Tech 21 SansAmp PSA-1 Preamp

i bought this thing by faith, because EVERYONE at a store recommended it over the JMP-1 which i intended to buy. since i could return it, i figured what the hell.

when i first plugged this thing in, i have to say i was disappointed. the sounds were all a tad bit scratchy and harsh. i soon found out, however, that this is not an amp that sounds good out of the box. this may sound cliche, but you really do have to tweak it. i've made several killer presets, anywhere from a mesa recto without the muddiness, or a marshall jcm-900 without all the harsh treble, to a gained out, hot rodded plexi.

this thing sounds EVEN BETTER on stage than it does in the bedroom (not something you can say for most solid state units :-D). some of the harsh treble which comes through mine gets lost in the mix and it sounds really killer. i'm almost positive, though, that this treble is my fault for running 2 preamps in a row (the psa-1 followed by the preamp in my valvestate). yes, the distortion IS brutal. yes, the gain IS powerful. and yes, the clean IS beautiful. this thing can model 49 different amps so your tonal pallette from which you build your presets is just immense.

i have noticed some hiss at high volumes, but it doesnt get to me.

I thought i had written a review for this a while ago but i guess i havent. anyway, here goes:

This thing is versatile as hell. its a midi preamp with 49 user presets and 49 factory presets. its all solid state, but it uses FET's rather than transistors which allow it to provide a more organic tone. it also uses its FET's configured in a push-pull circuit like that of a class AB tube amp, unlike other solid state units. this makes the tone a lot more responsive.

NOW, what gives this thing the real kick in versatility is the use of BUZZ, PUNCH, and CRUNCH for controls. this is NOT bass, middle, and treble. these knobs adjust the amount of BREAKUP in low, middle, or high frequencies, respectively. a tight modern sound, for example, calls for LESS buzz and more punch. this allows you to rework the very tonality of the simulated amp, giving changes in character that are similar to those you would get with mods to the respective amp. this feature also allows you to shape the tone in a way that other modelling amps most definitely do not.

the way you adjust the actual amount of frequency in there is with the LO and HI knobs. my ONLY beef is that there is no mid knob. it's still possible to make a scooped or raunchy, nasal sound without it, but it requires more tweaking. adding a mid knob would make it easier.

FOR REFERENCE: my setup is as follows:
Guitars:
-Ibanez RG7420 7 string, stock
-Cort Solo w/ EMG 85 in the bridge

Poweramp/cab:
-none. i run this into the input of my marshall valvestate combo set to a VERY clean sound with the EQ knobs all at 12:00

i got this thing christmas of 2001 and it hasnt gone down on me yet. one potential problem is that there's no on/off switch. however, the manual says it's not a problem, and that recording studios that use these things leave them on 24/7 with no problem. sounds good to me. i flip off the power switch at the wall at night just in case tho ;)

havent had to deal with them yet

im really pleased with it. i've been playing for almost 5 years now. if it were stolen or lost id DEFINITELY pick up a new one. i did compare it to the marshall JMP-1, and decided against it because the marshall only makes 4 sounds, whereas this makes 49. one of those 49 happens to be a JMP-1 preset, which is a very good representation imo. again, i wish it had a mid knob but i can do without it. if you cant, you may want to invest in an EQ pedal or a rack EQ of some sort.

Very easy to setup, the sounds are great, there is basically no need of manual, although it is well written and comprehensive. I love this unit, as pretty much anything else SansAmp puts out

Excellent sound quality. It has pretty much eq tailoring (low and high) and buncha other contour knobs, what it lacks is a mid eq knob, though. Aside from that it rules.

no probs with it yet

great cust support

I play mainly metal. This amp has been a godsent - the best frigging distortion. I run it thru Peavey 50/50 classic tube power amp and it sounds killer. Some of the clean setting are not that helpful, but I bought it mainly for its distortion sound and this is great!
For the price new it might be a bit expensive, but I got mine used and I think it is a great value. Definitely easy to use and in sound quality it beats all the amp simulated effects, like the POD pro.

I use it with a gibson sg Standard with EMG-81 pickups in it.
I Play in a band called FULL COURT PRESS www.fcponline.net and we play hiphop infleuenced hardcore.
It just has a killer brutal sound or else the verry good clean sound of a fender etc.

A VERRY GOOD pre-amp, it's verry easy to save your presets, controlling it with any midicontroller...
Just say it's verry nice!!!
Has midi in/out, 2* outputs xlr and 1/4 jack.
I use it with a mesa simul 2:ninety and it souds KILLER, i previous had a Dual REctifier and i've sold it cause this setup sounds MUCH BETTER, believe me.

Good

Verry Good, they always answer your mails directly.

I've bin playing for about 6 years now and use the sansamp with the mesa Simul 2: ninety, behringher ultrafex pro sound modulizer, tc electronic G-Major, and i use a Korg DTR-2 Rackmount tuner.
My guitars are a Gibson SG Standard with EMG 81 pickups, and i gonna buy myself a Gibson LesPaul Smartwood.

The crunch is pure brutal!
I Love it..
But.. again i would give this a 10 but cannot:
Does the terms LOUD AND OBNOXIOUS white noise and hiss/hums offend anyone else?
Well, thats about all this does at "real" volumes if you even pause/break for a millisecond..
Even with my Rocktron Super C Hush and an additional gate from my compressor it does this and can not be remedied.
I am very unhappy about that!
As for clean tones..
Its pretty bad too.
Oh, they sound great! but they cant be set up to match the levels of the gains..Not unless you throw your dc mix all to heck..
So you go from blistering loud crunch to an acoustic sound that is drowned out by the drummer and singer on stage.
Real dissappointed in that too.

Even with my lower ratings, I still beleive its the absolute BEST pre amp on the market in its class.
I would rocommend it to anyone!

I would have to agree with most of the posts here on this baby!
Its is the hottest pre amp I or any of my freinds have had the chance to pleasure!
Unfortunatley, while its the best sounding unit.. and i have had almost every avbailable pre amp made in my 15 years tenure as a guitarist.. But the features are awful..
I dont want to have to MAP my presets to channels 50-55 etc.. It would be much better if the user presets were the first block of 50 and vice versa..
Big let down there..

