Tech 21 SansAmp PSA-1 Preamp

I play an Ibanez S540 w/Dimarzios or Ernie Ball Luke model or my Fender American Strat w/Van Zandts through the PSA-1. My power amp is a Mesa Boogie 50/50into a BBE 482 Sonic Maximizer and I use a TC Electronic G-Major for effects and all are controlled with my Rocktron Midi Mate. They are all wired with /George L cables. I use Carvicn Legacy 2x12 cab w/Celestion 30's.
This unit will cover just about any music style you could imagine. Can go from Fenderish super clean(there's actually a preset called Fender Super Clean) to over the top Mesa Dual Rectifier sounds. And they're pretty convincing too. This preamp only gets noisy when you turn the gain way up as does any other amp. Generally it is very quiet though. And the distortion can be very brutal but sensitive at the same time to the volume control on the guitar. Many of the factory settings may go a bit overboard on the gain, but you can use the volume knob on your guitar to control that a bit. You can always adjust a preset to your liking and reduce the gain and save it. I like the fact that you just have to turn knobs to get your sound, just like regular amps. The knobs may seem to be a bit tricky to figure out at first but it all makes sense.
My favorite clean presets are the Fender Twin and the Mesa clean. For distortion presets, well... they all rock. Especially the Mesa sounds. I own two other Mesa amps and the PSA-1 has more gain, if you can believe that. The Marshall settings are cool too, but I don't really care for the Marshall sound.
There are so good many sounds in the factory presets alone and you have the ability to tweak 'em all. And it's all controllable via midi.
They recommend powering up this unit with a solid state amp because using a tube amp will make it sound too compressed. I don't know about that, sounds pretty awesome with my Mesa 50/50. I tried connecting straight to the PA and it sounded pretty good there too.
This unit fits all my needs and then some.

This is a very versatile preamp unit. 49 factory presets and 49 user presets. User presets are a cinch to store. The unit looks cool too. I wish it had more room for preset storage. 49 doesn't seem to be enough. All in all a real versatile amp that can cover a whole bunch of styles. I play mostly rock and modern pop music.

Looks pretty reliable. no tubes, so no worries. Never broke down on me yet. But I always bring a back up to any gig regardless.

I've been playing guitar for almost 20 years. And I'v had all kinds of gear thoughout the years. I've always liked Mesa Boogie sounds but couldn't afford a Triaxis. I read the reviews on HC about the PSA-1 and thought I'd give it a try. If the Triaxis is the reigning king of preamps, then this must not be far behind. It is just as versatile and costs way less. I would definitely get another one if it got lost or stolen.

this is an update of my review that i posted a while back. my opinion of it hasnt changed, but since my last review i've gained a lot more experience.

Since my last review, 2 new things have been added to my rig: an outboard eq courtesy of my new TC Electronic G Major (read my new review for it!) and a proper poweramp. i bought a jcm 900 head and cab, and am now running the psa-1 into the fx loop return of the head, effectively bypassing the head's preamp section and making it into a mono poweramp.

i'd just like to say that with the help of these new items, the unit has REALLY come into its own. particularly with the added control of the mid frequencies that the parametric EQ of the G Major gives me.

i'm more psyched than ever about my tone. i can honestly say that this thing DOMINATES 99% of all the tube amps ive tried, the last 1% being a couple of presets on my friend's triaxis. i URGE you to try one of these, or even better... buy one. and i urge tube purists to wake up and smell the FET's.

how difficult is it to turn knobs and push a 'save' switch with a pick? could be a problem for finger pickers, i suppose.

what is difficult, and quite the pain'dela arse, is that there is no bypass except for patches 00 and 50. i always like to a/b the effected and uneffected sound - how else do you know what the darn box is really doing to your tone? they could have at least put a jack in the back for a bypass foot switch. pretty lame imgpo. it really sucks to scroll from #78 to #00 just to check yer tone.

my other beef is the limited number of user presets considering the vast sonic capabilites and sensitivity of the unit. this unit is very dynamic and needs to have it's own patches for each one of yer guitars. what sounds great with a strat can't be used with a humbucking axe, and that's as it should be considering the goal is a range of expresive tone from your personal attack. i am a tweaker and love to fiddle and create tone and for this the psa-1 is excellent. the problem is... you've only got 49 spots to store your creations without midi swapping.

now the good stuff. this thing sounds so good and is so easy to create great sounds through - just twist the 8 knobs and drive away! i bought this to compensate for the weakness of the ods and distortions in my korg a-3 and it sure does the trick. i call it the 'dial a crunch', because there are so many ways to tweak your tonal color. too bad there aren't more patch locations to keep more of them.

