Tech 21 SansAmp PSA-1 Preamp

It's not easy to use. The dials on this unit are actually quite bizzare, compared to traditional preamps(Buzz, Crunch, punch, Etc.)Once you figure these out, you could probably get some really cool sounds. I just tweak the presets.

I'm using this with an old ADA poweramp and a marshal 2x12. I really like the clean sounds in this unit. Some of the fender settings and even some of the bass settings make my guitar sing! Don't worry about what settings are for what (some settings are for bass and most are for guitar), just use what sounds good. Some of the bass settings sound great for guitar, that's why I mention this. As for the distortion settings, I don't really use them very much, because I feel the clean settings with a pedal tend to sound better. I tried to like the distortion in this unit, but I just don't. I really like the cleans with a pedal, so I will give this preamp an 8. The cleans with a pedal can sound amazing and that's how I use this thing.

It's solid state, but analog, NOT digital. This being said, it has acted weird a couple of times, but all I had to do was power off and back on again and it was ok. So far it hasn't ruined a gig for me.

I never had to deal with them, but I hear they are just great.

I give this unit overall an 8. It was meant to be a versatile preamp going from country to metal, but like I said, I only use the cleans and not the distortions, so that's a lot of this preamp NOT being used. That being said, as long as you get a great sound out of it, thats all that matters. I get a great clean sound and with a pedal, a great distortion sound too.

It's not easy to use at all. It has parameters that are unlike anything else, so be prepared to crack open the manual and tweak away.

The presets are a good place to start. I usually just tweak the bass and treble. If you really make the effort, you can come up with some really good sounds. I like the Mesa Mark I setting and the Fender settings the best. My favorite setting is number 18; which is a Fender setting, with a distortion pedal. I use a crunchbox with this setting and it sounds insane! My amp is a crest power amp and the PSA-1 in a 3 space rack. So it's as if I'm playing the crunchbox through a real fender amp. I've been gigging with this setup for over a year now and have pretty much found my sound. I know I'm happy with my rig, when I stop looking for gear online and in stores. Preset 18 with a pedal gets a 10. The PSA-1 by itelf gets an 8. Let's keep in mind that certain presets will get a high score on their own and certain others will get a lower score (I don't care for the Marshall settings). Collectively, I'd give it an 8. I like most of the Fender settings, some of the Mesa settings and none of the Marshall settings. So, all together... 8.

Well, here's where I need to speak up. This unit goes crazy on me from time to time. I don't abuse my gear at all, so I don't know what else to say. Sometimes it'll start blinking uncontrollably. I'll reset it and usually it's ok. Sometimes it will blink and the volume drops. Lately it's been ok, but I don't trust it without a backup.

I've never dealt with them, but I hear they're top notch.

I like Preset 18 with a distortion pedal. It sounds massive and rivals other REAL tube amps, in person, as in side by side onstage. I've played next to Rectos, an Orange and a Deizel and my Crest with the PSA-1 has always sounded as good or in some cases; in my opinion, better. On its own, I only like certain presets and kind of hate other presets. Mine hasn't been terribly consistant, yet it hasn't completely broken down either. I gig with a backup rig and have yet to break it out. All in all, I'll give the PSA-1 a 7, because I need a seperate distortion pedal to get the distortion sound I like.

This preamp will take some time to figure out and get used to. Those who are used to basic controls (vol, bass, treble, mid, etc.)will be in for a challenge. The controls on this unit are things like: buzz, punch, etc. If you read the manual, you'll figure it out, but be warned, if you think you'll get it all figured out in one sitting, you're wrong. Start with the presets; some of which are quite good, and tweak them.

Once you have this hooked up to the right components, you can get a really great sound, both distortion and clean. If you hook it up to the wrong components, it can sound.... not horrible, but just not great. Tech21 says to hook it up to a solid state power amp and use full range speakers. Well, I don't have full range speakers, I have a 2x12 with celestions. In order to make it sound "better", I use a bbe sonic maximizer. As for the power amp, well I've used a few. The best results have been with a mosvale solid state power amp that uses mosfets to emulate a tube sound. The next best was a mesa simulclass 2:90 that also sounded good but maybe a bit too compressed. At the moment I'm using a carvin solid state power amp and it sounds the worst of the three. Not BAD, but not as good as the other two. I also use a parametric EQ to get rid of some mids and really scoop them out for an insane metal sound. I have played this unit through a PA cabinet and it sounded INSANE! But who has a PA cab just lying around? I once had a plan to build a 2x12 with full range speakers, but I abandoned it long ago. Who has time? Anyway, the carvin poweramp with the celestion 2x12 and the sonic maximizer gives me a good tone. It's not (for me anyway) a plug in and play unit. As you can see, it takes an effort and extra gear for me to get the sound I want. I will only give a 7 for sound quality, because this unit on it's own with average speakers and poweramp still lacks, in my opinion.

Ok, here's the bad news. I own a few tech21 products: psa1, gt2, trademark60, trademark 10 and with the exception of the trademark10, I've had problems with ALL of them. The latest drama with the psa1 is that one of the pots has recently gone insane. I've contacted tech21 and as usual, they were very helpful. They asked for a serial number in order to send me some form... Anyway, this sounds like a lot of work and I can't be bothered with it at the moment. Maybe someday, but I have a trademark60 that is my main amp at the moment and as long as it doesn't quit on me (it's acted up before), I can wait to send the psa1 in for repair. I really wanted to love this preamp too...

They are the best! Emails answered promtly, patient and helpful over the phone... I tell it like it is and they simply are wonderful with their customer service

What can I say? When it works, and in conjunction with the sonic maximizer and the Parametric EQ, I like it alot. But I don't know if I can count on tech21 products to not crap out on me? If lost or stolen, I would not buy this unit again. I would buy a combo amp, but no more rackmount preamps for me.

The controls are not your standard vol, bass, mid, gain, etc. You have to know how the controls work on the psa 1 to really have success with it. Read the manual and experiment with it. Start with the presets, some of which are very good.

