, I ended up going back to a POD. I have a sound I can nail with it, and it has effects, etc, all in one package that costs less and sounds as good IMO.
I bought and sold mine for $350.Comment
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
I'd agree that the POD is probably easier to get a general sound with as well. I guess I just hear more DSP stuff in the PODs that the Sansamp.
They both have their point. And I have to admit, you rarely see people admitting use of teh Sansamp on recording where the POD is common.
I liked Alexi's sound and that was the interest for me with th PSA-1 preamp. Heavy, wah like sound...Comment
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
I used mine live a few times through a Powerengine 60 and a Boogie poweramp. Sounds pretty tight through the powerengine...might have something to do with the speakers, too. Through the boogie it was a bit flaccid sounding. I forget the cab I was using but, like I say, the Powerengine speaker is probably optimized for the Tech 21 stuff.
I mostly used mine for recording--I actually replaced my XT with it. Compared to the POD, I thought the PSA-1 was crisper, clearer and more in-your-face sounding. It also has nice clean tones and can do bass really well (there are some very usuable bass presets). It seems to have a quicker attack as well.
It's VERY tweakable, which can actually end up being a chore. There are something like 5 knobs for adjusting distortion. Starting with a preset you like makes things easier.
Bought mine new (forget the price), sold it on eBay for $400 in mint condition.Comment
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
I played one while shopping for guitar preamps. It sounded pretty good, but I much prefer my ADA MP-1 which I picked up used for quite a bit cheaper.Comment
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
[ QUOTE ]
Compared to the POD, I thought the PSA-1 was crisper, clearer and more in-your-face sounding. It also has nice clean tones and can do bass really well (there are some very usuable bass presets). It seems to have a quicker attack as well.
It's VERY tweakable, which can actually end up being a chore. There are something like 5 knobs for adjusting distortion. Starting with a preset you like makes things easier.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good description! That's my experience too. I run a POD 2.3 thru a Powerengine 60 now. Works well. I just couldn't deal with the Sansamp though - I spent all my time tweaking, and very little playing. Definitely more "in your face", hi-fi sounding, but almost to a fault. Too harsh IMHO. I just couldn't find the sounds I was getting with my POD.Comment
-
Re: Sansamp PSA-1
I can definitely see where you're coming from with the "to a fault" comment. I agree--it can sound a bit too harsh and it's really easy to mix settings in ways that produce wonky / buzzy results. Might have something to do with the onboard speaker simulation, too.
I still dug it, but since I bought an isolation cabinet, I wasn't using it for much more than bass, for which is was sort of overkill. If I need to do quick direct stuff now, I use my v-stack pedal, which sounds pretty amazing, but isn't nearly as flexible as a PSA-1 or POD.Comment
Comment