Tech 21 SansAmp PSA-1 Preamp

It's quite easy to get a good sound out of this unit. The presets themselves are very good and usually require a simple adjustment of the Bass and Treble, when switching guitars. Now, here comes the downer. The controls on this thing are unlike anything else I've ever experienced, so it can be kind of a chore to edit patches. It isn't impossible, it just takes getting used to. Read the manual, that's what it's there for! Once you do understand how these unique controls work, you will have opened up a pandora's box of great tones! Unlike most preamps that merely adjust the parameters of the tone, this thing goes beyond that. It adjusts the overall sound, from Raging distortion to crystal cleans to bluesy overdrive, to whatever. Very, VERY versatile. Just a little difficult to program, but if you're willing to put in the time, you will be rewarded.

I'm using my PSA-1 with a carvin solid state power amp and I'll tell you why; The tech at tech21 explained to me that since this thing is a tube amp emulater, all the tone comes from the unit itself and anything more may muddy it up. A tube amp would add too much compression and therefore limit your headroom. Anyway, to make a long story short, it was recommended that a solid state power amp with the least amount of coloration be used, i.e pure clean power. Well, I replaced my old poweramp with the solid state one and woe and behold, there was my tone! Incredible! I still can't get over it. So, the moral of the story? The least amount of coloration will bring out the animal in this thing. Trust me!

no problems at all

Tech 21 are the kings of customer support, just check them out for yourself!

I love this thing, I really do. I can't imagine ever wanting anything else. If you hook it up to a clean solid state power amp and a good quality cabinet, you'll fall in love! Trust me!

I've had the PSA-1 for 5 years now with no sign of getting bored. Has about every knob you'd want on a preamp--great tone shaping framework. Effects loop is clean with no audible transients or loss of signal integrity. Also like the 50/50 wet/dry switch giving me more tonal flexibility when blending effects into my sound.

Straight off, it has very good sounds, when compared to what else is out there. Personally, I like the Marshall(1), Plexi(4), and the Twin(15)presets to build my sounds from. The Boogie presets are also nice. If you are a fiddler and tweaker (don't forget to get some playing in) you'll love this unit.I sometimes sense a nasalness on certain settings, and the clean, although tight and full, lacks character. I've dealt with that somewhat by running it through a good 4X10 tube combo (Fender BF Concert). I love how the PSA-1 can drive the front end of this amp, giving me wickedly pretty harmonic feedback on command in the high gain settings.

No problems.

No need.

I've been a semi-pro player for 20+ years and have owned and tested (stage and studio) reams of guitars, effects and amps--and have also sold off many of them. I'm a firm believer in the inescapable fact that everything in the chain of sound will affect the outcome. An earlier reviewer complained about how the PSA-1 needs to be adjusted for each different guitar, thus disappointing him in live venues. That challenge is a fact of life for guitarists no matter what you plug into. It's not a problem with the unit, rather its a planning problem. The PSA-1 has enough custom patch space to address that(should you choose this mission, Jim...). You really have to think "gear relationships" when building your rig/sound. I like gear versatility, so I'm not much into brand name guitars. My two frankenbabies are strat based, each with different wood (resonance)which influenced how I changed the guts. The first was built from an American ESP Custom--I installed three first generation Virtual Vintage Dimarzio strat pickups (low output duckbuckers and quiet!!!)and a Fishman strat vibrato bridge with peizos. Its a great Blues/R&B/Funk/Country and Southern Rock axe. The second (my work horse)was built from an early Kramer American. It still has the Floyd (back braced and fine tuned to float like "buttah") but I've ditched the lock nut for a graphite one with Sperzels. The guts are 1)Tom Anderson HM2(yellow) in the bridge, A Duncan vintage rail in the middle and a Cool Rail in the neck. The neck was custom built by a local luthier to be wider at the nut. The work horse is amazing for all rock forms, jazz, and all that textural eighties stuff guitarists did to hold their own against blaring synths. Both guitars are markedly different in tone and output, yet can be handled by the PSA-1 with proper planning. In the effects loop I run an old Korg A-3 with my own presets. Everthing is midi mapped with switching silent and fast through a floor controller. Its a very versatile setup for live and studio applications. The only other toys for the rack rig are an old DBX half rack compressor (modest setting)and a Crybaby 535. I use a couple of different rigs depending on the application and venue ranging from rack and processor to small tube combo with a couple of stompers. I'd definitely get another PSA-1 for the rack if this one were lost or stolen(might try out the Triaxis first). It's versatile, quiet, and cuts through in live applications.