Ok, here we go... I've had this preamp for a LONG time. I've deluded myself into thinking it was so great. Maybe it's just the gear I use it with, I don't know? I use a carvin solid state power amp, a bbe sonic maximizer a parametric eq and a home made 2x12 with 100 watt celestion speakers. I use the eq with some of the distorted tones to cut some of the mids (sort of like a speaker emulator I guess?)I love some of the clean sounds. Some of the fender sounds I like, but I never was able to like the distortion on this unit. Always sounded too compressed, to dark. They don't seem to sing. Once again, I know that it may be my gear. I'm told I should use full range speakers with the psa 1, but all I have is the bastard 2x12. Anyway, I renently bought a MI Audio Crunchbox distortion pedal. I used this on some of the clean channels and there was my sound! I use it a lot with presets 15,16 and 18 and it sounds phenomonal! Like a Marshall on steroids. If I mess around with it enough, I can even make it sound mesa boogieish. Not to mention all the possibilities with the parametric eq. So, the moral of the story is that I LOVE the clean channels alone AND with the crunchbox, and I am not a fan of the psa 1's distorted channels alone (only with the parametric eq on).

Mine is almost ten years old and I find that I do have to reset the unit more often than I'd like to, because it will freeze up, or the little indicator lights will start blinking and will not stop. Reseting the unit seems to bring it back to normal, but still, I shouldn't have to deal with it.

They are the best. Answered emails, answered calls, very helpful, nice, patient. Very impressed with them in that respect.

I give it a 7 because I need to use a distortion pedal to make it sound amazing, to me. But, I do love the clean sounds.

i've submitted a quite bad review on the psa-1 at 08/09/2007 09:38am and i would like to append my new experiences...

the ease of use is still 10.

first i got problems with the feedback even on low volumes and i had to minimize the gain and this caused a very thin sound. the setup was the following:
gibson LP melody maker with a dimarzio X2N > db-technologies wireless > korg rack tuner > psa-1 > mesa-boogie 50/50 > line6 flextone cab
the psa-1 was connected to the power amp via the 1/4 jack outputs. i think it was the problem. i took an xlr-jack cable and whoaaaaaa! no feedback, just a fuckin' huge sound.
i changed my wireless to akg and bought a rocktron intellifex ltd processor. i use a little delay between the right and left side. it depends where i play but we head two gigs where i almost pissed myself because of the fat, powerful sound.

there were some problems with the LEDs. i turned the knobs and the LEDs didn't want to show me the things really happened but i turned the psa-1 off and on. problem solved.

the always reply to mails... almost always.

i really recommend the psa-1 for guitarists and for bass players as well.
i had a peavey 5150 before. i sold it and bought the psa-1. first i was a little bit dissappointed because the feedback problems and the brunetti rockit power amp i used with, but now i'm totally satisfied with my sound, with my psa-1 and with my mesa 50/50.

This is by far the best pre amp under 400 euro's (used). The presets are verry verry good and dialing your own sound is as easy as drinking water. Editing is like changing the channels on your TV, it is as easy as that. The manual reads as easy as reading a school group 2 book. Realy, you should get one.

If you don't have an ear problem, you should be able to find every tone out there. Why? Because the pre-amp distorts de low, mid and high frequencys seperatly!!!! There is no other pre amp that can do this. De distortions are the best out there. Remember: This is 100% analog (only the memory is digital). You cannot compare this to any other digital pre amp out there, like POD, V-amp and that sort of crap. This amp is based on a tube design layout.
My setup is PRS (custom and ce) 22 and 24,Ibanez S470->PSA1/VG8/Vooduu Valve->Klark Teknik gate->Ensoniq DP4->8 channel mixer->BBE 461->Rivera TBR1->marshall 4x10/marshall 2x12.

Build like a tank. Mine is more than 10 years old.

no opinion

Before I got the PSA1 I've playd on: ADA MP1, Mesa Quad, JMP1,JFX1, Soldano SP77, Rocktron Utopia, Marshall 8008, Marshall 9200, Mesa 50/50. In my price range, I've played only good stuff as you can see.
I know what a good tone is, and like I have it now, is good....realy good. I've found my tone, and now I can spend my money on my wife and children.
By the way, I play for 2 years now.

Very easy to use, turn the knobs press save once, select a patch, press save again and it's done. The magic with this preamp occur when you start to understand how these knob interact togheter. Being able to distord only the bass frequency range, or the mids or highs is by far the most genius inovation ever made. Nothing can't be done with this approach.

Ok, here it goes, the only thing with this preamp that can annoy or not is its tone personnality, what make it recognisable. It have a slight metallic bite that can't be removed, and that's what make its charm, that's EXACTLY why I choose it. But don't get me wrong, it can produce real nice warm crunch and fu**ng sparkling clean, but when it comes to distortion that's where it kills anything on its way.

Note that I'm a metal fan after all, playing form blues to rock when the mood ask for it. This preamp deliver all that. But for brutal loud and bassy midcut death to high speed biting trash metal aggression, THIS IS THE UNIT!!!

My setup is the following:
Gibson flying-V --> Audio-Technica rackmount wireless --> Korg DTR-1000 rackmount tuner --> Rocktron HUSH (to silence pickup noise)--> Sansamp PSA-1 --> Rocktron Xpression --> Rocktron Velocity 250 --> Triple XXX 4x12 cab in stereo --> Behringer FCB1010 midi controller

With this setup, I have played side by side with Triple XXX, Mesa Triple Rectifier, Peavey 5150, Tiaxis/90:2 setup, Jackson Lee Perfect connection/Peavey classic 50:50 setup, Ada MP-1/classic 50/50 setup (as the tube hottest ones)and shure they were all great but when you hear them all with a band, cranked up and you can't tell at all if it is the 4500$ all valves overrated amplifier or the psa-1, solid state poweramp and underrated cab that sound better. You start telling yourself that you could have bought a psa-1 kit and a good used car for that price and start remembering the last valves service while I'm accidentaly droping my 10 years old rig down the stairs cause I'm too drunk and not worrying about this knowing that it will still work next time since it was not the first time it happened!

As stated above (sorry for the little exageration! ;-) this pre is 10 years old, never been serviced, being in a smoker studio or on a bar stage all its life, have scratches, rips and I'm not shure if the fictionnal situation above did not really happend (!) and it still work like a new one. Could destroy a tank hitting it with this!

Never have to deal with them, so I don't know.