my work horse axes are: an 80's white jap strat with stacked double coils equipped with splitters and a floating kahler bridge with the nut lock off, a 90 sunburst gibson howard roberts(like a semi-hollow f-hole les paul) that someone put a stop tailpiece on, a 60's or 70's block neck jaguar that was refinished in orange and gold glitter by and had humbuckers added by my old pal homesick james - (i have added a single coil in between that can be phase reversed and the mix is controlled by the alternate tone/vol of the jag - one for the single the other for the humbucks. each p/u can be turned on/off and reversing the phase of the single has a subtractive effect as you roll it up.) i bought this primarily for recording, but it also sounds great though my 70's fender deluxe reverb and my seymour duncan 100w convertible. my recording is monitored through makie 1604 and tascam tm-d1000, powered by a hafler pro1200(great amp! get a hafler!), out of tannoy 6.5s(sweet).

this thing sounds great! i wanted a better preamp and i got one in the psa-1. this unit has 98 patches - 49 factory, 49 user, and 00 & 50 as bypass. i find the factory settings useless due to their vast gain range. traveling from patch to patch is way too extreme without backing your volume pedal amp or mixer down. too bad i can't write over these.

i don't judge by 'it sounds like a 'blah, blah' it ain't a 'blah, blah' and no two players hands can make one good single 'blah, blah' sound the same. i just want it to make the sounds that I like. i don't care about biting anyone elses sound verbatim, but if you do, i'm pretty sure you can get close with this.

i tweak patches for each guitar and this unit responds with great sensitivity to the personality of your pickups. i like the depth that tube amps offer, and this unit gives you vast abilities to construct the quality of that depth.

never let me down so far...

would i gig woithout it? my amps sound good all by themselves.

called them once about thier compatible midi pedal. they were nice.

i play blues, reggae and soul - with an occasional clash tune thrown in. i've been playing guitar for 23 years and am still learning. recently i have been studying with jazz maestro larry luger. i have a project studio with both outboard gear and computer based softsynths - gigastudio and reality both rock!

i'm not sure if i'd get this same unit again. i needed a preamp for a good direct sound and my pal, r&b/jazz player gil parris, sold me this one.

this unit sounds great. it does what it should.

my next tool in my arsenal looks like it's going to be the 'adrenalinn' - that little blue box sounds nasty - it's either prove of intelligent life on earth, or we've already been invaded by the ufos!

I suggest you just pick a preset u like and tweak it. The controls on this are VERY unique and the manual does explain how to use this thing, but I can imagine some moron discarding the manual and claiming they can't get a good sound from this. This is unlike any programmable preamp I've ever used and it does take some getting used to, so be patient, read the manual and you'll find your sound.

This thing sounds great, u just have to know how to use it. At first I used it with a mesa power amp and mesa 4X12 cab. I LOVED the sound! my god, the distortion sounds in this are unreal! The cleans are good enough for me, but I can imagine some tube purists bashing the cleans... whatever. I think the difference in the tones u can get in this unit and the amps they emulate are so miniscule, that only YOU will hear it, if you really look for it. I got tired of lugging my heavy rack, with the power amp and effects, big heavy 4x12 cab, etc... Now, I just plug the PSA-1 into the P.A and get a consistantly awesome tone. A good effects processor and a sonic maximizer for that extra sizzle and low end(if u want it; this thing has plenty of low end)and you're all set. Well, at least I am.

it's solid state... so far so good

n/a

I'm implimenting the less is more approach, or maybe I'm just to lazy to move all that heavy gear around, but I know what I like and thats the sound of the PSA-1 direct through the P.A. I'm very satisfied with my tone and i can't imagine using anything else. To those who haven't tried the psa-1 through a P.A, try it.

You have to get use to how each knob works with one another, But its not hard.

I've used a few guitars and poweramps with it. Also a couple of different cabs. It does a decent clean, Rock distortion, and Metal distortion.

It seems soild.

They respond to Emails, and answer some questions.

Like I said, it sounds pretty decent, but didn't get the sound I wanted. It would get in the ball park of what I wanted, but just wouldn't do it. It was also kinda sterial sounding. Its not bad, just not for me.