Final soap box comment, it ain't in the hands--they're just following orders. Its in the head and soul, and tone alone is not enough--find your musicality. Great stuff has been played on crappy guitars and amps.

Well, it has knobs. Nothing complicated about this. Some of the midi features may take a little work but otherwise anyone capable of turning a knob should be able to make this thing do whatever they want with very little effort. You can edit patches in your sleep. The manual is very good. Also, the entire manual is available on their web site in addition to the knob settings for all of the presets. I found this to be incredibly helpful when creating my own sounds because it gave me an idea of what different combinations of knob settings sound like without having to start from scratch and figure it all out for myself.

INCREDIBLE distortion sounds. I'm playing it through a Mosvalve 962 which is quite possibly the best solid state guitar power amp that has EVER been made!!! I'm using a les paul, a strat, and a custom made plexi/acrylic body guitar. Also a digitech gsp2101 artist strictly for effects. You can get the sound of pretty much any amp you can think of. Marshall, Fender, Boogie, Randall, Peavey, Soldano, and any mod you can think of.... Metal, southern rock, classic rock, jazz, blues, rockabilly, funk, guitar rock (vai, satriani, etc...)...you name it, they are all there. Also, the presets are incredible. Use the "santana" preset(one of the coolest presets on it) with a bit of reverb and a hint of delay and WOW!!!!!!!!! The Marshalls actually sound like Marshalls, the Fenders like fenders and the Boogies (and the Pantera preset at full volume) can bring down an entire building!!! The miscellaneous vintage sounds (fuzz face, pig nose, etc....) are also amazing!!! EVERY single subtlety of playing through an all tube amp can be found in this unit (at least through my setup). The overtones, the singing sustain, the dynamics depending on how you hit the strings even on the highest overdrive settings...incredible. I used the psa-1 to replace an ADA MP-1 (which I still have but just got tired of) and found that the PSA-1 is much quieter, + I can get all the mp-1 sounds and about a million more with absolutely nothing lost. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because I'm still in search of the ultimate clean tone. Don't get me wrong, the clean tones you can get out of this thing are pretty amazing, but as with most clean tones I've heard they lack what I would call depth. They are as clean and transparent as you can imagine, but they are still lacking a little bit of...well...it's hard to describe, but it's a certain timbre that I've simply never been able to find....the search for the ultimate clean tone goes on I guess........ To be fair, I wouldn't call this a flaw because i've really never been able to find this tone in any amp/preamp combination, or amp that I've tried. Guess I'm just too damn picky about clean tones.

I've only had it for a short time so I really can't comment on this.

Same thing I said about reliability. However, their website has great info on it.

I've been playing for about 12 years. Everything from progressive (dream theatre, rush, etc..) to metal, to jimmy buffet, cat stevens, to ozzy and anything in between. Primarily original music covering all of these styles. This thing is great for anything you can possibly play. I'm currently playing in a cover band and it has EVERY sound I need and then some. That's saying a lot because we do everything from 50's to disco to metal to new stuff like Lit, Blink 182, Bush, to country and southern rock... I've used a bunch of other amps and preamps over the years, ada mp1, tubeworks realtubeII, digitech stuff(crappy distortion), ART stuff(also real crappy distortions) Marshalls, Fenders...you name it... The PSA-1 combined with the right power amp is right up there with the best of the bunch. One thing to remember, it is just a preamp. You DO need to make sure you have a good quality amp and good effects if you use effects. If you have a bad amp, it will suck all the tone out of your sound and no matter if you have a PSA-1, a JMP or a Triaxis, it will sound like total crap!! I would recommend a Boogie, a Marshall Monobloc(if you can carry the damn thing) or a Mosvalve if you can find one. By the way, If anyone has found the ultimate clean tone and would like to let me know what they did to get it, please e-mail me at dirofmis@aol.com.