I own it for one year now. I understand that Mesa fans are unable to admit that the almighty, full valves, king of best preamp ever made, the Triaxis, which is OVERpriced and incredibly vast and complex, can be compared to an affordable solid state unit. But the fact is YES, it can be compered! No need for 2000$ 80 valves 500 lbs poweramp to get a tone that CAN BE COMPARED to a hot rodded valve kit. Damn frustrating I must admit... So it's an undestructible killing machine with it's own subtle tonal personnality that can produce tones that will put your baby to sleep or set a whole building on fire, without having to stop eating for a year.

Try this thing, you'll see by yourself...!

I've owned my PSA-1 now for 4 years and is absolutely my favorite piece of gear for my bass set up. Although this is more commonly found in guitar rigs, the bass driver sounds can also be achieved along with the 10 bass presets in the factory settings. At first I found the pots to be somewhat confusing. It takes much experimenting. Coupled with the PSA-1, I use an EBS Classic bass preamp for my clean sounds powered by a QSC 1202 power amp. and a 4x10 Ampeg Pro Cabinet. Between the EBS Quasimetric EQ and the PSA-1, EQing the two together took some time. Eventually I achieved some great overdriven tones. Using the Sans Amp Midi Mouse footswitch I'm able to bypass the PSA-1 and use my clean preamp only. And with the midi menues, it offers many choices of configurations. In the area of tones, I was able to achieve very TOOLish drive and other classic tones. However the high end does seems to break up on certain frequencies - of course proper EQing can correct this.

Very good.

Absolutely.

Never had to deal with support

it's really easy to set up and make the programmes.

i tried it with several power amps (solid state stuffs, brunetti rockit, mesa 50/50).
i've read that it sounds better with solid states - i don't think so.
it was far better with the mesa.

but there is a very big problem. it starts to feedback even at low volumes when i turn up the gain or the drive knob... maybe it's my guitars fault, maybe not but it's very bad.

there are bass presets in the device - some of them are really fuckin' great. maybe it's better for bass guitar than guitar.

it disturbs my db technoligies wireless - because of it it sucks but i think it's my wireless' fault.
but when i'm playing - no problem. only when the wireless is turned off. it's strange, i know...

great guys, almost always wrote me back.

This is a pretty easy preamp to get along with. the factory presets are pretty usefull, but I always tweak a lil from there. As far as editing I wish their was an inexpensive software program for editing the presets. They only give you a bliking light that starts slow as you deviate from the setting to rapid as you get further from the preset for which ever knob you are tweaking. With 256 differnt increments per knob I sure wished their was an easier way to find out, hey I am on 197 and 206 to my ear sounds better. I guess I am just one of those visual people. The manual is real straight forward and is not a problem to learn and forget about. I own two of the original PSA-1's and wouldn't get rid of either of them. I am giving this an 8 because their has to be an easier way to edit this one and back it up on a computer other than buying a $200 software program from MOTU. Untill then I will just use two of them and backup presets from one to the other.

The three main tones they claim to sound like are Fender, Marshall and Mesa Boogie. At least for guitar that is, their are more amps if you are a bassist. I think the unit does a respectable job at emulating those amps, but not at replacing those amps if that makes sense. The cleans are a bit muddy and lack that sparkle that fender can provide, but the overdriven fender tones are acceptable. The Marshall tones are close also and even give you picking dynamics while distorted to a point. When the gains are maxed out their is no longer the dynamic factor involved, but that is true with any high gain amp. The Boogie tones are my personal favorites. They do a really good job at emulating the specific amps they claim to sound like. Over all I lreally like the distorted tones allot, but lack a little respect on the clean tones. The possibilities of applications of this unit are endless. Their are pleanty of connections on the back of this one. Balanced and unbalanced hookups are readily available, as well as an effects loop with stereo returns. My setup is guitar--->input on Sansamp--->effects loop out to a T.C. G-Major--->Korg A2--->effects loop return. From there I run it straight to the board and it sounds massive!!! I use the G-Major for effects, and the Korg A2 for speaker simulation. I have tried to replace the Korg with at least 5 different speaker sims, but always come back to this unit. I know allot of people state, "You don't need a speaker sim, it's built into this one." Not in my opinion. When I turn my speaker sim off every one looks at me funny like, what happened? To me it's allot buzzy without it. Just my opinion. I have been out lots with this rig and always crush others with this setup. I have people asking all the time where my amps are and I just point to the rig and they don't believe me. I own a 5150, a Soldano SLO 100 and a old fender champ. I love all of them but to me this rig sounds better live. Plus I don't have to depend on a sound man for good up front tone, it always sounds great!!!!!!! P.S. I use a crown power amp and full range speakers for my stage volume, and run the other output right to the snake, voilla.

I have owned this one for 4 years and used it to replace a ADA MP-1 and a JMP-1. When I first plugged it in it blew both those units out of the water. I all of a sudden had picking dynamics and gain dynamics and a hell of a sweet spot tone that couldn't be denied. It truly is a sturdy unit, but I wouldn't bump into the knobs a whole lot. I have a backup in case something fails, but it never has in 4 years.

I have written emails to the company and they have responded every time, with clear precise answers that helped me out allot!!! I have also spoken to them on the phone and never felt like they wanted to get me off the line as soon as possible, kudos Tech-21!

I use this rig for playing metal and wouldn't get rid of it for anything. I have yet to try a tri axis, would love to, but can't afford one. It covers my tasts to the T and I have no complaints about the tone at all. If I was using this one for sparkling cleans I would have a complaint there. I have been playing for over 25 years and have owned allot of equipment, the only preamp I still own is the PSA-1. If it were to get stolen or damaged I would absolutely replace it! The thing I love the most about this one is just the quality of tone it produces. I have my OWN sound with the combination of the G-Major and The Korg A2 for speaker sims. I have had no complaints yet, and have played many a gig with this rig. This unit doesn't compare to any other preamp I have tried out. The Fender, Marshall, and Mesa Boogie tones this one provides would cost an arm and a leg to get the actual amps it replicates. I just sold my pod XT Pro last month and don't miss it at all. That unit was lifeless to me. This unit provides a real life tone and I just love that! If anyone wants to hear my rig contact me and I will provide a link. If anyone has any questions for me please feel free to contact me!

