Engl e530 or Sansamp PSA1 for direct rec.?

[siegfried]

I have Sansamp PSA1 and after some time I´m still not fully satisfied with its sound- direct dry, direct with impulses and direct with "uncab" impulse, which cancels internally speaker emulation and then I apply normal cab impulse. So, I´m very sad and considering to sell it and buy something else, used, in same price range (about 400 dollars). i need it only for direct recording, higain, to use ith impulses. Can engl e530 be the unit which I´m searching for? I saw some good reviews but somebody on internet said that it is designed for 80´s type of stuff, but I need something modern and very brutal... is this true or bullshit? Thank you very much for every answer...

 

[siegfried]

Or Sansamp PSA1 is in same league and it is only my fault and bad recording/playing/processing technique, so to buy anything else will not solve my problem?

 

[Fragle]

check out www.myspace.com/retaliationdeath

all but the first song (wrath defied) were recorded using the e530 preamp with a peavey poweramp through a v30 equipped cab IIRC...should be modern and brutal enough ^^
the 530 preamp is somewhat similar to the blackmore/savage preamp sections as far as i can remember, so while it doesn't have the crazy gain of lets say a powerball, it surely can sound quite heavy...don't try to get into scooped territory, though, at least not without some outboard processing.

as for the sansamp, imho it sounds best in a mix...check out hypocrisy's virus or immortal's sons of northern darkness, thats classic sansamp right there.
it surely has a somewhat buzzy quality to it that can't really be dialed out, but imho it sounds quite good in a modern metal mix. i wouldn't use it as my live preamp, though

 

[siegfried]

Fragle: thank you very much! Guitar in your songs sounds very good. I know that many famous names are using PSA1, but I can not figure out how they are getting so good sound out of it. Because there is (imho) built-in cab simulation which is very strange, so it sounds too buzzy direct and too muddy/dark/far away when used with impulse So you think that is worth to continue in my searching for good tone from Sansamp?

 

[Fragle]

well...depends on what kinda sound you're shooting for?
but for "modern and brutal" as a generic term i'd prefer the sansamp over the e530.

maybe you should wait for some others who also own a sansamp to chime in give you some advice....IIRC it was definitely quite easy to make the buzz overwhelming due to wrong settings.
in general though, disabling the cab simulation and using (maybe different one's?) impulses sounds like the better way to me...

 

[zakky]

i think the e530 is alot better tube=organic sounding maybe stick a ts overdrive in front of it for more balls its great with impulses

 

[noarin]

Kazrog has posted some amazing clips with his e530 and impulses; look m up if you want to hear them.

 

[Pot]

weeel i can´t say nothing about the PSA1, but as for the e530 it kicks ass for playing with impulses and it has enough gain for my taste. i really think it´s a great pre for the price it costs.
As suggested by noarin look up for Kazrog post where he demos his engl

 

[siegfried]

Thank you all guys for your great answers! Do you know band In Extremo? I´m 90percent sure that they use PSA1 on their album. Sounds very good, but without that harshness/buzz- do you think that they are recording direct? I also heard that Sansamp PSA1 sounds great thru Tech21 Power Engine... It isn´t solution for me, but could be great to have some impulse of it to try with my Sansamp...!!!

 

[Metal Overload]

im here to the rescue of the sansamp!! Lol

I own the sansamp, it kills engaged with power amps, but it´s more difficult for direct recording, the built-in cab simulation is only on preset 49 i think. You can easily get rid of that buzz, just use the buzz knob, hehe, just kiding, but you can get any sound you want with the Buzz, punch, Crunch and preamp knobs.

However, i haven´t experimented with it enough for direct recording to give you a fair judgment, just i want to say, DON´T SELL IT!! haha, that stuff is a piece of classic gear, more if you have the Psa-1 and not the 1.1

 

[siegfried]

Yes, I have that classic one in perfect condition! OK, I´ll keep it! )) Oh and that information about preset 49- never heard about this! Could you please tell me some source of this info? Because I think built-in cab simulation is public secret, Tech21 doesn´t speak about it...