They guys over at Kaman are pretty nice. I spent alot of time with them trying to figure out how to get thru the above mentioed issues..
Ultimately, they said there was no way around it and it was the characteristics of the unit.

They were helpful.

this is a great sounding pre amp.
I say the best!
if you can get past the problems i have with it or just dont care as much about them as i do, Then you will be one happy cat!
I highly recommend it!
As for giving this or any other unit a 10.. the unit would have to be absolute perfection in all aspects...No piece of gear will prbably ever merit such a level.
Your ears may tell you that now, but in 2-4 or even 10 years down the road.. these opinions always change as does the gear....

This is not a ten because (1) there is no "mind-to-circuitry" connection (you actually have to turn the knobs with your hand or feet) to shape your sound, and (2) the terms "buzz", "punch", "crunch", etc. aren't used much on units by other manufacturers-- but these terms ARE in guitarists vocabularies and in MHO descriptive and cool.

It is so easy to record with this. I don't have to mess with micing an amp. And most important is that there are no compromises in tone.

I consider myself a tone afficionado. Cut to the chase: This rack unit rocks my world completely. I write songs and have a pretty amazing home studio. I also have a choice collection of guitar pedals. With the PSA-1 you can dial in with fine detail just about any guitar tone that a multitude of amps would otherwise require. For the past several years, we have heard so much propaganda about having real tubes for getting the best tone. What a load of marketing crap! This unit is solid state. No tubes. It is all analog, too. It sounds extremely responsive to your playing and very organic. It can shred, do SRV, country-- any style.

My setup: My main axe is one I never heard anyone else having. It's a Ibanez Roadster (this spelling is correct). There are nonstock EMG's in there. I bought it new in 1980. It is a strat copy that I suspect was too close so it disappeared quickly (my theory-- could be wrong). This guitar goes into the Empirical Labs "Distressor" (the most awesome compressor ever made), then into the SansAmp, then into the Ensoniq DP/4 (one of the best ever delays-- by the way, it is digital and very WARM sounding; putting guitar, vocals, whatever through a bit of this will easily warm up otherwise thin sounds that are a result of recording digitally), then finally into the Lexicon LXP 15 II. You come out of the Lex in stereo at the end of this chain, and you will be in heaven. You will feel that whatever pro sound you want, you'll be able to get. There-- there are all my secrets just handed to you on a silver platter (well, maybe not all...).

I have other guitars, like a Fat Tele, and they all sound fabulous in this chain.

I might add a pedal in this chain, depending on what I'm going for. Maybe a Ross Phase Distortion, Guyatone Wah Rocker, whatever, for that special sound.

The original review for the PSA-1 appeared in Electronic Musician in October 1994. You can still buy this all these years after. Obvious to me is that this is a modern classic piece of gear and a reliable, time-tested design. I bought mine used several years ago and I have been around the world with it. It is completely reliable. I never had a problem with it.

I have never dealt with them. I guess they are in NY, NY I believe, so I'd expect an attitude.

Overall, if you are really picky about tone and have gone through various pedals searching for what will give you the sounds you want, get this for a million different guitar sounds. Get your head straightened about about needing tubes; the PSA-1 is soooo organic and responsive and tube-like. You won't miss your tube amp! This makes life sooo easy for recording. Once you get comfortable with the controls, you'll feel like god, in control of the Universe of Guitar Tones. I went through half a store load of different gear before finally finding this and I wouldn't want to play guitar without it. One caveat, though, is that I AM talking about the sound I get through the chain mentioned above. But just the PSA-1 and the Lexi coming out in stereo is heaven, so you don't need the expensive compressor to sound great with this. Overall: This thing will go down in guitar gear history!

I took the damn thing apart and i can't find no tubes in it! There must be something wrong! It's warmer than most tube amps out there, save the boutique ones.

There are 49 factory presets which sound like heaven and 49 user presets which are left for you to program. It's solid state and the Buzz Punch and Crunch controls are awesome! They alter your tone in ways you never thought possible. (and normally wouldn't find on other amps). This is what makes the PSA-1 sound so incredible and Flexible at the same time. This baby can rumble like a Boogie or sparkle like a Bogner

Hey SS. No tubes.

Support was quite good, responded a day to my query and even explained to me the reason why it sounds great running it through a solid state poweramp and all.

I let my pal with a Boogie dual rec try it out and he prefered my Rectifier setting to his actual one. Hmm.... The cleans are good but it's the distortion settings which steal the show. The Plexi setting sounds as good as my own Plexi, though slightly different. Great product. The XLRs out prove useful for recording direct.

Even a baby can play it without a problem. Just turn the knob to your favourite tone and click "save" twice. The only problem is the 2-digit LED, not enough to inidicate all the info in Special Function mode. 50 factory presets and 50 user presets. Seems not many but enoguh for me already.

I am using Ibanez JEM 555 (all Evolution), Epiphone Les Paul Classic w/ Dimarzio PAF Pro (neck) and Air Zone bridge, a Japanese Epiphone SG 61 Reissue. I put my PSA-1 into my Boss GX-700 effect loop. I have a rubbish Crate amp, which I never use after I bought my PSA-1. It is hard to beleive this is a solid state preamp. The tone is warm. It is not just a distortion box, sparky Fender clean tone can be produced too. The presets are incrediable, you can play thru them without adjusting anything, of coz I modified many of them and save in user presets. Some of my friends do not believe how great is this box. They are tube lovers and they only know Mesa Boogies stuffs for their heavy tone, mostly becoz not many ppl use Sansamp here (Hong Kong). It is lack of advertisment. I put PSA-1 in the effect loop of GX-700, the variation is infinity. I remove the distortion and preamp in GX-700. I use PSA-1 as preamp and go thru EQ delay and reverb, I put speaker sim in the end, that really rocks, even now I play with a headphone only. I am thinking to buy a Fender Champion 30 later on. Originally, PSA-1 and amp modelling stuffs is ideal with a power amp. That cost me too much and it is very hard to buy power amp here. For home use, I choose a good clean tone amp for a substitution. I think the tone are much more killer after play thru this Fender amp. At least I heard my friends Sansamp GT-2 sound very awesome in this Champion 30.