It is easy to use because it is analog, but you often really do have to tweak because of the interaction between controls. There are multiple factors that affect gain - buzz, punch, etc - and a little can go a long way on each setting. So it's not that it's "hard", it just that it is versatile. To my ears, versatility is actually missing from digital emulators - they have lots of patches and variables but the there is a "sameness" that permeates each digital patch (Boss, Line 6, Yamaha - it doesn't matter).

You can sound like 20 different setups with the PSA-1 if you want. I think this is great!

This is where the unit shines! If you want to see how much, do a side by side comparison to a Line 6 or Boss (or whatever) unit and you will be amazed.

I recorded an identical slow A minor blues progression (with some slow solos and a couple of quick legato licks to showcase both sustained notes and chords along with some fluid lines) on separate tracks in Motu Digital Performer. I used a Line 6 POD, a Boss GT-6, Yamaha DG Stomp and the PSA-1. I recorded dry signals, adding an insert reverb after on one set of tracks. I also recorded a second set of tracks with the internal effects of the Digital amp emulators to showcase their best sides as well. I used a TC G Major with the Sans Amp in the latter set.

WOW! WOW! WOW! The digital emulators all sounded OK, but the Sans Amp track seemed to literally JUMP OUT OF THE SPEAKERS at me. It sat beautifully in the track, required no EQ boosts or cuts and sounded so present and full. Ballsy and clear. Each note rang true and clear in a chord, and I could use distorted jazz chords without farting out and sounding mushy.

To ensure it wasn't bias (remember, I DO own digital equipment and an NOT a "digital basher) I played the recordings to a dozen listeners separately and did NOT tell them that I was testing direct recording gear - I just asked them which track sounded the best. All 12 people independantly selected the Sans Amp track!!!!! Effected and un-effected!!! It was immediate. Everyone said immediately when they heard it. "Oh yah, that kicks ass!" was one comment. "It doesn't sound lame like the other ones". The bassist in our band was really struck by it because he has been recording direct with PODs and was just shocked at the realism.

So why not a 10? Because I also recorded my Les Paul through a JCM 800 Mark II 50 watt head into G12-65's and THAT is a 10. You cannot replace the feel and response of tubes on fire, beating the crap out of Celestions, vibrating the walls. It makes you PLAY differently, act differently and think differently.

It also is a pain the ass to record the JCM800, hard to do at 4 in the morning, causes divorces, breaks backs, is a pain to fix etc. The Sans Amp is easy to record, does so at 4 in the morning, restores marraige vows and is light. You can get outstanding results with this. You could record 90% of your tracks with this, and use your JCM (pick yer poison!) for those special moments.

With the PSA-1, your direct recorded tracks won't sound like mush.

Had it for 7 months and no problems so far. Looks and feels very sturdy.

No experience and that is a GOOD sign.

It rocks. Whether or not it sounds like tubes (face it, a LOT of people don't know what that really means anyway). You can get deadly sounds to tape (disk) so quickly that stand out in a track - not get buried in the digital malaise.

A word to the wise. Just like a good tube amp, if you suck it will show. it is difficult to mask lousy performance with analog technology. The notes will be clear and pronounced. So are your mistakes.

Remember to not just listen to this dry. Of course it will sound dull compared to a chorused, flanged, reverbed and delayed POD or GT-6. Add a little reverb to the PSA-1 and you probably sell your POD.

My set-up is as follows:-

Shuker 6 string Bass, EMG single coils + 3 band eq wenge body, wenge/maple neck. (normal tuning)
PSA-1
TC-Electronics M-one in the fx loop
Matrix STR1500 amp
ACME low bII cab

Musical style is generally sort of hardcore, heavy, weird stuff with some funk thrown in - it's irrelevant what I play this pre=amp can handle anything but perhaps total clean and transparent sounds for Jazz/fusion, it seriously colours your sound (in a good way IMO)

In one word, this sounds WARM - very convincing tube typre sounds with real character and depth.

It can get pretty noisy on high gain patches or those with a fair amount of treble boost but not really any more than other pre's I've tried. In fact when I replaced my old set-up (which used the PSA-1) I concentrated on getting pointless crap out of the signal chain and using quality cabling, this reduced most of the psa-1 noise that I was seriously unhappy with.

This has 10 bass pre-sets to get you started with. The SVT setting is so convincing it's unreal, just tweak to your liking and you are away. You do tend to return to these pre-sets to just get an idea of how all the controls interact with each other.

Expect to spend a lot of time getting to know this pre-amp, the options are limitless (so it would seem) I've been using one for over 18 months now and still find new little nuances with the settings and interaction of the controls - it really is fantastic for bass.

