Sansamp PSA 1.x

[11miles]

Hey,

your thoughts, please....

I dont play metal, more rock, i want big sound (who doesn/t?) and versatile!

Opinions about this pre-amp!
And jsut the tone by itself!
Dont tell me about what poweramp shoudl i buz to reallz see the light...


i want to buz a pre-amp that will sound good bz itself!

[Bengal65]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

Best preamp I've ever had very flexable and tweakable. Customer tech support is excellent. When you call you get the guy that designed the units. The preset amp settings are great and the tone is awesome. Further tweaking can get you anything you want. For recording, I go direct to the board. For live applications, I run it into a VHT 2/90/2 using a BBE Sound Maximizer.

[11miles]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

I have been wonderign about its directo out!
DO you think you coudl also run it straight to the PA desk?
THe other one you coudl use for the cab?
OR is it better idea to run it t a DI box (or maybe even a speaker simulator?)

What style do you play?

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

Considering you're into rock more than metal, have you considered the POD pro rack preamp?

Neither the sansamp or Voodu sound all that great direct in to a PA or recording mixer. Where the POD (for Rock, they aren't heavy enough for my taste in metal) would be exceptionally better. And sound great into a PA or recording mixer and have great effects and much flexibility.

[Bengal65]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

I play just about everything from Chet Atkins, Les Paul, to Lynch and Ace. That's why I have the Sansamp PSA-1. It will go to the board OK, but if your looking to go to a cabinet you will need to run it through a power amp first. The power amp can be solid state or tube (valve) type.

[11miles]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

i have had POD pro already, but i hated it!
Iliek the VV much more!
More versatile, far more flexible, better sounding in general!

But i have heard the PSA-1 and i msut say i am very pleased!
I will go tomorrow to try it out, also the guy i am testign it with has the PGA-04 also!
I was wondering, is the DI box such as palmer really a benefit in this case. Guitar-PSA-PAlmer PG-04?
Or is it better, to go guitar-PSA-poweramp-palmer! Some say that is where the DI boxes (that are also speker asimulator, or are thought as one) really shines!
Especially if you are using valve power-amp!
But in my case, where people say they get better results form PSA with SS power-amp, i am not really benefiting, ha?
I am going to test that MF, tomorrow, but i want to knwo what can i expect!

I woudl not consider going from pre-amp to the cab, dont worry! Cleveland Metal, taught me well

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

Guitar-PSA-poweramp-palmer Would be the general way.

Not sure about PSA into a Palmer and to the board. Since the PSA is just a preamp, its output would just be line level, and the Palmer would merely be acting as a buffer and I'm really not sure how the Palmer would even deal with just getting a line level signal. Maybe not so good. Then again, maybe it would be cool.

I've ran my PSA into boards and "I" personally felt that it sounds crappy. But, I also wasn't too impressed running My Voodu valve directly into the board either. Maybe others are ok with it. I could hear a sound in it that I hated, very weird overdriven solidstate sound. And I think it was because of the line level input going into the board. Maybe too much of an impedance difference I always thought.

I ran my PSA into a Big Crown Solid state amp and it was pretty cool. I also ran it into a Marshall EL34-100/100 and a VHT2150 and it was cool as well. They say the solid state amps sound better with them, I liked both. So, I don't think there is a big decision in that aspect for that particular preamp.

Again, after usingthe PSA for a year or two and then getting a Voodu, I liked the Voodu better really. More natural sounding.

They are BOTH very capable of bad sounds, trust me. And they both do some things the other isn't good at. So I'll say you may have to play with one a bit to make your own decision.

[11miles]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

So a cool way to go direct would be.....

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

Guitar-PSA-poweramp-palmer Would be the general way.

You might try using a cheap DI box to match PSA's output impedance to a mixer and see if that sounds ok...

I just never found a preamp that sounded so well right into the board except maybe the POD Rack unit.

[11miles]

Re: Sansamp PSA 1.x

So i went to try out some rigs this afternoon! My friend who is also a metal fan, doing a lot of metal stuff in his studio, accepted me with arms wide open!

i brought my guitar and we hit it off!

ENGL Powerball, and it's dedicatad 4*12 cabinet!
The thing is really awesome. TOen is excelent, the frequencies are really all there, the power also...
Great setup, and no hassle. Jsut it weighes a tone, and you are again very dependant form how you mic the thing!

The we had MArshall JMP-1, ENGL 530, and Sansamp PSA-1!
All direct out:
Well out of all, i liked PSA the most, but not as nearly, that i woudl ever consider running it DI. Never ever!
The two other were even worse sounding!
It made me think, that maybe the VV is really not so bad at all: HAving all the stuff already in. The effects, speaker simulator... And i had some good experience with it going straight to the PA.

Anyway, next step was all the pre-amps to a ENGL head (only power-amp) and from there to PALMER, and through palmer PGA-04 to computer RME AD converters and frotm here to dynaudio BM6!

First the powerball itself. The soudn was there, i think we used brown setting for the PAlemr and fullrange was out. So we tweaked the frequencies, and there was the difference! From lows to highs.... You are able to set the tone! Also the input knob helps, DUH!

Anyway the soudn of the ENGL powerball is very ncie, although if you are nto playing metal i dont see how you can miss it!
On the other hand i am really not that picky guitar player, wanting to have 34 billions sounds and effects.
I jsut need 2 channels! And good ones!
SO next step was ENGL pre-amp, Not so nice as the head, but we did nto tweak really a lot! But still, the sound was pretty out! The Marshall really took the fall as the next one!
It sounded very thin, although we tried to tweak it a bit! Well he did most of the work, i jsut played and said what am i lacking! Well we got the frequencies running, but the feelign was jsut not right, you knw what i mean?
I must say, that we were both very impressed by the sound of the palmer! We both agree, that having this sound going to the PA makes your heart smile!

And then the test i was really there for in the first place!
PSA-1 through POWERBALL power-amp to palmer!
I twedle around some factory presets! ANd some that were made by him!
I tried clean crunch, and high gain! It sounded the best!
I dont knwo, who said that the PSA-1 sounds crap through valve power-amp, but if they are right, i cant iamgine what am i suppose to hear using a SS power-amp!

But then i was thinking!
I reall want to have an optimized rig! And it seemed with palmer i have found a new friend:-)
For small gigs i wont drag my cab, no where to place it, no where to set it up, the volume is always a problem....GOOOOOOD

I hate it!
So you plug your thing into a palmer, and you can go to the PA direct, no hassle, or use it like a load box!
Anycase, you can set it really high to get tubes screaming, and the signal will still be healthy!

BUt then it got me thinking!

let say i stick to PSA-1! I need a poweramp. Valve or SS!
Tith valve, i have the characteristcs of a valve, DUH, but from a clean SS?
On the other hand would i need the power-amp to color the tone of the Pre-amp?

And then the always thought off ratio!
Money vs. functionality!

Am i better of havign the 6100 to a palmer and a cab for really big concerts!
Or should i get the pre-amp, the power-amp, and the palmer?
I mean i have been there, done that, with all sorts of equipment!
And what i like about Marshall si that its simple, and has character!
PSA1 is strong, hard, tweakable. but no special character!
IMHO!

I am wondering what to do......
On the other hand i just wanted to tell you about the tryouts, and what i think of it!

And just so you know!
I showed him my all black guitar! Its really an epi Studio,but its remodeled, with SD pickups, Shaller hardware...
I got credited by the sound of it by a true metal (EMG all the way) fan!