Mine is 2nd hand, some of the knob have some buzz...

Excellent. I emailed Tech 21 few times before I bought it. They reply everytime and very fast. My PSA-1 does not comes with a user manual, I asked Tech 21 email me a copy in pdf format. They really did!! Thanks!!

It beat many real tube amp. Even the tone are not 100% same as them, for a box with million of great tone, it is worth, even I think the price is quite expensive for a new one (that's why I bought a used one in ebay). I think if all the knobs in PSA-1 can be turned 360 degree, just like the one in my GX-700, it is perfect. I have one problem now is that I cannot change both PSA-1 and GX-700 presets at the same time, I am going to buy a MIDI foot controller. Without a foot controller, GX-700 cannot send ot MIDI command by itself. It is quite trouble some for me to change presets one by one...

For a simple layout, they managed to screw it up by calling things not by their names, but their tweaky marketing terms. For Christ's sake call bass bass, midrange midreange, etc :P Pathetic

Also it is EXTREEMELY difficult to get a usable tone from this thing - it's not like you get a wide range of useful sounds. No, it has ONE good sound - a grindy heavy distorted thing. If you need any other sound, get something else as it doesn't compare to tubes. Even the distortion, it is onlyinteresting becasue it's a little different than you will get from a typical pedal or tube amp, but it's not necessarily better, and certainly it is far less versatile.

You can spend hours with this thing never get a usable tone if you don't know what you're doing. It's very touchy.

Heard one of these at a music store the other day. You know what they sound like? They sound like a keyboard sample of distorted guitar, or a synthesized guitar - like something you'd see out of an analog synth or a korg modeller or something. It's a synthetic tone. It's an interesting sound, but it's not versatile at all. Cleans absolutely suck on this unit - no body whatsoever. If you think so, you need your head examined!

This is a toy like they say. Some things are 'pro' in feel and versatility and whatnot. This strikes me as a patent type product like bose - it's crap, good for one thing (bose is good at very low volume if you ahve no space and don't want to see anything). This thing has one good distorted sound, and the rest is pretty much a joke. If you are looking to make your guitar sound like a synthesized version of guitar - a sampled guitar kind of sound, get this, because that is what it sounds like.

It blows my mine that ANYONE would pay over a grand for this thing, ever!

The PSA-1 has got Marshall, Fender, Mesa Boogie, Bass and Misc ( 10 of each) factory-presets. For example you got Hendrix-Preset, Recifter-Preset and a Panthera-Preset. Really nice ones! The Marshall presets sound like Marshall ( I always hated Marshall-Sound) - crappy.
It is not very noisy. Some noise in hardly distorted presets. I kill this easily with the HUSH in my Replifex. The Mesa-Boogie-presets are killer! I like it so much... Fender ones are nice for clean tones. Never tried the bass-presets with a bass-guitar. The Miscs-presets are nice too: Big Muff, Pignose, Panthera etc.

If you are listening to it with closed eyes: You won't believe that this preamp has no tubes in it. I heard that the tubes in other preamps like the VoodooValve or JMP-1 are just like a fake. They don't really work for your sound. This is just for some marketing reasons. But I also tried the Mesa Formula Preamp: You hear the tubes. No fakes here, but too expensive... ( about 1500 US-$).

Great sound from Jazz, Blues, Rock, Metal and even NuMetal. Nice clean and crunched sounds. Distortion-sounds ( i.e. Recifter-Preset, Metallica-Preset, Santana-Setting...) are very nice sounding. A lot of distortion in this preamp with tons of bottom-end... Check it out!

The preamp was made in 1997. I bought it used from eBay. But it looks like new, no optical faults. It is the version with a red front-panel.
Looks nice, even if I would have prefered the silver one.
The preamp has got a lot of features. With Buzz, Punch, Crunch and Drive-Knobs you can get a lot of different Sounds. You just got a Low and High-Knob. No Mids. This is explained in the other reviews.
It features Midi ( be careful at eBay -older ones aren't midi-able and programmable) and you got 50 very good factory-presets and 50 for own presets. I play it with a Rocktron Replifex and a Velocity 120 in a 4x12 Hughes&Kettner cabinet. No tubes in this preamp, but read on...

It has XLR Outputs and (!) normal 1/4" Outputs. The stereo effect-loop can be switched in 100% or 50/50. The "wetness" of your effect can be adjusted in the effect-processor. You got 10db-boost at Outputs and on the rear-panel Input. The Front-Input is at instrument-level ( -10 db). Via the "special-page-functions" you can reach Midi-mapping-functions, all knobs inactive etc. Nice!
It came with a software ( Mark of the Unicorn | Unisyn) to get the possibility to programm via Midi through a PC or Mac. Never tried so far, but seems to be good...

Never had any problems. Seems like i won't get any, 'cause it has no tubes in it to replace and it looks built for the road and stage...
I gig without a backup...

I mailed them for a digital User's Guide. I got it within 24 hours!
I tried the same with Line 6 - no answer after 1,5 months...

Never dealt with them with any problems. But I guess they are helpfull and FAST!

This is no fake review from Tech 21. You can mail me, if you got any questions. I am from Germany, so excuse my thrash-english...

If you are searching for a versatile, nice sounding preamp: Check this one out! Nice vintage-sounds and great modern heavy distorted Sounds for hard stuff ( even NuMetal). Very versatile. I get every sound I want ( with the PSA-1 and my Replfifex). If Tech-21 would say, that it has 4 tubes in it, you would believe it!