Once you get used to the unique controls on this thing, you're on your way to creating a wide spectrum of tones. The best way to become familiar with them is to simply select a preset you like and play around with the dials. In no time at all, you'll figure this thing out. Bear in mind, the control panel on this thing does look a bit overwhelming at first, but so does anything else you're not familiar with. Also, the dials are very sensitive, so take it easy. Turning a dial just a little will result in a whole new sound. Like I said, select a preset and tweak away. You'll have this mastered in a day. Editing patches is a breeze; just tweak till your happy, press save twice and your done. It doesn't get any easier. It also helps to read the manual, which is very informative and easy to understand.

Here's my setup: A Mosvalve 962 power amp, a Rocktron IIcx Hush, a BBE Sonic Maximizer362, a Furman PQ3 parametric EQ, an Alesis Q2 and then finally, the crown jewel of my rig, my Sansamp PSA-1. I play Jackson and Gibson guitars. This thing can get a little noisy at high gain settings, but show me a preamp that won't and I'll buy you an Ice Cream! The Hush unit cleans this up just fine though. Ok, what can I say about the PSA-1...I don't even know where to begin. This is by far the best preamp I've ever owned. I've owned an ADA mp-1, a Rocktron Piranha, a Marshall JCM800, I've played through alot of amps and this thing beats them all hands down. I can't get over the fact that this is a solid state unit! Yes, solid state! Take your precious tubes and stick 'em up your ass, because this thing kicks! The only sound I can't get out of this (not yet anyway) is a swept midrange sound, but that's what I have my good old Furman PQ3 for. Besides, I don't believe in an all in one unit. Half the fun of putting together a guitar rig is mixing and matching units. I do believe that it all starts with the preamp though. A great preamp, a great poweramp and a great speaker cabinet and you're good to go. Other than that, I have no complaints about the sounds I get out of this magic box. One reviewer said that the PSA-1 doesn't respect the natural tone of the guitar. I must state that this guy is just plain wrong! In fact, everytime I plug a different guitar into it, I need to adjust the highs and lows on the unit. So tell me again how it doesn't respect the tone of the guitar? I don't know where else to go with my review of the sound quality, it's all there: crystal cleans to raging distortion, Marshall to Mesa to Fender to Vox, Metallica, Pantera, it's all in there and then some! Oh yes, one more thing; the Tech21 website recommends the use of a solid state power amp with the PSA-1. It allows for more headroom. My Mosvale is solid state, so I can't really say whether or not this is the case, but I'm pretty sure they know what they're talking about.

I've only had this unit for a short time. So far, so good.

I've spoken with them over the phone and the guy I sopke to seemed very nice, very helpful and very knowledgable. I emailed them with a question and I'm still waiting for a response. It's been over a week now. Maybe they're backed up?

I play very heavy metal/hardcore and this unit (along with my PQ3) suits my style to a T. I'll give this unit a 9 and I'll tell you why. The effects loop is not active. I run my Parametric EQ in the effects loop and this just kind of sucks. If I need a raging death metal tone for one song and a regular modern distorted tone for another, I can't just step on a midi floor controler. I need to walk up to my rig and click off my parametric EQ. Like I said, this just plain sucks! The effects loop gives you the option of running whatever you are running in the effects loop at 100% or 50%. But it's either on or off manually. C'mon, what were they thinking? Anyway, I give the overall sound quality a 10. This thing really is a dream come true.