 

[Metal Overload]

It´s in the manual, the preset is called "Speaker simulation", but yeah, i read it somewhere, that the built in simulator is there, but they don´t tell you.

 

[siegfried]

BTW have you anybody any impulse of "fullrange" speaker? Maybe Sansamp needs only to smooth a bit and filter some highs to sound right?

 

[Torniojaws]

BTW have you anybody any impulse of "fullrange" speaker? Maybe Sansamp needs only to smooth a bit and filter some highs to sound right?

When you play a preamp guitar tone through a fullrange speaker, it will sound like utter garbage. The whole idea in a guitar amp is that it is designed so that it sounds good with a guitar cabinet, which basically acts as a very rough high and lowpass filter for the amplified preamp tone. I don't remember the exact values, but it is something like 200 Hz to 8 kHz that the speakers output. Then comes the cabinet shape, material and construction that defines how the final guitar tone sounds like. The cavity of a cabinet will boost the bass frequencies so the final tone has lower stuff than just 200 Hz, and the speaker movement and type adds some harmonic overtones to the sound too, so you get higher frequencies than 8 kHz too.

 

[The Unavoidable]

It´s in the manual, the preset is called "Speaker simulation", but yeah, i read it somewhere, that the built in simulator is there, but they don´t tell you.

So there isn't any active speaker simulation on the other presets? And so if you wanted to use speaker sim on your tone, you could just choose preset 49 and dial it in?

(Getting one soon for recording purposes, so naturally I'm curious)

 

[siegfried]

Torniojaws: I think PSA1 isn´t standard preamp, so standard rules cannot be applied to it.
The Unavoidable: I think PSA1 doesn´t sounds like it has built-in cab simulator, but also doesn´t sounds like it hasn´t.

 

[Ben Johnson]

The PSA-1's "cab sim" is just a LPF.

 

[Kazrog]

The SansAmp will sound like a high-quality solid state amp. The e530 will sound like a high-quality tube amp. I am a tube guy so I automatically have my preferences there, and the e530 is my main amp now.

Here's one of my e530 clips (just a quick riff idea, double tracked slightly sloppy, into a Mesa cab impulse I made, no processing.):

http://backmask.com/sneapforum/impulse_tests/ReAwaken TR SneapEdge.mp3

And here's one of Tech21's clips of the PSA 1.1:

http://www.tech21nyc.com/sounds/psa_sounds/PSAHvy-S.MP3

Definitely a good sound if you are going for Pain/Prong/Rammstein tone, but not really my bag for the style of music I play in Backmask.

 

[Metal Overload]

When you play a preamp guitar tone through a fullrange speaker, it will sound like utter garbage.

That´s not quite true. the sansamp it´s supposed to be really good with fullrange speakers, i tried before and in fact is pretty cool, and definitely usable.

So there isn't any active speaker simulation on the other presets? And so if you wanted to use speaker sim on your tone, you could just choose preset 49 and dial it in?

I´m not really sure, but i think it don´t have speaker simulator on every preset, and the preset 49 sounds like sterile flat clean guitar, never used, if you tweak it, it converts in another preset.

The SansAmp will sound like a high-quality solid state amp. The e530 will sound like a high-quality tube amp.

That´s definitely true.

The sansamp sound kinda tubish, but it is still a SS preamp, and you´ll notice it, what i like about it is the rawness, you can get a pretty "in your face sound", and of course it can sound as good as a tube head or at least, give´em battle in a live situation, hehe.

and what is the best thing of the sansamp??
The VERSATILITY, you can sound from a blues, country, rock, punk, and high gain metal and everything between, you can make a humbucker guitar sound like a telecaster with such a real caracter, i´m using it for metal, and currently for play 70´s rock, blues and pop covers, and it can do anything, aside from the POD, this is the most versatile toy out there, you can have hundreds of real tones.

 

[Metaltastic]

I don't mind Randall's solid state tone (Stabbing the Drama, for example - super crunchy) but if the tone on Rammstein's "Sehnsucht" (the album with, among others, Du Hast), then keep it the hell away from me - that tone is WAY too painful in the upper mids, ugghh...