Sound is a comparative judgement. In my case I have the following additional preamps I run through my mixing desk. Tubeman2, Tubeman plus and Ensoniq DP/4+ (contains some preset effects modelling pre amp). The PSA-1 is more thinner sounding. If I am looking for a solid state sound it usually delivers better than the others. For a meatier lead sound like a boogie or marshall I think the tubeman pre amps do it better. So in my recording experience it is an important part of my studio offering its range of guitar sounds. I do use it from time to time to run synth module sounds through it like an effects unit to dirty up sounds or add some punch. This is not always successful and requires a lot of tweaking, sometimes abandoning the effort.
I do like the way the buzz punch and crunch colour the distortion and the pre amp is very useful in shaping the sounds. I think the eq section could be expanded beyond high and low to include mid range tweaking.

I have had my unit for 7 years and I think the concept of tone colouring with knobs bets the push button menu navigating facility. You intuitively get to now the characteristic much easier and have quick access for blending tonal qualities.

Recently, the internal fuse went. It was a simple matter of openning the unit and relacing it myself.

When my unit failed I emailed Tech 21 and they advised me that the fuse may have gone. The only other communication was regarding Midi Quest editor librarian software. To have the psa-1 supported I needed midi implementation details to forward onto the software vendor, Tech 21 did provide documentation but it was not the full spec. We tried?

I like the unit simply because it only relies on knobs giving you quick access to shaping the tones and gains. It does have useful sound voicings but as a stand alone pre amp it is probably is not the be all. It works well with stereo effects and I do use the XLR connections with my mixer.

I have a Ibanez Artist(80s) and an Ibanez Les Paul (80s bolt on neck) both with dimarzio pickups. My set up is this:
boss tu2 tuner
dunlop 535 wah
axess electronics MIDI footcontroller
psa-1
t.c. electronics G-Major
mesa 20/20 power amp
marshall 1960 4x12 sealed cabinet

This set up is very loud Everyone in the bband I'm in is blown away by this setup. This amp will make almost any sound you want it to. I can get these tones from this set up: Tony Rombola(godsmack), Adam Jones(tool), SRV, I can get close to Jimi's sound on purple haze using the Fuzz Face preset, Mike Enziger(Incubus) these are the only ones I've tried so far. The psa-1 also gets great clean sounds you just have to keep the pre level down because, it works as a gain. Fender cleans are easily to get. The gains are amazing. This is the first amp I've ever owned where I don't run the gain cranked. I don't have to.

Look at other reviews or the tech 21 website for this info. Does everything it's supposed to very well and at a good price. The only thing I wish it had is an overall level.

Too new to tell

Never dealt with them

I've been playing for about 12 years now. I've owned a Fender Twin Reverb, a Marshall TSL 100, and a Marshall jmp-1 and some pedals. The jmp-1 sucks ass in my opinion. And for the TSL100, it can't hold a candle to the psa-1, mesa 20/20 combination either. In fact, our singer uses the Marshall now to help out with some of the rhythm parts.

I love this preamp and it didn't cost too much. I can't compare it to the triaxis because I've never heard it. But, this costs half as much.

I bought mine at the Guitar Center in Cincinnati, OH. They had the psa-1 set up through a mesa 20/20 and a 2x12 rectifier cabinet. The worker there hooked it up and I was amazed. A week later I bought it and to this day I am still amazed. Also, I've recorded this thing on a tascam 4 track with an sm58 mic and it sounds great.

Well it's time to submit my review... I waited a few months because I wanted to give a very informed review. It is very easy to get a good sound out of this unit, but the manual is a must becuase you can't just look at it and know exactly what the knobs do to the sound. They're not standard amp knobs, but what they allow you to do is shape every factor of the particular tube amp you are emulating, or create a completely new sound. The Manual is very straightforward, and not insanely long like the manual for my digitech 2120. I'm not gonna give it a 10 for "ease of use" but that's not something I necessarily want. Any so-called "plug and play" amp is gonna limit your tone to a certain pre-determined sound, and I like to tweak every little factor of my sound. This is also why I like rackmount setups. One complaint I have is that the Effects loop is NOT PROGRAMMABLE!! this is why I don't use it, I just go straight from the right output of the PSA-1 into the input of my 2120 which allows me to control all levels, solo boost and gives me additional EQ where necessary.

Here's my rig: Ibanez S540fm and RG7621 >> Dunlop Hendrix Wah >> PSA-1 >> Digitech 2120 (preamp sections bypassed) >> stereo out to my tubeworks Mosvalve 962 power amp. I love this power amp with the PSA-1, in comparison to the Mesa 295 all tube I used to use. This tells me that the PSA-1 IS effectively emulating tube power, because the 295 added too much compression to it, and the Movalve 962 is perfect since it's an FET based (like the PSA-1) solid state power amp. If you get the PSA-1 seriously think about powering it with the Mosvalve, maybe a Marshall valvestate power amp, or some kind of tube power amp with high-headroom tubes like KT-88's.

It does not have any effects built in (the best preamps don't) so you're gonna want at least some kind of simple effects unit to run with it.

"Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? Well, yes, but I use my own presets primarily for originals with my band, Profane Oath (www.profaneoath.com). I usually used a modification of the recto preset or the "metallica" preset, with distortion in the punch and crunch knobs. I have found that for ultimate low end response (which this unit does well) you can't have saturated gain, especially with another guitarist. My lead tone is very Petrucci-ish, creamy fluid sounding with a hint of analog delay.

That said, I am building a bunch of my own presets based on different artists like early and later Megadeth, Iced Earth, SRV, Cream bluesbreaker, Iron Maiden Plexi, Black Sabbath and they are VERY accurate. One thing that I REALLLY like is the "input" knob which acts alot like the volume knob of a guitar, controlling the output.. and its programmable. That lets me dial up the sound of say a recto being pushed by the lower output guitar like a les paul or something. very cool. I do with it had more than 50 presets for the user to work with, but realistically that's probably plenty. With enough tweaking and research as to the rigs of ANY artist. also, some reviews have said this thing can't get a really clean sound, which is ridiculous, you just have to roll off the "input" knob... of course you can't get a clean sound if the input knob is set to where a set of EMG's would be.