Distortion - absolutely hands down the best distortion sounds you can possibly muster up for bass, the misc. pre-sets throw up a convincing Big Muff and Fuzz Face sound and making your own is a piece of cake anyway. In fact, there is so much gain available in this pre-amp that distortion sounds are far easier to get (or at least a lot less work) than cleans.

I cannot recommend this piece of equipment highly enough for bass use, particularly if you like the soud of the sansamp bass driver DI and rackmount RBI version - this has midi control and far more available distortion wise. It goes from just a mild overdrive akin to tube saturation, to full on rediculous levels of fuzz and distortion and all will maintain your low end signal integrity no problem at all.

My reason for purchasing this was to replace an Ashdown RPM-1 whose switching capabilities were useless to me (in design: not a dodgy unit). The ability to call up any number of patches for different sounds opens up a whole new world in flexibilty, something that most bass players are not all that accustomed to. I have about 10 patches in there - half of these are distortion/overdirve patches, a bit easier (and better sounding) than 5 different pedals!!

I AM USING THIS IN A BASS RIG.

See reviews below for full run down. I do however wish the fx loop was switchable via midi, I wish it had a mid control on the eq (but this is obviously just achieved by cutting treble and bass then boosting level). It's level control is applicable only to each patch, it would be very useful to have a global output level control. I wish that the controls were labelled in some sort of practical and easiily understood manner, but then that's what the manual is for ;-)

Midi swtiching/features are very good, barely any audible noise when switching and no delay whatsoever. There is some noise introduced by the "memory" operation of the controls for each different patch (expalined in previous reviews), the flashing dot to indicate where the control is in relation to the pre-set makes an annoying clicking noise untill the change is saved to a patch. This is not really a problem for me as I tend to save any changes pretty much immediatly, however if you just want to fiddle a bit half way through a gig without bothering to save patches then it'll annoy you.

Bearing in mind I use this for bass, it has two XLR outputs for a superb DI sound to go FOH and two unbalanced jack outputs (the same signal). Levels of these outputs (-10db or +4) are selectable.

This is the second unit I've had (first was stolen), and it seems pretty solid. Both were bought used and had obviously had a fair bit of use so I would say that reliablity is pretty high. All analogue circuitry should be pretty resiliant so maintenance is not an issue. Has never crapped out in any gig or rehearsal situation.

Not really applicable as I bought it second-hand and have had no reason to contact them. Would have liked to see the manual before buying but it's not available on the website, however there are samples of it being used for both guitar and bass which was very useful. Folks on the bass forum who've dealt with them have had nothing but praise for them though, in dealing with repairs and simple requests for manuals and literature. So from others feedback I'll give it full marks.

I've been playing for 7 years now, this is the best souding set-up I have come accross. As soon as I plugged it in I was grinning like a cheshire cat - made my little bedroom combo sound like an SVT!! (well as much as you can with 10 watts!)

It DID get stolen first time around and was the only piece of gear alongside the power amp that got replaced to be included in a new set-up. In fact it was the first thing I looked for.

There are some features I wished it had (see features section) but generally these would push the price up further anyway so I understand their not being included.

There are very few places in the Uk which stock these, so I bought it on the strength of reviews and the website samples. Other pre's I tried include the Ashdown RPM-1, Warwick CCL, Ampeg SVP and bass pod. It's close to the ampeg in clean/overdrive sounds available; only with the midi control there's no limits on the PSA-1. Distortion pedals soon got abandoned too.

If you are looking for a warm sounding pre-amp with real flexibilty at the press of a (midi) switch then look no further, there is simply nothing else on the market that will do it for you as far as I'm aware. This gets my full thumbs up. Look used though as a few guitarists don't like the results and sell up in favour of other pre's :-) this was half the price of any othe pre I looked at thanks to some bargain sellers so keep your eyes peeled.

I use it w/ a Washburn Dime333, B.C Rich NJ series Warlock, Fender Custom Shop Strat (one of those $1800 jobbies), and it sound incredible with all of them. Also in my rack you will find a nady wireless, rocktron intellifex, korg dtr-1 tuner and qsc power amp. Through all these and my wah and phasor pedals, this preamp sounds like a preamp should. I play all types of rock, and this thing pulls through, whether its grand funk railroad, STP, early metallica, sponge, collective soul, satriani or SRV. All presets are incredibly convincing - no cheap ultra-processed sounds like you get from a million-effects-in-one unit like a digitech rp20. Clean presets get just a tad distorted at high volumes, but i also have the input gain on my intellifex up pretty high.