Easy to use ?
Yes, there are only 8 knobs ;-)
Manual is fine.
The unit has 127 programs 0-128 (0 and 50) can't be changed and have no sound (= bypass).
All other programs can be changed.
The first 49 are presets (and can't be changed by default) but this can be changed.
I will leave the first 49 untouched and use the other 78 free slots.

This one is the new version - there is a Version 1.1 available since some month - the former 1.0 version will not be produced anymore.
Both units sound the same - but the newer one has some more feature like:
- more user programs
- 3 Digit LED (instead of 2)
- Output level knob (will not be stored)
- On/Off switch
- Headphone jack

The knobs work different as the knobs on a normal tube amp. But after some time is's easy to find the right sounds.

Pre-Amp (Input Level and booster, called 'After Burner')

Buzz (amount of bass for clean sounds - amount of deep distortion for distored ones)
Punch (same but for mids)
Crunch (same but for hight)

All this knobs controll the general preamp sound - allmost every kind of tube preamp can be simulated (Fender, Marshall, Boogie... styles)

The next knob (Drive) controlled the power amp distortion !

The two knobs will follow (Low and High) - this adjusts the bass (Low) and very high frequencies (High).

The (High) knob can be used to adjust the output for direct use or before an amp. It's more a part of the inbuild speaker simulator than a normal 'treble' control in an amp.

All this and the final output level can be stored into on of the 127 slots.

.. that's it

There is no character display - so we have to remember the amps stored on the 127 slots.
Some empty sheets are included to help for this.

This one sounds very nice.
Clean, Cruch, Vintage and HighGain all possible and fine sounding.
I prever this over the direct out sound of all current DSP floarboards / 19" racks.

Why not a 10 - while a lot of sounds are noise free or with little noise - there are some sounds with noise - like with most high gain amps you will need a noise gate for this kind of sounds (it's not inbuild).

It's light and sounds great !
I tried it with my band tonight - the other gitar guy was using a tube amp and I used the 1.1 direct into the mixer (added some reverb) and it was fine - even cuts though very good.

I have the old version. Very easy to use. There's definitely a ton of sounds available, I haven't had the time to really start tweaking it yet.

I have mainly used it for recording bass for our demo. It's real easy to reamp tracks with the Psa too. I just plug a cord from the main cr out to the input 2 of the psa.

I play metal, so I can comment on the high gain sounds. The distortion is extremely tight and has a nice amount of clarity and definition. I tried playing with it so that I used my Framus Cobra's power section. It sounded nice and tight.

The voicing of the preamp is definitely it's own. (Some may hate it, but I love it). Real crunchy and tight. Whenever I listen to bands like Hypocrisy or 1349 I can instantly tell if this unit was used. For direct recording I haven't yet been able to get a full sounding guitar tone. It seems that it always comes out too thin or scooped. (Propably a mix of those two would make a huge wall of sound).

No issues yet. I bought it used so propably it's pretty solid.

Haven't dealt with them.

As stated above, I really can't comment on anything else than high gain sounds. For black or death metal this preamp is great, propably not so good on a bit mellower stuff, like, say, Katatonia hence it's very aggressive voicing.

My main rig consists of a Framus Cobra head and cab, I bought this unit for direct recording and to record the bass guitars for our demo. I really like the bass tones we came up with, nice and organic sounding. (Not bad for a SS pre).

Overall, it's a real nice piece of gear and extremely versatile.

I've got the new version of the sansamp 1.1, before i get i read a lot of reviews. this preamp is really very easy to use, just read the manual, and the controls are very intuitive.

I wont give a 10 becouse imo i think there are better pre-amps like triaxis but it's to damm expensive.
My current setup is Marshall 1936 Cab (2x12), Mesa boogie Valve Power Amp 20/20, BBE Sonic Maximizer, G-Major, and Psa 1.1

What can i say this pre amp rocks, tech21 says it's better to have a non valve pre amp to play with this, i disagree but it's my taste, the sound comming from the mesa it's just suberb, real warm, and powerfull. Also the BBE makes wonders with sound eheheheh.
I bought this to replace my podxt, there is no comparison betwen this two products.

As for clean sounds i think that is where the psa is worse, but with a little tweaking of the facbric presets you can get almost every sound you want.
Distorcions, thats a complete diferent deal, the factory programs are very good, almost with no tweaking you can get powerfull distorcions, crunch sounds, anything.
The quality of the pre amp is very good.

This unit is well built and looks it wont break eheheheh.

Customer support is very good, i've emailed their support and they anwser back, very nice.

I play for 15 years, mainly rock, blues and i need a lot of sounds for my rig, i think this is one of the best deals i've made.

Guitar: Ibanez RGs, Epiphone Sheraton
Musical Styles: Progressive Metal, Hard Rock, Bebop, Fusion, Free
Form

This preamp can do just about anything I've asked from it. When playing my Ibanezs I can get booming, heavy rhythm, screaming leads, shimmering cleans and glassy jazz tones. This thing is the best reproduction of tube quality without actually being a tube amp.

The only problem I've had with this preamp is when I've used it with my Epiphone Sheraton to produce jazz sounds. The tone quality is decent, but I think that particular guitar would sound better through a vintage combo tube amp.

Solid state preamp that uses analogue modeling to reproduce just about any other amplifier realisticly. Has eight control knobs on the front, each with 256 incremental steps meaning a total of 1.845x10^19 possible configurations, but probably only ~10,000 user differentiable settings. The control knobs are lockable so that people don't mess with my settings. Up and down buttons to switch between presets are located on the front as well as an imbeded save button which prevents accidentally deleting presets. Save button can be pushed using a pick.

Front and Rear 1/4" input
Stereo 1/4" output
MIDI I/O
Effects Loop with 50/50 switch
Stereo XLR output (very handy)
LED display
Jack for momentary footswitch

I use it for all of my live performances and practicing when I get a chance to bring it home.

100 Presets: 1-49 : Factory Defaults
51-99 : User Defined
00 & 50 : Bypass

Never had any problems, failures or glitches with the system. No tubes to break in the middle of a show and I still get tube quality!!!