Okay, let get away from these questions I'm supposed to answer (which seem to be more geared to an effects unit and not a preamp), and talk about why this thing sounds good, in my estimation. I have used digital modelers, Johnson millenium and Line6 and the PSA-1 sounds much better, because it is not a "digital modeler". Instead it uses FET's (similar in their signal response to tubes) to simulate the entire signal path of a tube amp.. pre and power. This allows it to simulate not only the sound of various tube amps, but also the dynamic attack and feel.

Anyway, I am more than happy with the tone of this unit, after 3 months of tweaking, rehearsing and gigging. My bandmates agree.

I haven't had it long enough to make an informed judgement. It is well built, and since it's SS less chance of failing.

no experience here.

I play prog-metal, it's the perfect match for my style and rack setup. I have owned varous heads (Triple recto, carvin Legacy, JCM 900) and rack preamps (Marshall JMP-1, Bogner triple giant) and this thing with the Mosvalve 962 is the best tone I've ever had, with great versatility. I'm always getting compliments on my tone.

Rather easy to dial up good sounds. I must say I was a bit confused by the knob labels, until I used them. Once you play with it, it becomes very clear. Midi mapping is easy as well.

Ok I hate reading other player's setups in here, but I should at least explain what the other equipment around it is. Rack looks like this: Psa-1 > BBE Maximiser > Line 6 Echo Pro > Mesa 50/50 power amp, with both outputs "Y"-ed together into one 2x12 closed back speaker cab, also a mesa. I play a PRS singlecut, and a Frankenstein Vantage I've rebuilt with PRS pickups and new hardware. I bought this to replace the previous pre I had, a pod pro (I don't know what I was thinking.) Before that I had a mesa Formula preamp. This has more sustain and tons more life and reaction to pick dynamics and fingering. The heavy distortions are very pleasing, and the cleans range anywhere from shimmer to spank. Does this sound exactly like the presets namesakes? no. no matter what I do, I always find it sounds like itself a little. but it does sound killer all it's own. if you're looking to sound like something, go buy that amp. if you want to generate very good tones on your own, get a psa-1. it's hella cheaper than the triaxis, and sounds 90% as good.

it's damn near bulletproof. Hell yes I gig without a backup.

never dealt with them. I did however like how fast they shipped out my order to the store. 4 days! Who can beat that?

My rack grows and grows every 6 months. I plan on adding a rack tuner and a mod pro from line 6 (I like their effects simulators, just not that damn pod.) I use the sansamp midi mouse to control both the psa-1 and the echo pro. very easy to setup, and nice stompbox format. This thing is core for great tone. it's warmed up nicely by the mesa power amp, as I have the outputs "Y"-ed together, I can dial up slight power tube breakup, and that helps the tone as well. I've heard this thing goes best with a solid state amp, and I disagree. I play all original music with my band, and this always makes its mark on the tone. If it were stolen, I'd curse the jackass that stole it, and buy a new one. If it were destroyed (being run over by a tank is the only way I see) I'd replace it without hesitation. Damn fine.

Very easy to use by starting off with the high-quality presets. It'll take some time to tweak your own sounds, but well worth it.

Gibson Les Paul Standard into the PSA-1 straight into a PA System. Finally, I have found the tone and clarity I've been looking for. If you're looking for no mud, excellent distortion, and clarity of all your notes, this is it. I'm a tone freak & very difficult to please, but this has met & exceeded my expectations.

Yes. Very reliable.

Perfect.

It's very easy to use.

Sounds good .I use two different channels.A clean Fender and a dirty Marshall.If you like heavy music it's good for that.The presets are good if you like The Who.I give it a nine because nothing is perfect.

I dropped it and it didn't break.It was a pretty bad fall.

Haven't had to deal with them.

I give it a ten because,I dropped it and it didn't break.By the way,I don't work for Tech21.

I got an Epiphone "Ace Frehley" Custom last week, so that is what I plugged into the PSA-1. To be honest, I have not put good pickups in the guitar yet, so I really didn't expect to get mindblowing sound out of the PSA-1.....I was wrong. This amp is the answer to my prayers. I have tried so many amps, effects units, etc. Pedals had good crunch but bad tone. Amps had good tone, but not enough gain. The list goes on and on. Everytime I tried out something, it didn't have enough gain. I actually had to turn the gain DOWN on this thing!

The crunch on this thing is unreal. The absolute best preset on this unit to me is #24 Rectifier. Once I turn to that, I tweak the drive button a bit and can capture Metallica's Black Album or ...And Justice for All tone. It really does sound like this thing has tubes. This thing is not an "emulator" like a POD or J-Station. It is a SOLID STATE preamp. Probably the best comparison is an ADA or Rocktron rackmount of some kind. If there are any POD users reading this, the PSA-1 can capture the Dual Rectifier setting that the POD does so well. The sound of the PSA-1 is more "in your face".

I had a Tech 21 Trademark 120 amp, and I can tell you that the combo amps from Tech 21 and this thing are like night and day. Those amps are not a "PSA-1 with speakers". You can fine tune your sound so well with this thing. The knobs PREAMP, BUZZ, PUNCH, CRUNCH, and DRIVE all help you tailor your sound. They affect your picking attack and other things in ways other amps can't change on the fly. The amp only gets noisy with everything cranked to "10". Trust me, you don't need everything up that high. You can cover any musical style with this thing. Distortion is the most brutal. I love this thing!

Brand new amp! I play a little bit of everything, and this amp covers it all. From pristine B.B. King to raging Death Metal tones, this amp absolutely covers every base. There are 50 preset channels and I think you can make 50 of your own. There is a recessed "save" button which is cool so you don't wipe out your presets, etc. Eight knobs controls on the front cover your gain, tone, etc. and there are two "up" and "down" knobs to go through presets. There is an effects loop, regular "outs", XLR "outs" and even a decibal control button. I have not dug too deep into the features yet, but there are a good amount. There is no headphone jack, but I think plugging into the "out" covers that. The unit is very small. In fact, when I opened the outer box from Musician's Friend, I thought they sent the wrong thing. The box was so small that I thought they sent me a footswitch or something. Very light. Surprising, since it sounds like it has a pack of tubes in there. As far as missing features go, I would really like to see them include footswitches with the unit. Even if it is the cheap one. Also, I wish there was reverb built-in....but, that would probably ruin the unit and jack up the price. Probably better to just buy a separate one. Manual is small and simple but you really don't need much more than that.