This preamp is absolutely stellar. Has 100 presets, 50 user and 50 factory. Midi switching for all channels, and very easy midi mapping. Awesome amp modeling capabilities via its unique distorion breakup modeling circuitry. Sounds like a million bucks. Not lacking in anything I've tried to do with it yet, which is, um, playing through it. Record outs are very useful, large numeric display is crystal-clear even from a distance. This baby isn't tube and doesn't have to be. Used in my rack, wouldn't think of selling it.

Well, I haven't really used it as a doorstop or played baseball with it or anything, I try to take care of it, but throwing my rack around in a van has done it no harm. I most certainly would gig w/ it w/out a backup. Have yet to have any problems with it, sound quality is still absolutely cherry. Midi is also fully functional and hasn't let me down.

Got it as a floor model w/out a user manual, so i emailed sansamp and they emailed me a psd manual the next day. i call that some good service. Haven't needed to repair it, and doubt i ever will.

Been playing for eight years, tried a marshall jmp-1, mesa boogie tri-axis, floor units, rocktron gainiac, fender amps, and a couple pedals.... and i would never use anything else again. even the triaxis gets a run for its money from this bad boy, and for half the cost, you'd be silly not to buy it. I'd highly recommend checking one of these out if you want all sortsa versatility and quality. Its midi capabilities also make it superior to a lot of other gear. somethign as simple as a single-button footswitch can put you in control, or a midi controller like the rocktron midimate will make you feel like god w/ this preamp.

You get great, great presets and at the mo, I just plug and play. So on that scale, the unit should score a 10.

However.....

If you try and tweak things then it gets ugly very quickly. There are no less than 5 knobs that control the gain. These are called things like fuzz and punch etc.
Now this is great for options I guess but I have trouble with just bass, middle and treble. The sound has too much bass. Do you back off on the bass or up the treble? Then there is not enough middle, so do you up the middle or lower the bass and treble?
See the permutations you can get from just a three band eq?

On closer inspection of the manual it doesn't get any easier. Maybe it's because i'm a plug 'n' play kinda guy. I don't know. What I do know is that terms such as "this controls the low end preamp gain" and "this controls the high end post amp gain" confuse the hell out of me! It's supposed to be the key behind the Marshall tones and the Boogie tones etc. But if you can't use it then it's not very useful is it?
All I want to know is how to go from a light crunch to balls heavy screaming gain. I don't care about post or pre amp gain.
The instructions make some controls sound like EQ as it talks about bass, mid and high levels. But if this is the case, why don't they just mark them as such?
I had a bit of a tweak but get lost. I even looked at some of the settings in the book and on the webpage to get some hints but they don't help either.

If any one wants to email me and talk me through how to use them, please do!

Unbelievable!
And the reason why I don't need to tweak with the settings.
You can hear my Tech21 on my bands website at www.bornjovi.com/mp3.htm.

It imitates Marshall, Mesa Boogie and Fender and it is amazingly accurate with all of them. Just go to the Tech21 website and DL some of the audio clips. I love the all star jam where they do Schencker, Hendrix and Van Halen. Spot on!

When I got rid of my 5150 I was looking for a similar balls heavy amp. The problem with my 5150 was that the gain was causing lots of feedback problems and noise hiss (and this was with a HUSH unit!).
I wanted a Soldano but couldn't afford one. You think they are expensive in the US. Try getting one over here in the UK!
I tried a Pod and as good as it was, I could hear the digital quality and though the audience wouldn't tell. I could and that narked me.

I was purposefully avoiding rack equipment as they had never compared to true all valve equipment. Anyway, one day, a friend just sent me the mp3 "psa-hvy" and what spat out of my speaker was fierce Boogie riffing. It was amazing and had the balls that my 5150 had. I begged him to tell me what it was, expecting the words: Soldano, Custom, Boogie, $10,000 to be uttered.
He told me what it was and amazed me even more when he told me it wasn't valve. I could not tell. No way at all! And when he told me the price, well I think that was when I fainted.

At home I MIDI it up with a Rocktron Intellifex amd then run it into a hi fi power amp and a Mashall 1936 2X12 cabinet. And it sounds gorgeous. Live I go direct into the PA (which is why I don't have my own dedicated guitar power amp and use the hi fi when at home).
My guitars are an Ibanez RG570 and an Ibanez Jem 77FP.


Patch 5, Hi Gain Marshall and patch 24, Mesa Boogie Rectifier are my main patches and they are awesome.