I have a beautiful setup(at least in my opinion) I use an ESP LTD V250 with EMG/HZ hums.(very excellent guitar)the esp runs into the psa-1 while in the effects loop i have a 535q,boss ce-5 chorus(nice pedal)
and have the psa-1 hooked up to a servo 120 power amp into a mesa 2x12 recto cab. The sounds can be totally mind blowing and brutal with this setup! Perfect metal bliss. Although i do use the clean tones very much. Everything is just so great sounding, i cant really ask 4 more. Yes it does get noisy when you crank all nobs up to ten, but dont be an ass, read the manual before u act all tough guy with this unit. id give this thing a 20 if i could!

Made in `98 i think. This baby works wonders for everything i play. Mostly i play anything from rock, some jazz, to metal maybe even a bit of country ( i like the twangy guitar thing lol)But mainly i focus on metal and find myself regularly using the Mesa presets. But dont get me wrong, the clean sounds are all excellent and lively, the blues sounds great outta this unit. 49 presets and another 49 for your own. Read more about it at tech 21`s sight. Its a blessing that this unit has no poor quality effects in it like most preamps do. If your worried about duplicating that exact Mesa or Marshall sound with this unit and you are frustrated that u cant exactly get it, believe me, no one in the crowd is gonna notice it. i mostly use the psa-1 in bedroom or at friends place with my servo 120 power amp and my 535Q and a cuple effects boxes. 9.5 on features

I dont trash my stuff, `nuff said

never dealt

I have been palying for 4 years now. Long enuf to know the difference between shit and heavenly gear. I wud definettly buy it again if lost or stolen. Then i would buy (or steal) a shitty zoom 505 and kill that sucker with it! I kinda wish there was a power off and on button, but since i dont have a traditional amp this has all my tones in it and it is on all the time. Very easy to save and delete presets. very very wide range of tones, turn a nob a 16th of an inch and youll come up with something completely different! Be sure to check this box out before even considering something else.

SOUNDS BETTER THAN ANY PRE AMP ON THE MARKET. MAKES THE MARSHALL JMP 1 AND LINE 6 SOUND LIKE TOYS.

THE BEST ! STRAIGHT FOWARD, SIMPLE, FUNCTIONAL, NOT A BUNCH OF DIGITAL CRAP YOU'LL NEVER USE.

TOUGH

FAST N FRIENDLY AND THEY KNOW THEIR STUFF. RESPOND TO E-MAILS WITHIN 24 HOURS.

NONE BETTER ! THIS THING SOUNDS BETTER THAN 90% OF REAL TUBE AMPS ON THE MARKET TODAY. LINE 6 ? JUST A FAD. TECH 21 ? HERE TO STAY. THE ONLY THING WE NEED NOW IS A TECH 21 POWER AMP AND 4X12. A MUST BUY, SHOULD BE THE ONLY AND LAST AMP YOU EVER PURCHASE !