TECH 21 stuff seems to be real solid. I was a bit paranoid when I opened the box because the "up" button was recessed at bit. But when I pressed on it, it popped right back into place. I think it moved a bit during shipping. It is a nice solid little box, and I can't imagine it every breaking down, etc. I guess you can only "wait and see" with stuff like this.

I have been in contact with someone at TECH 21, and he always has responded to my emails when I had questions about my TRADEMARK 120. When I decided I wanted a PSA-1, the company was real helpful in telling me what power amps would be good with it, etc. By the way, people say this things smokes through a P.A. system.

I pretty much know right away if I am going to keep something for the long haul. This amp has the reliability of solid state amps I have owned with the tone of a good overdriven tube amp. I know that you can't capture the sound of a tube amp completely, but I was really surprised at this thing. I researched this thing to death before I bought it, and downloaded soundclips, reviews, etc. Almost everyone who buys this thing loves it and thinks it is worth the money. While researching, I found out that a lot of famous people use this unit. Geddy Lee from Rush has been using one for his bass sounds for years. If you want a great sounding unit right out of the box without a lot of tweaking, etc. then this thing is for you.

Update to an earlier posting. This unit never stops amazing me. Here is my current signal path... Parker guitar - PSA-1 - effects processor (Behringer DSP1000P Virtualizer Pro) in the loop - BBE - Carvin VT50 tube amp (in the power amp in, only using the power amp (EL84) not the pre) - Marshall mini stack (looks like a small full stack with two Celestion G10L-35 speakers). This set up is absolutely amazing. I have A/B this with many different setups including the Carvin VT50 by it self and the PSA blows everything else out of the water. This rig is simply the best I have ever heard. Spanky Fender clean, rich clean with a little hair, JC120 clean for funk or jazz, blues in every color, SRV, EJ, Hendrix, Old school rock, New Rock, Metal... everything!!! I would gladly put this system up against anything in a blind test. A friend with a Bogner tried it and dialed up a tone he thought was very Bogner like but better !!! This is the most versatile and tuneful system I have ever heard. Not only is there a million great tones in the PSA-1 but it responds so well to volume control and picking dynamics that there is infinite variations within each patch from your guitar. I can go from a nice almost clean rhythm sound to a searing SRV lead tone using only the guitar volume knob and picking dynamics. I no longer have a need for tube amps!!! This sounds better. Well I am using a tube power amp because I like the sound. Did I mention this this sounds great for bass and recording. I have been searching for my tone (SRV, EJ, Via, VH, Ford, Knoffler, me, more...) for 15 years and here it is. I think the G.A.S is finally over :>) Try one out and give it some time. I was not that impressed when I first got the unit but after some tweaking... WOW. Note: there are a lot of variations in this unit, you only need to more the knobs a little to have a whole new and great sound. This unit is the shit my friends, try it. Thanks.

kfa888@hotmail.com

Never had an issue... can't say that about the Line 6 stuff i have had!!!

Don't know :>)

Awasome.

It does take an effort to use this unit; it is not set up like your typical amp/preamp. It's not a problem though, I find that if you start with the presets and tweak away, you'll find your sounds.

I'm using this with a Mesa/Boogie 2:90 power amp, a BBE sonic Maximizer and an old Alesis Quadraverb. My cabinet is an old Marshall 4x12 with EV speakers. I got this preamp to replace my Mesa triple rectifier that was loaned to a friend and then accidentally destroyed by a rowdy crowd and an overzealous bouncer. Anyway, my wife (god bless her) went to Sam Ash Music and consulted with one of the sales people and he reccomended the PSA-1. For the first few weeks, I didn't have a power amp, so I ran it through my P.A and it sounded insane! Finally, I got a mesa 2:90 power amp and could not believe how tremendous this thing sounded! I prefer this preamp/power amp combination over my old triple recto(R.I.P). I play in a Hardcore band and this thing gives me all the distortion I need and then some. I usually just use a tweaked version of preset 28 (a mesa setting called too much gain), but I also like the Marshall plexi setting. My guitars are Les paul standards and customs with emg's in them. All I know is that my setup sounds great.

It seems pretty reliable, it is solid state.+-

never had to deal with them.

I love this thing. I've been playing for over 15 years and this is by far the best tone I've ever gotten. This is only my opinion, so check it out for yourself.

This is a response to the rant below concerning solid state vs. tubes in pre-amps. I repair, mod, and build clones of vintage amps as a hobby and occasionally make a little cash in the process. I do not work for Tech21, but I couldn't let this blatantly ignorant bash slide. Let me tell you guys, the only place tubes make a large differance in sound for guitar is in the power amp. It is the interaction between the output tubes, transformer, speaker, and power supply that makes a tube amp rock - not the pre-amp. When is the last time you listened to a pre-amp (tube or not) direct . . . without a speaker or power amp. What do you hear? A thin irritating buzz. It is the power amp that gives an amp the thick, punchy, heavy sound. A __properly designed__ solid state preamp through a __properly designed__ tube power amp is nearly indistiguishable from an all-tube unit.
I do not own a PSA-1, but I record in a studio that uses one. I agree, the Fender cleans sounds just aren't as "bouncy" and "full" as a real Twin. I believe this is due to the compromises that had to be made in the circuitry for it to also have a great distorted sound. But once you add just a touch of dirt (all the way up to Metallica grind) it sounds FANTASTIC . . . as long as it is being pumped through a good power amp and speaker combo. I know that Tech21's instructions tell you to use a solid state power amp, but this is wrong (in my opinion). We use a either a modded Marshall SL-X FX return into a variety of 4X12's for distorted tones, or a Boogie Classic 50 into a 2x12 open back cab loaded with Jensens for cleaner stuff. It sounds like GOD . . . much better that the Marshall pre in the SL-X. As soon as I convert my stuff to .WAV's it post a couple.
I think most people that have problems with the PSA-1 either don't take the time to learn to operate it or are trying to plug it into the preamp input of an amp. It will sound like crap in front of another preamp.
I challenge anyone on this board to do an A/B test. I will bet that as long as you keep the tones a little dirty (what the PSA is designed for) your fingers and ears will be unable to distiguish between a __properly set up__ PSA-1 and a tube preamp.
Unlike the other persons post, I will give my real email for comments. If you agree (or disagree), send me your comments at ballsybottom@yahoo.com .