Haven't dealt with them, haven't heard anything about them.

Playing for 6 years.
If this preamp were stolen I would try to find another used one, or just pay the extra money and buy the new model; Sansamp PSA-1.1. It's the same as the original except they've added a master volume knob.

Guitars:
- Ibanez RG350DX w/ EMG 60 (Neck) & 81 (Bridge)
- Ibanez RG1570 w/ Dimarzio Air Norton (Neck), HS-2 (Mid) &
EVO 2 (Bridge)
- Epiphone Sheraton (ES335 style)

Rig: Guitar-> Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah->Ernie Ball Volume Pedal->
PSA-1 Sansamp (TC Electronic G-Major in Effect Loop)-> Samson
Servo 260 Power Amp -> Modded Peavy 10" cabs
*PSA-1 and G-Major controlled by a Rocktron Midimate
Rack powered by a Furman Power Conditioner

Love: Amazing reproduction of tube quality tones
Hate: Nothing

There is only one thing I would add to this unit which would be a larger LED screen so that the preset names could be displayed. Seeing numbers on the front doesn't always tell you a lot about a preset.

I used my Dad's amps since I started playing and this is the first amplifier that I've personally owned and it may be the last. I spent at least 5 years playing different amps and listening to see which was right for me. I played Mesa, Marshall, Line6, Digitech, Vox, Peavy, Seymour Duncan, Crate... the list goes on and on. When it came to the best combination of versatility, tone and reliability, the PSA-1 came out on top.

For anybody that has had trouble getting a good sound out of this amp, make sure you use a solid state power amp and FULLRANGE speakers. The PSA-1 is designed to be used for more than guitars, so it was meant to be put through PA speakers.

The manual is very helpful for this product. Editing patches is a breeze, but getting the sound you want out of the unit is tough. Someone said there is no midrange knob, there is! The PUNCH knob! Buzz, Punch, Crunch all determine low, mid, and high distortion breakup. The Drive button simulates Power tube distortion, while the Pre-Amp button simulates tube preamp distortion. The low and high knobs act as a clean frequnecy boost. I suggest wandering thru the presets to see what the unit can do when you first get it. The controls and the way the patches work are quite strange at first and requires some practice to work the unit correctly. Getting a good sound is easy on this unit, but getting the sound you want is tough. Each knob has 256 incremental steps, when you factor in 8 different knobs, that is way over 8 billion different sounds! There is a definite learning curve with this unit, but once you get it, you can get exactly what you want.

I use this unit with my 5 string bass and I feed the sound from the PSA-1 straight into my Aguilar DB680, then to my QSC Power Amp. You can get many distortions: overdrive, growl, crunch, fuzz, thick thin, insane, anything you want. The unit has an inherent tube sound even though there are no tubes in it. The tube emulated sound is NOT better than the real thing, I must add. But, the sound coming from this unit sounds great! There is some noise on this unit when certain knobs are too high, but what unit is SILENT with distortion? (I haven't found one...). Rex Brown of Pantera, Byron Stroud of Fear Factory, Oliver Riedel of Rammstein, Tony Campos of Static-X, Adam Duce of Machine Head, Paulo Pinto of Sepultura; all of them use this unit to get fantastic bass distortion. I loved all their sounds and I got a unit that can create what they have. This unit is best for distorted sounds (my opinion). The unit can do clean sounds, but I prefer my Aguilar DB 680 preamp over that idea though. The Distortion off this unit is excellent, and NOTHING on the market even comes close to this unit.

Very Reliable and easy to use while playing live. I gig without a backup because, hey, I don't have an $600 for a backup!

They have emailed me back on certain questions and have been very helpful.

I love Heavy Metal and Rock. The unit requires patience from the user. If you want something easier to work with, don't buy this! This unit is COMPLEX, but rewards you with awesome tone if you give it a chance. The Unit keeps the low end of my bass very well. The distortion on this thing is very responsive to my playing and that is by far the best part. The knobs sometimes act "wierd" on you; the knobs may not create a tone change until 3 seconds after you move it. The ability to have 50 presets makes up for that though. If you want a large selection of distortion sounds for bass that sound like your bass heroes, buy this unit. If you never want to use a STOMP BOX for distortion ever again, buy this unit. Stomp Boxes don't even come close to the sound quality of the PSA-1. I will never part with it. $600 is expensive, but worth it!

This is the best I have heard for al long time. I have had an POD XT Pro but that's nothing compared with the Sansamp. The XT "feels" digital where PSA "feels" and sounds analog with lots of gain but clean also very impressive. I'm playing a Blade RH-4 with EMG's wich is a perfect combination. The amp is capable of creating many different sound from very clean to brutal ditorsions. Also in high volumes the sound blows out of your speakers, in my case 2 Marshall 1912 through a Valvestate 8008 amp.

Great, no unnessary buttons and options. Just what you need and programable too. I use my PSA-1 together with de G- Major from TC Electronics and the X15 Ultra Foot from Art. Works perfect together.

No problems yet, seems very reliable.

No idea.

If it were stolen or lost, I would try to find another one.

It's just knobs,although,you do need to learn how they work together.

I always give sound quality a 9 'cause it can always be better.This unit kicks ass.It doesn't have a mid control knob,but,this is a different type of circuitry.By cutting the highs and lows you get a shit load of mids,I like mids.There is so much range in this unit that I have my highs less than half way and my lows a little more than half way.I get perfect mids this way.The distortions are clear and brutal,cleans are cleans.I use a Les Paul and ESP BARITONE w/EMG 81's through a Marshall Valvestate power amp and regular cabinets.This unit does sound better through full range speakers and a completely transparent solid state power amp,but,fuck it.My set up still kicks ass.

I've had it for three years with no problems.

The Lloyd dude is cool.No matter how stupid you might sound,he'll answer any question.

For the money,you can't get any better.I play death metal and it's perfect.It does sound like a tube head.I've been playing for 8 years and have tried all the Marshall's,Mesa's,and so on.Trust me,you don't need to slam down 13 hundred bucks,fuck the novelty and fuck the purists.