I have only played my one guitar into it which is a 50's type strat with very sweet, low output Duncan alnico2 type pickups. I fondly remembered playing this thing in a rack at a music store years ago and always remembered how uterly transparent it was capable of being to a stratocaster. My favorite tone is a singing, sustaining distortion that still allows the acoustic tone of the guitar to come through un-changed and responds to every nuance of your touch. When I came across one of these used about half a year ago, I bought it on the spot. Before this, I was in hell with a mess of stomp boxes going into my stock old Marshall...pretty decent lead tone, NO crunch, NO clean and frankly, my best day with stomp boxes was just not that great compared to ANY day with the PSA-1 into my Marshall. I want to make one preachy statement before I go any further: Tone starts with your fingers. With an appropriate guitar, this pre-amp, a decent delay/effects unit into a good power amp(I definately recommend a good tube power amp) and a good sounding cab (I use a very old vintage Marshall straight cab) there is just no excuse for not being able to come incredibly close to the sound of your favorite player. Playing with CONVICTION,SOUL and ATTITUDE will close the gap between what you WISH you sound like and what you DO sound like every time. This pre-amp really does not have any one characteristic and pervasive tone that you are stuck with. This is NOT the case with virtually every other pre-amp I have ever played. ALL of the lower priced, alleged "tube" (more on that later) ones have a honky, nasal sound and a certain raspy, very unmusical distortion that never goes away no-matter how much you fiddle with the knobs. Also, those few that can generate a tolerable saturated distortion always sound lifeless and dead at anything less than massive gain settings. NOT the case with the PSA-1 which does a mild break-up so well. Also, I often found that the clean sounds of most other pre-amps don't "match" the dirty sounds, meaning switching back and forth sounds so abrupt. Again, not the case with the Sans-amp. I should be honest and not gush too much ever. The finest, cost no object all tube pre-amps that I have played such as the motorized Soldano for instance, do have a sweeter, finer, more focused and articulate distortion at their best. However, none have anywhere near the tonal flexiblity of the sans-amp, and I'd bet in the context of a live band and a good player, you would never be able to tell a Soldano or whatever from a similar tone dialed in on the PSA-1. That being said, I need to state the following:
I can think of several reasons why players might turn their nose up at this unit: First, lots of companies have tried to do what this unit can do for the last 15 years at least, and failed miserably. THis is not a cheap digital simulation of amp tones. IT's a full-blown FET(which have quite a bit in common with vaccum tubes and clip just like them) pre-amp and despite my loyalty to all things tube, this thing sounds more like tube generated distortion than tube generated distortion! Second, and most important: if someone were to walk up to this thing in a music store and start twisting knobs without knowing what they're doing, the sound they would most likely get is a very buzzy, ridiculously distorted and very "transistory" tone. However, the PSA-1 is capable of the sweetest or nastiest distortion, the most sparkling clean tones, and virtually EVERYTHING in between. If you're the type of player that is never happy with your tone two days in a row, this is YOUR pre-amp! No matter what might not sound right...there is a knob that can be turned to fix it. This is the last thing to mention to anyone who may have had a bad experience with it: Each knob is incredibly sensitive and the range is huge, vastly more than any other pre-amp or amp. Turning just about any knob a mere 1/8 of a turn in any direc

This is a Midi switchable, FET-based guitar pre-amp. See their website or other reviews for features, I don't need to repeat them! There is no feature I wish it had, instead I praise tech 21 for the features this unit does NOT have such as cheesy horrible chorus, noisy, crappy compression, cheap quirky noise gates etc. Build quality seems excellent. Knobs feel nice and solid to turn, and I'm always a sucker for a thick, brushed aluminum face plate. Even has rack handles on front. Storing pre-sets by pushing your pick into the slot is a simple stoke of genious and another indication of how much care and passion went into the design of his unit. I see some folks ranking on its user friendliness. I disagree. The fact that this is hands down the most versitile pre-amp in the world is no reason to give it a bad mark just because you need to read the manual and become very intimate with what each knob does. I would only give it a bad mark if was un-necessarily complicated to do anything and that's not the case. Having only nice old fashioned knobs to turn with NO scrolling and peering into a LCD and scratching your head over computer lingo is a major blessing here. I could not possibly think of anyway that such an unbelievably vast range of sounds could be offered from such a simple and intuitive interface.

No glitches yet, I don't really bounce this thing around. It basically just stays in a rack in my practise space so can't say much here.

I have not needed to contact these folks so again I can't give a good opinion here. The website looks well maintained so that tells me they are on the ball.

I've been playing since the 70's and believe me for you guys that weren't around back then, you have no idea how good life is for a guitar player now! Back then if you were one of us regular kids, you had a Peavy practise amp, a Les Paul copy with strings 3 inches off the fingerboard and got a sound so horrible you just about quit to take up the flute instead. As for being able to get a sound anything remotely like your favorite guitar player...forget it, you didn't even dream that such a thing could be possible.
I notice others raving about this unit seem to have a long history and have owned lots of other gear too. That says a lot for the PSA-1. If it were stolen, yes I would definately find another one. Despite the flexibility and vast array of sounds the unit is capable of, it can NOT make a bad guitar sound good. It also cannot make a bad guitar PLAYER sound good! (If you fall into that category, please don't pour your money into any more gear, save your money put your energy into your playing first). Also, be realistic: Don't play it into the front of a Marshall Major full stack at 145 decibels and act surprised that the "Fender Champ" pre-set doesn't sound like a Fender Champ. (The pre-sets are not very flattering anyway).
I guess the only other pre-amp it could compare to in its price range would be the ADA mp-1 which I owned back in my embarrassing 80's metal-head days. I recently played one and remembered why I eventually dumped it. The sound I tried to get always seemed to be in between the very crude choice of settings...everything was either too much or too little. That unit did have a pretty articulate distortion however, and like the sans-amp was capable of a very BIG tone, not the thin crappy sound you hear from most other pre-amps.