If you are familiar with Combo amps, then you'll find this really easy to use. Get to know the different characteristics - given the names of buzz, crunch, punch etc. - and you'll find it very easy to get the sounds you like. The manual is very easy to understand and will help you get to grips with the programmable and MIDI aspects of the unit. I would have given this a 10 if there was a Mono output option.

I use an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and a Digitech 2120 for the effects only (the digitech has its own preamp which just didn't do it for me. so I bypass it).

No-one believes me when I say it doesn't have any valves!! I find it very easy to create sounds ranging from bluesy Hendrix/SRV tones to driving rock tones to saturated metal tones. On the cleaner side, I can have glitzy bright sounds as well as smooth, warm tones. I play many different styles - it seems that whatever you play, you can get it out of the PSA-1.

Hasn't done a single thing wrong yet.

Wouldn't know.....which is a good thing!

I love the versatility of the PSA-1, it's the only preamp I need to play a plethora of different styles. I've owned it for nearly 2 years and it hasn't let me down. I would definitely use my insurance money to buy the same unit, if it were stolen or lost. Like I said, I would give it a 10 if I could have a Mono output.

The PSA-1 is basically set up like a guitar amplifier, although I noticed it does require a bit more effort to dial in a new sound from scratch than my Fender. Then again, it can produce a much larger variety of tones. That said, operation is very straight forward. You have eight knobs and you twist them until you like what you hear. Saving patches is easy, although my unit was inexplicably shipped with some weird settings (pots were disabled, write protect was turned on). I just reset it to factory settings and everything was fine from then on.

I use this with a Gibson Nighthawk, a Fender P-bass, and a Danelectro 12-string electric. One of the reasons I like it so much is because it has settings that work very well with bass guitar. I have it plugged straight into my Mackie 1402 VLZ. From there, it's into my PC via an M-audio Delta 44 sound card. An Alesis MidiVerb IV is patched into the Mackie's send. It sounds pretty sweet on all settings I've tried. Some of the distortions are noisy, but then again so are guitar amps so no points off for that. One inexplicable thing is the factory patches 48 and 49. When you scroll past those, make sure your levels are down or else you're liable to blow your speakers. Why they programmed these particular presets I'll never know. Overall, I'm in amp heaven. I sold my Peavey Stereo Chorus 440 last week, and I'm selling my Fender Hotrod because I don't need it any more. The PSA-1 doesn't sound exactly like the Fender, but it comes darn close.

I have had it for about a week, so I can't speak to the reliability yet. Seems like a pretty solid unit, I'm pretty confident that it will be in my rack for a good long time.

I did e-mail Tech 21 support about the first and only problem I had with being unable to save patches. They responded in a timely manner and their solution worked beautifully. So far, so good.

I play all kinds of music, from indie pop, to punk, to 60s garage rock, to reggae or whatever I feel like that day. This unit seems to cover the spectrum quite nicely. It really is like having a collection of expensive amps right in your rack. I was hesitant about replacing my "real" amp with a "preamp", but now I see that this is not just a preamp. Not only that, if I ever get into another band, I can just slap my PSA-1 into a hardshell case, pop it on top of a Tech 21 PowerCube 60, and bam! I can go live, and I'm already dialled into my favorite tones. Plus, it will be cheaper than buying a new amp. Overall, this is one of the best pieces of gear I have ever bought. I would definitely replace it if lost or stolen because I've never heard anything else that can do what it does. I can jam the full on Black Sabbath riffs while my 20-month-old son sleeps upstairs. That, and there's no tubes to replace! I've been playing guitar for 24 years, and I can tell you, the PSA-1 is a keeper.

I know quite a bit about audio electronics, so I just thought I'd take this time to explain why the PSA-1 doesn't have a mid EQ. It uses a different type of tone circuit than most amps. The traditional tone circuits found on Fenders, Marshalls, and the like are limiting in that they cannot actually provide any midrange boost. That's right, even if you turn up the mids all the way, turn the bass and treble all the way down, and boost the volume to compensate, you will NOT actually boost the middle. That's because of the way this tone circuits operates. The bass and treble knobs also affect the midrange, and since you can only cut, not boost, there is no way to boost the midrange. Also, this also makes fine tuning your sound more difficult, because any adjustment to one tonal range will also affect the one next to it, and you are limited with what you can do with the EQ. The main reason this type of circuit is used is because it makes simple adjustments, like rolling off the treble for a jazz tone or cutting the mids out for a metal tone, easier. The tone circuit on the PSA-1 is a bit more complicated to use, but it is far more versitile. The bass and treble controls can both cut and boost, and they only affect the bass and treble, respectively, not the middle. The way to change the mids is by boosting or cutting the highs and lows and turning the volume knob to compensate for the change in overall leval. The advantages of this circuit are that you can boost the midrange and it allows for far more flexiblilty in terms of perfecting your sound through the use of EQ. The disadvantage is that it takes a while to get used to and isn't as good for quick changes, although with practice it is just as simpleand fast to use as a normal EQ. Hope this clears up any confusion about the EQ.

Easy, read the manual to see what's up.