U NEED to know how to work the very unique controls on this, in order to get the tone u want, so READ THE MANUAL!!!

this thing sounds amazing!! At first, I was a bit dissapointed, because i matched it up with a SS power amp; like I was told to by someone at tech 21, and I just didnt get the sounds i thought i should (I was running it into a mesa boogie recto 4x12). Then i was told to use full range speakers..... well, I ran it through some cheapo home made P.A cabinet made with radio shack speakers, and BOOM!! there was my sound!! I couldnt believe how incredible it sounded! The mesa boogie's, the marshalls, the fenders(the fenders did lack a little, but still sounded great), all the sounds were there. i was told that guitar speakers added too much midrange and that what was needed was full range speakers. well these cheap radio shack speakers did the job. can u imagine what it would sound like through a top of the line P.A cab? Well, this cheapo P.A cab wasnt mine, so all I had was my mesa cab. i did find out that by running an EQ in the effects loop, u can cut out the mids that are added by guitar speakers and improve the sound greatly. Ultimately, I'd like to maybe build a 4x12 cab with full range speakers, but for now the EQ does the job. Once u see what this sounds like through full range speakers, you'll see what I mean.

S.S, so u cant go wrong

I called tech 21 and emailed them several times and I always got and intelligent, honest and professional responses from them

this is the best preamp for its price range. Hook it up to a P.A cab or any type of full range speakers (radio shack!!) and you'll see just how amazing this thing is. Also try cutting the mids with an eq if you use a guitar cab with it.

PRS CUSTOM 24 goes trough PSA-1- empirical lab Distressor ont the PSA FX LOOP- psa outputs then go to : PDA 9 PALMER SPKR EMULATION (right) GI 100 BERINGHER sPEAKER SIM and then to a mackie 1604 mixer to a Digidesign M BOX TO live (ableton)on a MAC G4 for DAW. I also own a modified JMP-1 preamp that sounds amazing (far better than the original. i've had tons of gear as a hi-tech fashion victim (V AMP PRO, pod XT)But i must admit that this box is, as already mentionned, far far far very far from is so called competitors. Attack is so precise, distorsions are..how to say... the sound you always have dreamt of for tube distorsion preamp (since it has tube). i won't get into details on the incredible sound of this preamp...whatever you think your sound is lacking of (pod, Vamp etc.) with your actual gear is in it. i'm serious. The only reproach i have is for direct recording purpose..i 've forgot miking long time ago. the PSA DIRECT SOUND still very 'trebly and harsh to be recorded direct TO MY OPINION. So i once add a PDI 09 PALMER SPKR SIM AND ON THE OTHER OUPTPUT A BERINGHER GI-100. I highly recommend this set up for direct recording with psa-1. the result is frankly superb. given the price of these box no risk. YOU GET THE TONE line 6, digitech or roland just can't approach and i also use theses box. clean sounds are also fantastic..never thought i could get a SRV sound with a PRS..BUT IT IS. I rate it to 9 just because i have to add spk sim to get that untouchable tone.

fantastic interface. Includes so much control to shape the sound.
low and hi eq settings. no mid but the way eq is designed make this useless. i wish it had a more specifically (intended) direct record output. the perfect gear just to name it.

i've been using it for 3 years now : never the beginning of a problem. It's a tank.

Playing for 18 years. almost 70's things and this is a must have. the digital craps users should have a try. would buy it again. nothing else.

It's an 8 because sometimes the value lights are not right...
And I have had flakey results with the mapping MIDI presets in the unit... But They really are Minor Issues... It has never failed and sounds the same every day I use it. Ones it's set up to how I like it. It's easy to tweek a setting (If I needs a little more volume) and to and save with a pick.

Sound is great on this unit. But I liked my old Peavey Rockmaster Better... But... After buying a QSC power amp that changed a lot... Do not use a TUBE amp.
Here is my set up.
Morley Wah -> Diditech Wammy ->
PSA-1 =>EFX LOOP -> EQ -> G-Force <= EFX return
PSA-1 Line OUT => BBE Sonic Maximiser -> QSC-850
PSA-1 XLR OUT => Mixer (for PA/Recording)

Everything is MIDI controled by a Ground Control and the CFX-Looper.
Yeah I am a control Freek!

I find the BBE in to the board is a little too Bassy, And not exactly what I am going for.

I love what the Sonic Maximiser can do to your sound... If your a guitar player, Get one.

Yeah. I have never had it not work... And it gets used a lot.
I was recording some stuff and I was hearing this pooping sound...
I thought it was from the PSA-1.. I Riped my Rig apart tring to find it... Well It was my 12 Year old Sonic Maximiser. Bought a new one. and my sound is so clean now...

Fine, I never had a manual it was the store demo unit and the manual was gone??? the sent me a new one. Nice to see that!

Distortion is killer and the Clean is a little plane, but with the rest of my EFX I can fix that right up... It is a dependable, MIDI, No Tube, Preamp.
One thing I would like to see here is what power Amp is everyone using...

My set up is: Yamaha guitar model RGXTT, and RGX820Z, both with Seymor dunkan Pickups, Chameleon 2000 for perfect efects and POD XT PRO for some effects. I love this pre-amp I tried with others Pre-amps: Line6 PODXT PRO, V-amp PRO, Marshall JMP-1, ADA MP1&MP-2, and the best is PSA-1, maybe Tri-axis Mesabooguie is good, Voodo Labs is very good, Prophesy also good, piranha is good, but PSA-1 is more versatyle and the Distortion is vERY VERY BRUTAL...I'm play the guitar in a Fusion Band: Heavy Progressive,Metal Fusion, Funk, some Blues,ETC and PSA-1 is the winner. I tried record direct with PSA-1 and is very Brutal Pre, I'm session music, not POD XT is a TOY, NOT V-AMP, is a cheap TOY, Maybe JMP-1 is decent, Triaxis very Expensive, Vodoo Labs Expensive, try with PSA-1 is the best.

This Pre-amp is for professional users or medium users becose it function is different to multieffects. Works with various frecuency and differents controls in the panel.

All OK

Very well, I lost my owner manual and LLoyd send my the manual the next day, perfect.

PSA-1 is a versatile pre in comparition with others preamps, brutal distortion, clean very well, is a PROFESIONAL PRE. For direct perfect, in studio perfect, Exellent Quality, Exellent Sound, Exellent price, I love it.

