Tech 21 SansAmp PSA-1.1

[Steamy Williams]

Not sure how long this has been about but can't find any mention of it already so...

http://www.tech21nyc.com/psa_1_1.html

"Our popular SansAmp PSA-1 underwent an internal redesign to accommodate the use of improved, more efficient and cost effective parts in order to preserve its original price"

Wonder if it sounds the same as the PSA-1.

Anyone tried both the old one and the new one?

[AnalogBob]

Word on the street is no it don't...........

[Steamy Williams]

If it doesn't sound the same, in what way does it sound different? Worse, better or just different?

The old one seems to crop up in a lot of studios, so I'm guessing there might be other people who are curious to know how the new one compares.

[AnalogBob]

People have told me worse I am only regurgitating what I've heard. Somthing to do with the fact the originals were made in the U.S.A and the new ones in China

[moonbug]

Have the 1.1 on order at the moment, maybe some day it will turn up..

I was kind of expecting when they mention words like "cost effective" and "more efficient" that sound might take a hit somewhere, oh well...

so long as that doesn't mean they slapped a dsp chip in there and slung guitar rig on it I guess it'll still be fine by me. who knows, the difference in tone and quality might actually be a good thing (depending on ones taste).

[Steamy Williams]

Bump

Anyone compared the new one to old one yet?

[slaves666]

I ahve had an old version for almost 10 years and I love it to death. They still sell on ebay quite regularly for around 3-400$

Originally Posted by AnalogBob

People have told me worse I am only regurgitating what I've heard. Somthing to do with the fact the originals were made in the U.S.A and the new ones in China

Yeah. Having those Chinese components assembled in the US makes a big difference.

[henryrobinett]

I too have an old version and have had it for over 10 years. It's rack mounted, but has no model number. Just Tech 21 Sansamp. What's the difference between this and more recent models?

[GYang]

Old PSA-1 is reliable and great. Buy used, this could become classic soon. I don\t trust manufacturer when they 'improve design to keep the product cost effective'. We know many case when it turned to lesser sonical quality.

[henryrobinett]

Yeah, but mine doesn't have a model number. It doesn't say PSA-1. It just says SansAmp.

And what's the diff between the rack mounted ones (mine) and the original foot stomp box model?

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

And what's the diff between the rack mounted ones (mine) and the original foot stomp box model?

I got both, the Original PSA-1 is my go-to bass 'amp'. I know people use it for all kind of things but I pretty much only use it for bass starting with the 'SVT' or 'Jazz' presets and taking it from there.
The ability to save your setting is great.

The original stompbox Sans Amp is a totally different beast, tiny dip switches that are kind of hard to operate and obviously non-programmable. I much prefer the stompbox for guitar sounds, just yesterday I found some great overdriven sounds for my Lap Steel.

The distortion character and midrange is very different between the 2 models. The PSA-1 sounds very dimensional and very tight, too much so for guitar for my taste but as I said fantastic for bass. It also provides Vox-type sounds if you fiddle enough with the controls.

The stompbox distortion seems to be softer and narrower, more tube-amp like though definitely different from a real amp and that's o.k.

I pretty much stay with the Bomb Factory PSA-1 plug-in for mixing so far. So between those 3 different Sans Amp models I'm pretty much covered.