To put everthing above in perspective; you will not get a sound EXACTLY like a Vox AC-30, Marshall plexi etc. Instead, realistically, it sounds more like a Vox, Fender vibrolux, Marshall or whatever plugged into a load box that is then plugged into a straight power amplifier. The way in which it falls short of the real thing really has more to do with the attack, it's not as explosive and full sounding from top to bottom as going straight into a full amp, but frankly, the control and balance I get instead makes that a good thing for me. Also, being able to instantly switch between so many fantastic and really "organic" tones is just heaven. I agree that it is not a plug and play unit. I also agree that you will have to fiddle with it to sound the way you want at every volume setting and with every guitar and space you play in. You may want to try just one toy with it for a more personal sound, which is a cheap MXR Dyna-comp. Don't use it to overdrive the input, there's no need for that. Use it very subtly and at unity gain to enhance string attack (humbucker players probably won't need it). You should definately run some good reverb or mild delay with it, dry is ok, but frankly, a bit of "magic dust" from a good processor is really necessary to stay happy with it. A crappy speaker cabinet will make any amp sound like crap. Please, please, please, invest in a glorious vintage Marshall cabinet, a good power amp and you should be set for life. Last comment: If you are still turning up your nose because this thing does not use tubes, my advice is to get over it. Most other "tube" pre-amps use solid state devices to clip anyway. Also, let's face reality for a minute: Do you know one person who gets a raging classic Marshall tone and does NOT use a stomp box in front of it to create 90% of the distortion you hear?(try Van Halen in his glory days, and all the old timers including of course Hendrix etc). Please don't tell me about the newer Marshall amps "all tube distortion". They are the nastiest, most un-musical sounding amps I've ever heard and I know for a fact that they use clipping bi-polar transistors to get th

Easy enough ....

I've been using PSA-1 for last 4 years ...with other various digital fx-unit, finally Boss GX-700. This gear is core part of my guitar sound. I'm using PSA-1 with Marshall Valvestate combo. I can make sound all I want with this incredible unit. This preamp beats everything. Mesaboogie settings make finest modern metal sound, ... covers all stage metal sound... from Motley Crue to Metallica ... Fender clean/crunch settings also provide rich sounds. Most of presets, "almost" same to the originals .... Michael Schenker, MXR+, Santana, Queen, Pantera(earlier tracks..), Metallica(3rd album), JMP-1,.. ... I made some presets for my own purpose,... but 49 presets are already enough. I can't imagine myself playing without this gear. Direct recording sounds good, but miked sound is better.

Also I've tried Line6 for three hours at store... Line6 was a joke ... (even though I admit three hour is not enough time to make decision...) I've tried Flextone, POD(every presets), spider combo, ... but their sounds are too DIGITAL and ARTIFICIAL, ... (But spider combo was impressive at its price.) I play for various music instrumental rock to thrash metal. This preamp covers most of them except "Death Metal sound (I make it with Boss GX-700 ^.^) . This unit is very versatile. There is no substitues now at market, I think. When I read line6 brochure, Line6 seems to be .. but it is not. Yes, of course, I will buy again this unit if I lost it.

For the specific input, outputs, knobs, and whatever, see the other reviews or check out Tech21?s web site. In theory, this unit is easy to program; in practice, it is not. The presets are programmed really loud. I find this a bit annoying. I adjust one preset, save it, then move on to another preset and have to remember to turn the volume down before I hit a note. Also, turning a knob can drastically effect the volume and/or sound too dramatically. I couldn?t imagine making on the spot adjustments in the middle of a gig. Manual is very informative, however.