Clean tone is a little generic, but add a little overdrive and badabing, its sounds good. This thing is also great for bass. The only problem with the unit is that it sounds like the back of my ass when put through a tube amp. You must use a solid state amp for this unit to have it sound good. It has nice thick distortion ( a little noisy) that doesn't sound aat all solid state.

Powerfull simlicity. This thing has 3 buttons, a couple pots, and an array of I/O. Everybody else has explained its features so no use. This is probably one of the best solid state guitar/bass preamps ever made. I give it a nine because I own three of them and they can be a little quirky.

Has some problems everyonce in a while with its pot recal. The blinking lights sometimes don't seem to guide you in the right dsirection, but works eventually with a little patience.

Good unit but not the best thing to buy for ditortion.

I play this unit throuhg a Behringer 412s box, on my ibanez rg with seymour duncan hotrails.
This preamp is great. for all you who doesnt like it i suggest trying it out with the correcte equipment. full range speakers and a clean power amp. i can get all kinds of sounds of of this little unit. i have tried some other ams, like the peavey 5150 (way too much fuzz) and som mesa stuff (can be emulated =)

Excessive distorsion tweaks, no more no less

never fails. i have gigged on it without a backup and i still will!

well they are very nice to help with manuals and questions but thats all i've tried

if it got stolen i would fetch my rifle.
i got this special model with red front and a real signature. made in 100-ish units throughout europe.
i just love it!

Ok. I use PRS CE-22's and McCarty model guitars. THe current setup in the rack is as follows: Carvin UHF Wireless > PSA-1 > TC Gmajor in FX loop > Mesa 50/50 > 2 2x12 Mesa recto cabs. I am a guns for hire guitarist (and sound engineer) so I need to have versatility in my sound. I play all types of rock, blues, jazz, funk styles. It depends who's hiring me for the session/live show. My own project is a mix of progressive rock and blues. This thing nails it all with the live setup. What really blew me away was the ability to take the direct signal and a signal from a mic'ed amp/cab and mix them live and in the studio. Whoa. I was half mast the whole time.

Cleans are impressive and full, moreso than any other direct preamp I've heard, and nicer than some boutique amps I own. I disagree with other posts here about the slight-breakup settings. I find them very workable, and mixed with the signal from the power amp are great. The heavy distortions will kick yoru ass across the room. Tight low end, aggressive punch, and clear definition. It reacts very well to picking dynamics and hands down is the easiest to pull useable on key feedback in all the high gain settings of all preamps I've used.

I've put this up agains my Triaxis, and it held it's own. I'd say it was 98% as good as the triaxis preamp, and some settings were nicer.

As a sound engineer, nothing's a 10 on tone, but it's a very solid 9.

I bought the preamp for a rack setup for live shows in 2002. Features are standard, really for this type of preamp, except it doesn't do an fx. That's fine with me, I only wanted core tone from my preamp anyway. The place where this unit shines is versatility in tone, and the ability to take a signal to the board with the XLR outs, as well as drive a power amp and speaker with the 1/4" outs. Stereo FX loop is nice.

I've roaded this live for over 2 years, and it's seen every type of situation from studio work to shit bars and larger venues. I stopped bringing a backup after 6 months. It's solid state, and it's a tank.

I'd say 10 on reliability.

Lloyd is an excellent technician to deal with, and is not only prompt but extremely knowledgeable. He answered all my questions and then sugested settings and gear to work with it. Good form, Tech 21!

It's a 10 folks. If you can't get it to sound good, you're doing something wrong. Check the surrounding gear or try it direct.

Overall, I give it a 10.

The Sansamp PSA 1 is a very special and serious preamp. It has something for almost everyone which is saying a lot. It is arguably the best professional preamp in its class and also better in some aspects than preamplifiers that cost twice as much.. My experience has been that certain trends in popular gear that tries to cover a lot of sonic ground tends to spread itself too thin and as a result gets passed over by serious musicians. Not so with the Sansamp PSA 1. This unit is setup to be used right out of the box with Presets that are emulations of popular amplifiers or ?signature? tones of famous musicians. The Presets differ from many other companies Presets in the sense that these are not voiced just to sound good in the demo rooms and consequently make a sale based on the showcasing ability of the unit; Rather the Presets are carefully tweaked emulations that are authentic sounding and will have real world use.

The easiest way to get started is to dial in a Preset that you like and tweak the sound using the knobs to adjust gain, treble, bass etc. For someone who would like to dive in deep this unit has plenty to offer too. This unit has control pots that are actually digital rotary encoders with 256 increments each. Multiply that to the number of knobs and you can imagine how many possible combinations one can get with this unit. The great part of this part of the interface being digital is that you can store near infinite combinations to memory of which there are 50 banks. Plus you will not have the usual wear and scratchy pots syndrome with these encoders (Controls)
To create your own sounds that are based on real amplifiers, I?d suggest reading the manual to understand the function of each control. The controls are very precise and fast acting, if you are used to dialling in with a lot of movement you may overcompensate! The manual states which controls emulate poweramp distortion etc. Along with the standard EQ which is in the form of treble & bass, you have parametric distortion/tone EQ in which each knob affects a specific frequency of a dialled in tone The rest of the preamp is pure FET based analogue circuitry. I will not go into the authenticity of the tones in this review as I feel that aspect has been covered by earlier reviews and forums instead I?d focus on a few other aspects.
Do not confuse this Preamp with the Physical modelling toys that masquerade as preamps. The Sansamp is a REAL preamp. I do not have anything against digital (in fact I love digital technology) but most of the Physical modelling amplifiers barring a select few just don?t cut it like a real amplifier. The problems lie with dealing with the non linearity?s of physics, optimising and economising algorithms for DSP and the very quality of the software code being written to emulate real amplifiers and effects. A good virgin vinyl record played on a reference grade gear has a bandwidth of 100Khz and a top flight tweaked spool tape recorder around 400Khz! When some folks complain that the CD did not sound as sweet as vinyl they were not kidding! One might argue that since the average hearing is around 20Hz to 20Khz what?s the point in having bandwidth above/below that. The fact is some people do hear above 20 Khz and energy can be felt at lower Hertz. Just because you can?t hear it audibly does not mean its not there! Ignoring the fact that there is non linear physics at work is why we probably have models of 400W power amps in jelly bean plastic boxes that run on 9volts and sound caricaturish! If it were possible to digitally clone a Class A tube amp like a Trainwreck or Boogie or Matchless DC 30 or the likes for $ 200 then they?d be out of business faster than you could say ?Yikes!?. In the studio I recorded a clean guitar part and played the same lick using Amp emulation plug-ins and Sansamp in the loop. Although both sounds were good, nearly everyone said the Sansamp had more ?bloom? and ?definition?. That?s what you get wit

