Tech 21 SANSAMP PSA-1.1 - Manual (Page 4)

T ECH 21, THE C OMPANY
Tech 21 introduced the SansAmp™ Classic (the original pedal design) in 1989. Our proprietary
circuitry pioneered Tube Amplifier Emulation in professional applications for recording direct
and performing live, and created an entirely new category of signal processing. While there have
since been many entries into this niche, SansAmp continues to maintain its reputation as the
industry standard.
Engineered for the studio and stage, SansAmp delivers consistent quality sound. Players, engi-
neers, and producers can obtain a wide spectrum of warm, natural tube amplifier sounds from
one convenient unit. Available in various formats and models, each SansAmp is suitable for any
music style, from jazz to metal, and can be used with a variety of instruments --guitar, bass, key-
boards, samplers, even sax and vocals.
The SansAmp Classic was conceived and developed by a guitarist who possesses the unusual
combination of a trained ear and electronics expertise. The technology is designed in the true
tradition of tube amplifiers in their totality—with a pre-amp stage and an output stage. It incor-
porates the harmonics and sweet overdrive characteristics unique to tube amplifiers. SansAmp
captures these characteristics, and does so even at low volume levels.
SansAmp gives you the most coveted trademarked sounds and the flexibility to refine and rede-
fine your own. Each model responds to and interacts with the dynamics of your individual play-
ing style, your individual musical style, and your instrument’s individual tonality. All of these
factors play an important role in the resulting sound, which will ultimately be yours alone.
S ANS A MP PSA-1.1, AN O VERVIEW
SansAmp PSA-1.1 maintains its superior tone with our exclusive, 100% analog circuitry. Only
the programming and memory sections are digital. The results are easy to hear: punchy, respon-
sive, powerful sounds that bring out the best in any instrument.
The SansAmp PSA can be used for various applications. In the studio, you can record direct,
enhance existing tracks in mixdowns, as well as add interesting touches to any instrument. Live,
it can be used as a pre-amp direct into a power amp with guitar or bass speaker cabinets, as a
“monster direct box” to a P.A. system, (or both simultaneously), and as an outboard processor.
The SansAmp PSA features MIDI capability for calling up programs and storing program data.
There are 49 factory presets and 77 memory locations to store your own custom sounds, plus two
bypass programs. When you switch between programs, there is no lag time, or “cutting out.”
The controls on the SansAmp PSA work very much like those found on a sophisticated amp.
You don’t need special training or a degree in physics to operate your unit. Storing and recalling
programs is simple: set your tones and push the Save button. You just turn a knob and hear the
difference immediately --in real time. There are 256 incremental steps in the rotation of each
control, so increases and decreases occur in a smooth, gradual, linear fashion.
The SansAmp PSA is designed to provide you with the flexibility to find almost any conceiv-
able tonal personality within the tube amplifier sound spectrum.
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FRONT PANEL
I NTRODUCTION
The SansAmp PSA gives you access to specific tone-shaping characteristics within the tube
amplifier sound spectrum. Controls of this nature are traditionally inaccessible on stock amps.
Adjustments like these are ordinarily achieved only by permanent professional modification.
Tonality, for instance, can be adjusted in a variety of ways. The individual Character Controls,
labeled Buzz, Punch, Crunch, and Drive, offer different results than the post EQ section (the
controls labeled Low and High).
Gain structure can be adjusted via the Pre-Amp control, which results in a different kind of
overdrive than the Drive control. Additionally, Buzz, Punch, and Crunch each affect the gain
structure within specific frequency bands.
As you experiment and become familiar with the controls’ interrelationships, you’ll be able to
customize your own sounds and store them in the SansAmp PSA’s memory.
I NPUT JACK
This 1/4" Input features an impedance buffer so that the tone from a guitar’s or bass’ pickups, or the
signal from other instruments, reaches the SansAmp PSA without degradation. A second input jack
is located on the rear panel. Note: plugging into the front-panel Input jack overrides and discon-
nects the rear-panel jack. So you can set up your SansAmp PSA as a permanent part of a rack or
patch-bay setup, with its usual input source plugged into the rear-panel jack. If you want to plug
straight into the SansAmp PSA, bypassing other parts of the system, use the front Input.
P RE -A MP
This is the input sensitivity control. The Pre-Amp control adjusts
the signal level going into the input section of the SansAmp PSA.
The arrow indicates the unity-gain point (that is, no boost or cut).
When clean sounds are desired with the use of a hot-output instru-
ment, decrease from the unity-gain point. Increasing the position of
the Pre-Amp control produces an effect similar to putting a clean
booster pedal into the input of a tube amp.
A FTER B URNER Z ONE : The area where a low-cut/hi-boost function is activated. This gives
more definition to individual notes when using high gain sounds. If buzzier, fuzzier sounds are
desired, increase the gain by using the Drive control and set the Pre-Amp control outside the
After Burner zone.
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Arrow indicates
unity-gain point