I hate writing reviews but this unit is so good I thought I better :>) I have a totally wacky setup right now because I am really set up for recording and not live so I an using a combination of stuff to get a live sound and have really stumbled across something. I have had my PSA-1 for about a year now. Here is my setup... Parker guitar (awesome), Tech21 PSA-1 (a cool purple one), Berhinger effect processor in the loop of the PSA-1, BBE (love those also) into a Fender Blues Junior. The Fender does not have a poweramp in so I have to run in right in the pre. I can't believe my ears!!! What the *%$#! I can get some amazing, thick, 3D, sustaining, blues, rock, hard rock, metal... pretty much anything I want. I am a certified gear nut and swap gear all the time to try different stuff so I have tried almost everything, this unit (as everyone else will tell you) is amazing. The only place I could knock the PSA-1 is in it's truly clean sounds. Not as rich and articulate as some tube combos including the Blues Junior. This may be the setup I am running. I am going to look for a 100 watt tube combo 2-12 with poweramp in or a 4-10 cab and power amp and see just how good this can get! I have used it for recording and it does a great job there also. Much more real and dynamic than my POD and other Pre's. Speaking of dynamics this is one of the most dynamic units I have ever used. You can use a fairly distorted sound and switch your guitar to a milder pickup config and roll off the volume and in most cases get a great clean sound. Not the muddy rolled off treble sound you usually get. The unit itself has a huge range of tones and then coupled with the control from your guitar you can go from spanky clean to raging distortion and never touch anything but your guitar. I love that! Want more? This thing is awesome at bass sounds. I can get better recorded bass sounds from this than miking some top brand bass amps (and I know how to mike!!!). Great distorted bass sounds also. Bottom line, buy one and never sell it. This unit has so many different things it can do and do them all well your crazy not to get one. At the $350 you can get them for used nothing else in any price range will do so much for your tone on so many levels. Great for blues, country, jazz, metal (crushing distortion and sustain), pretty much everything except maybe super nice Fender twin like tones. I have never found anything that quite duplicates a good old twin for that good old twin sound. You can however toss all your Mesa's, marshals, Orange's, Hi Watt's, Blue's, everything but the Twin and maybe a Dumble :>). Seriously one great unit. I don't write reviews and have had so much equipment it takes a lot for me to be inspired to do so. I was not all that thrilled with the unit when I first got it and thought is was like a nice distortion box until I spent some time with it. This is an indispensable tool for many things. Great unit, great sounds, and bullet proof to boot. Nuff said.

Yep

Not needed

$350 for all this thing will do... get outa town man.

I love this thing. In my opinion, it has the most articulate and BRUTAL distortion of any preamp out there. The only thing that can match or beat it would be the mesa triaxis, but I refuse to dish out that much money for just a preamp. I play in a metal/hardore band and I needed an amp with crazy, heavier than heavy distortion. I walked into guitar center after a few bong hits(I don't reccommend making any major purchases while high, but in this case, I'm very glad I did) and asked the guy,"what's the heaviest distortion based preamp you've got?" He took me to see the PSA-1. I still can't believe there are no tubes in this thing!! I power it with a mesa simul 2:90 power amp and also use a bbe sonic maximizer to add even more sizzle. I run this all through a mesa recto 4x12. I am 100% happy with my setup. I read some guy trashing this thing, saying that the ones leaving the good reviews were all tech21 employees. What an asshole. He's probobly running it with some crappy amp or something. Anyway, I don't work for them and will tell you that this thing rules! Oh, I forgot to mention the clean sounds! Yep, they're pretty cool too, although I must admit to being more of a distortion guy, so I can't be an accurate judge as far as clean sounds go, but I know what I like, and this I like.

If you're looking for a preamp that goes from clean to metal, this is the puppy for you. You won't believe the variety of sounds you can get from this thing!

no problems yet.

These guys are so polite and helpful, and they really know their products, inside and out. If you don't believe me, just give them a call and you'll see. The kings of customer support!

I've been playing for about 18 years and I've owned a lot of guitars, amps, effects, cabs, etc. As far as amps/preamps go, this is the wisest investment I've ever made. The only other amp I've been this happy with was my mesa tremoverb, that was stolen from a club. I was going to get another one, but decided to check out the PSA-1 which was suggested to me by Kenny Hickey (Type O Negative). He said he loved his PSA-1, so I checked one out and the rest is history.

Very easy to get so many sounds. The presets are so nice I won't have to make too many patches. I got no manual and will never need one.

I have a Ibananez RG going right into the PSA-1 with my Digitech RP-20 in the effects loop at 50/50. The RP-20 also changes patches on the PSA-1 through a MIDI cable (Very Cool!) The PSA-1 then goes into my BBE Sonic Maximizer and then into my Electrix Repeater, and then right into my bands Carvin PA with 15" Avatar Cabs. The distortion is so awesome, I can tweak lots of eqs on my Digitech processor if desired for even more control on the sound. The clean is just amazing. With my effect processor I actually use tubes to give it some extra warmth and to make the volume as high as the distortion patches. I have a nice Ampeg Reverberocket tube amp with a killer clean that I no longer use. (One less thing to drag to shows) I've never had such great guitar tone and I'm not even using a guitar amp for now.

Bought it used and it still looks perfect. Solid state so I feel very comfortable using it.

never dealt with. They had sound samples of the unit on their website and even short songs. That is a major plus! All manufacturers should do that. Not everyone has a huge music store to play with everything nearby.

This is one of the gems I will have for a long time. So many sounds, I picked five presets that I programmed to my RP-20 (Mesa Clean, Rectifier, Too Much Gain, Pantera, and Metallica) if this product was limited to just one the distortion patches it would be worth $350 to me. I bought a ToneBone Hot Brittish and a Soldano SP-77 before this and this can match them both and get hundreds of other sounds, and its midi controllable. I like this so much I actually got my lazy ass to write a review for it. Im sure the actual amplifiers sound better, but for the price I paid, the sound is amazing. And I can keep a whole studio of amplifiers in a convenient 1-space rack. Fantastic Value.