This preamp works best with Solid state power amps although there are some who may disagree. I heard this with a Mesa Tube power section where I liked the sounds of the distorted Presets but I am not so convinced that the clean sounds are that good. When the power amp was switched to a Bryston 300W Power amp with enormous headroom the entire rig came alive. Distortions were powerful and low ends taut, cleans were sparkly and chime like and overdrives were articulate and had nuance. As with any gear synergy is paramount. Solid state seems better suited to this preamp. Do not use this with Celestion vintage 30s or other wonderful typical guitar cabs. It is designed to be used with full range cabinets which are available from Tech 21 and you can also find others. I use fender US deluxe guitars and Les Paul custom through the Sansamp. Of course you have to change the gain levels while using the same Presets while switching guitars. The Sansamp PSA 1 is a very quiet preamp, even on extreme settings it is much quieter than a Marshall JMP-1 which constantly buzzes and hums at extreme settings. The mesa boogie triaxis too is also pretty quiet. In any case, most of us use noise gates at some stage. Since I use this in a home studio setting, my output is through monitors. I think this preamp sounds best using the FX loop instead of taking a signal output from the Sansamp to a DSP and then to power amp. The serial connections destroy the tone. I suspect that happens when your signal hits the D/A converter of your FX unit. A 50/50 mix sounds good to my ears and there is a neat little switch at the back that allows for this.I will give it a 9.

The Unit seems very reliable and I think it should perform well under any normal circumstance provided it is not abused. I think that it does not tolerate voltage fluctuations very well. Sometimes, I have noticed that strange things happen like Blinking lights or non responsive controls which are remedied by restarting the unit. Use a UPS or Line stabiliser like furman.

I did get in touch with the company when I first bought the unit in relation to some voltage conversion queries and power amp that I had, since I live in a country where we have 220 VAC. Tech 21 customer support exemplifies what a good company should be. Lloyd , the Product manager is prompt, courteous, informative and goes a long way to solve your issues even if they are not immediately related to their product. Fantastic company. Morley is another company I think stand out in terms of customer service. I will always buy newer products from such companies because they offer much more than advice and support. I have faith in their vision. I say this because I have gear from Alesis ,Roland, Boss, Yamaha?Worst service ever. Some did not even bother to reply even when I said I had some defunct units that need immediate attention. I guess that is how it is with some Mega corporations.

My favourite guitarists are Allan Holdsworth, Scott Henderson, Morse, Abercrombie, SRV, Scofield and David Gilmour of the Crazy saints. I tend to like progressive and blues and the jazz masters. This unit can cover a lot of the tones I hear on the Cds. As a preamp it covers a lot of sonic territory and covers them well. It definitely is not one pointed and is very broad in tonal range although I am sure it cannot please everyone. Check with your sonic goals first. I?ve been playing since I was 16 and am 32 now. I have some vintage pedals and racks, and I am saving up to buy a lexicon PCM 81 or maybe a Lexicon MPX 1 if I can?t save enough!

If it were stolen, I?d become a monk. Learn Shaolin Kung Fu so as not to be violent with the perpetrator of the crime but demonstrate to him how lucky he was not born a brick and buy another unit! This one is a design classic. One point I?d like to make: I hope some companies like Tech 21 never stop making rugged all steel chassis and knobs and gear with that solid feel. It infuriates me to see gear (even expensive ones) nowadays that are made for fairies from lala-land. All those yucky plastic knobs and super soft membrane keys look ok on a Casio calculator. Professional audio gear should have none of that. If the customer pays good money for gear he/she should in no way be part of this ?planned obsolescence? corporate jig where the components are known to fail within a certain period. Some of the footcontrollers I have seen are actually made for gnomes.

I compared it with A Mesa boogie Triaxis and Marshall JMP 1 as I was considering only preamps. The triaxis is one of the best there is but I did not like all the distortion sounds, I detected a mid range that was not very pleasing to me plus it is quite expensive. The JMP-1 was great on distortion but hisses too much. The JMP?s cleans were not to my liking. The PSA 1 was a no brainer. Best choice for me.

Anything I wish It had:
It is very difficult to critique this unit as it is so good. Anyway here are my suggestions:

1. A mid range knob would be nice. In all fairness I think that?s not possible because of the lack of real estate on the front faceplate.
2. The PSA 1 really shines on distorted and clean settings, The overdrive is not as spectacular especially the decays. This is only relative though.
3. I wish the unit remembered the patch last used while powering down. If this means the addition of an onboard battery then I can live without the feature as I would not like to live with the worry that the battery has to be replaced every year as most onboard memory batteries are not user changeable.
4. A power on/off switch would be nice. If tech 21 feels real estate is a problem they could make it at the back of the rack like some other units.
5. The Power cord: This one I have a real gripe with. I wish they did not make it connected direct to the unit as power cords often get caught on something or can just get frayed from use. It cannot be easily changed. It would make sense just to have a female socket on board wherein the cord would just need to be replaced. If the size of the rack is a constraint, tech 21 can increase the depth of the unit to accommodate the female socket.
6. I wish the top and sides and screws were aluminium/stainless instead of steel. This unit is a keeper. It should definitely look good for years and not rust as it does. Often screws rust and get locked in and are difficult to remove while servicing.
7. I wish the manual stated the process used to arrive at the tones they programmed. Trial and error iterative process can take up a lot of your time in nailing new sounds.

All these are very minor to say the least, some might say I?m being overtly critical, but hey! You asked for my opinion!

For those who want a summary the PSA 1 has more answers than questions to its credit. Sure it?s not perfect but it is one of those units that you will have longer than most. I dont know of any other unit that does what it doe