I give this unit such high marks but only through my Boss GX-700?s loop. I find the dynamics a bit weak without hitting the front of the unit with the Limiter setting on my Boss set just so. But when I made the proper adjustments?WOW! This unit rewards those that willing to tweak until they are blue in the face. I didn?t find it nearly as difficult to adjust the sound to taste when recording direct or using headphones. This may mean that the unit's presets would sound better through a power amp with a lot of headroom. I use a humbucker equipped Strat into the Boss with the PSA-1 in its loop then into a JC-120. First, clean sounds. There are plenty. I love the Marshall clean (Limiter makes a huge difference by letting the notes bloom) with both humbuckers on. It sounds almost as good as my Laney LC-30, almost identical to a Marshall DSL-401. I don?t care for the Fender cleans too much. They are really trebly?ice picks on the ears. Slight overdrive: I like the BB King. My pickup (Anderson) takes it a bit further than the preset would otherwise. I also modified the AC-30 preset for a Phil Keaggy sound. Crunch: plenty of good crunch sounds. I go with the Plexi and Vintage Marshall primarily. Metal sounds galore. This is where this unit really shines. The Mesas and Marshalls are awesome. What I like about this unit is, like the real amps, you don?t need supersaturation to get very cool, bass thumping metal. There is quite a bit of pop or attack when the notes are first struck. Does Petrucci to a ?t?. One finally warning, since the unit itself is capable of producing such volume, you might want to watch speakers with low ratings.

I've never had a Tech21 product go south on me. I hear scratching when I turn the knobs but I don't think it has anything to do with the pots themselves. I would trust it without backup under almost any conditions. Haven't really abused it so I would rather not give a rating here.

Tech21's staff is extremely knowledgeable and friendly. I talked to John(?) a few times and he definitely takes the time to explain stuff. By the way, there is a modification for the PSA-1 that will provide power to the MIDI Mouse so that the controller stays on all the time. They will either send you the instructions or they'll do it for $25, I think.

I play just about everything and that's why I like this unit. I can't imagine any sound you couldn't dial in. Of course, some will please you more than others but you get solid state dependability, fantastic tube sounds, and versatility. Where can you go wrong. I would buy it again. I don't want to change tubes on two amps.

The amp sounds AMAZING. I tried the amp out at West LA Music, and ran it through a cheap fender solid state amp. I was immediately blown away by the sound of this thing! The second I plugged my Strat into the input, I was greeted by the warmest clean tones and brutal distortion tones that I had ever heard. I tested it against various other tube amps that were sitting around the store, an old JCM 900, a Twin Reverb, etc. Although the amp does not sound EXACTLY like these amps, it was close enough to convince me that this wasn't just a gimmick.
If you do decide to buy this little wonder box, don't settle for the presets. If you have a good ear, you can dial in tones that sound just like your favorite recordings, which is something that the pod cant do because the POD just gives you the sound of stock amps. With this preamp, you can also get the sound of heavily modified amps, which was a real plus if you're interested in just about any type of music.

This amp has more features than any stock tube preamp, and sounds as good if not better than many of them. The features on this amp are nothing short of amazing. By rotating the knobs you can go from country to modern metal (something that most amp modelers, namely Line6, can't do easily) Versatile is EXACTLY what this box is!

I've only had the amp for a couple of months, but i decided to wait this long to write the critique in case the novelty wore off. It seems relieable enough, and although it's a rack unit, it is very solid.

I've never had to deal with customer support.

This preamp has great tone. It's as simple as that. A lot of people whine about how it isn't the same as a REAL tube amp, but they're probably angry that people can sound like they're playing through expensive gear for just 600 bucks! Like i said before, dont settle for the presets, I've tweaked the amp to give me a very nice Yngwie Malmsteen "Rising Force" sound, as well as a great Joe Satriani lead tone! If you would like to know any of my settings, feel free to Email me.