The low end on the rectifier makes the room shake and spits out single string, palm muted runs with immense power. Imagine the riff to Bon Jovi's "Lay Your Hands On Me" and you will be there. You just won't need 6 multi tracked guitars to achieve the power! I love this sound and it allows my licks to cut through in a live setting without having to stomp on my lead channel all of the time.
Patch 5, Hi Gain Marshall has less bass and is not as 'muddy' as the typical Boogie sound. This is very Soldano - ish. Very reminiscent of Van Halen and his hot rodded Marshall Plexi. There is a Van Halen patch, 8, but that is not as good,IMO, as patch 5.

The clean settings are crystal, nay, sparkling and just cry out for lush chorus and reverb!

As I say, I have had no need to alter any of the presets. Normally the presets are wank. But these were very useable.
Likewise, I have had no call to use the bass settings so I cannot comment on them.

No problems so far.

I have emailed a number of times with questions (no doubt stupid ones) about the presets and what not. I have always had a quick and polite response. Especially from Lloyd Schwartz.

This unit should cost 100 quid more, and even that is good value.
The unit is brilliant.
It was a toss up between this and a Digitech 2120. I amnot saying it is better. No doubt the all in one of the Digitech would suit a techno phobe like me much better than farting around with MIDI and cables like I am at the moment.
What I can say is that I love what I have and amn ot wanting anything.
Any tone you want from spartling clean, to bluesy crunch, to hi gain modern rock. It is all there.
Hendrix, Clapton, Van Halen, Schencker, Metallica, Pantera. They are all there.

I found it to be simply awesome, but what does that mean if my only other previous experience has been playing through crap equipment? I don?t know you can decide for yourself here?s some of my other equipment: Marshall 8080 valvestate, Johnson JM-120, Boss VF-1, POD (forget which it was a friends, he took back), old Fender squire practice amp. I play a Carvin bolt w/ 1 humbucker 2 singles Wilkinson trem, a new Ovation tangent acoustic/electric and a Gibson SG Special. I use the PSA for direct recording using the Boss VF-1 and an old Digitech RP-1 for various effects. For live (just a jam band at parties with my brother on bass and a drummer) I run the PSA into either my Marshall 8080 or Johnson JM-120 with these amps set to be very clean with the Bass on 0, Mid on 5 and High on 0, so these are just used for power amps and speaker cabs, they provide little to no color on the sound. I also have a Mesa 20/20 rack mounted tube power amp and ran the PSA into that then into a Carvin 2-12" speaker cab. I didn?t notice much of a difference in any of those 3 setups other than how loud they could get, the Mesa/Carvin cab option was the loudest, but to my surprise they all sounded about the same and felt good when playing to me and the band.

I was able to get Marshall, Mesa and Fender dirty and clean sounds out this thing that all sounded and felt very different through all of my guitars, of yeah they also all sounded and felt great. This unit is very responsive to my attack and everything my fingers do on the guitar. It has midi control for switching channels and only takes up one rack space.

Bought used, shipped to me, so far so good no problems. I don?t gig out much, maybe a party or two a year, but use every week at my studio for the last 6 months. The guy I bought it from had it for over 2 years.

Sent an email to tech-21 wondering about how to use phantom midi power from it to power a foot switch. They replied the same day with some schematic/elect. engineering charts, I could?ve taken these to one of my local repair shops and had them make a modification to it I guess. Also tech-21 offered to make the mod for $40-50, but this would kill the warranty. I ended up just using my RP-1?s midi out into the tech-21?s midi in to switch channels.

I noticed that many people who trashed this item didn?t give details on their entire setup. The sound you get outa this baby?s gonna depend on your guitar, PSA-1 settings, power amp, speaker cabinet, effects and how you?ve got them all tweaked to work together. I used a few different amps/preamps and this one was the easiest to tweak (it?s all just turning knobs no silly scrolling through screens etc..) and took the shortest amount of time to get great sounds (just by tweaking the presents I had GREAT sounds in under 20 minutes). I love this thing and can?t believe it?s been out so long, way before all the current "Hot" amp modelers were and in my opinion the PSA smokes them all for versatility (tons of sounds, great for live and studio work), ease of use and most importantly to me the responsiveness to your pick/attack/fingers. Also it responds great to all of my guitars volume and tone knobs. I?d highly recommend this unit to anyone who understands all the parts involved in getting a great guitar sound for both live and recording environments. Look at the price that you can nab one of these used for and I don?t think you can really loose, if you don?t like it you can always sell it for what you paid if you get a good price like I think I did.