Sansamp PSA-1 for $600 worth it?

Ermz... oh yes!!
I guess it's about half the price of a new one. The PSA 1.1 has some additional features that are really nice of course but still, I would've bought straight away.
 
Hey Plec,

Thanks for the feedback. I actually meant the PSA-1.1, sorry. And the price is actually $500 now!

Hell why am I even debating it, with your blessing it's a done deal. Look forward to have some more mastering coming your way in the near future.

Cheers.
 
Awesome Ermz! Good luck with it.

The only problem I have with the PSA 1.1 is that it's so freakin' great at bass distortion above all that, like from other posts in the thread, you end up having it sound like everybody else because basically everyone uses it for that purpose. Guitar wise it's a monster too. You can use it in different ways of course but I've done quite a few productions with it lined straight into the board without any amps in between. If you fancy Pain, Hypocrisy, Rammstein etc... this will get you right there. What's also great about is that it's THE best choice for guitars if you want that massive wall but at the same time you have a lot of keys and other busy arrangements going on since the sound of the PSA doesn't fight with anything else.

It's super easy to get it to sit even in the densest of mixes.
For me it's just one of those pieces of gear that's impossible to be without.

A clear 11 points out of 10! :D

EDIT:
Here I used it straight in... 4 guitars.
 
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Thanks avrinder. It hasn't helped that I've never liked any of these Sansamp clips, and that video is definitely no exception. I need my bass to absolutely tear rectums, though I guess the magic as always lies in the correct blending of different types of sounds. I've used the PSA-1 plug-in in the past and can't say I was awfully impressed, so here's to hoping the real unit is a fair bit better.

Thanks Plec, that's really reassuring. I'm definitely a fan of the Rammstein type sound, though I always attributed it to Rectifiers. Do they exclusively use the PSA in the studio, or is it recto-blended? Great to hear that it sits well in mixes, and I'm sure it'll come in handy for that. When using it for guitars, do you generally prefer to run it into a power amp and real cab, or is it just as good going right into the board?

But yeah, I definitely trust your judgment man, so it's a no brainer, I'll grab it if I can. Even if it ends up just being useful for gritting up vocals I'll be a happy man.

I agree about the kids in the vid, Ed, but I mean they're not exactly pro presenters, and at least they did the test. I always want to do some videos like that, but I lack the gear/know-how to put it all together.
 
yeah, fair play to them for actually doing it.

ermz i think with your bass sound, a huge part of getting that crunch is really getting the bassist to hit the strings (and they have to be new) and get the bass itself giving a bit of crunch. bass distortion particularly seems far more selective than guitars in terms of the bass/pickups/strings/playing. That said, I'd love to have a huge arsed SVT rig here that I can pump the gain up on and here how that sounds.

When I saw AIC live last year, their bass tone was among the best I have heard and straight away made me think SVT (although I could certainly be wrong).
 
Totally agree about the source. With bass anything less than a tight, aggressive performance and you can forget about it. I seem to have developed a habit of indirectly causing bands to fire their bass players as a result.

Anyway, if the seller goes through with it, I'll take the unit. If anything it's another color to add to mixes, and I'm a little excited about blending it with quad-tracked guitars.
 
I'm interested about the "direct with no amp" vs "with poweramp and cab" use of the sansamp. I have the 1.0 (I think, baically it is the original version with no ON/OFF button) and I love its tone, but I couldn't have the actual sansamp tone I love just using it direct to recording. Was a long time ago, before I find interest in audio production. I may try again when I get it from my parents, because having its huge "grrrrrrr" with full powerchords is just epic and unique in the guitar world.
 
Ermz said:
...Thanks Plec, that's really reassuring. I'm definitely a fan of the Rammstein type sound, though I always attributed it to Rectifiers. Do they exclusively use the PSA in the studio, or is it recto-blended? Great to hear that it sits well in mixes, and I'm sure it'll come in handy for that. When using it for guitars, do you generally prefer to run it into a power amp and real cab, or is it just as good going right into the board?

But yeah, I definitely trust your judgment man, so it's a no brainer, I'll grab it if I can. Even if it ends up just being useful for gritting up vocals I'll be a happy man.
Click to expand...

The Rammstein thing is a Recto and PSA blend as you say. When I use it for guitars I actually prefer it lined instead of using it with a power amp and cab. I've always found a "real" guitar amp to sound superior and no matter how you use the PSA in a real amp/cab combo it's way too muffled and you need to process the hell out of it to gain any definition from it. So I just love it for the thing that it does when lined. Only thing you need to consider, and this is true for bass as well... I find that you generally need to EQ the hell out of it. But the great thing is that it takes lots and lots of EQ very well. So you can basically shape it into anything you want.

I find it very common to need to filter out a lot from 90Hz down plus add a good dose of high-mids (6-9db) and maybe also to filter out some of the extreme high-end. That with a 3-4db cut at 300Hz or something and you're in heaven/hell whichever you fancy.

Here's also a PSA 1.1 / real amp blend thing with the PSA for bass distortion... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0RK6qsuffU&feature=related[/ame]
 
*Excuse the tiny hijack*
Plec, jag har nog slutat att bli förvånad över hur bra allt du, Christian och Marcus är inblandad i...
Jag går på MLP (Musicfactory) och jag blev helt till mig när Bengan sa att han var delägare av Panic Room (om jag förstod det rätt nu vill säga...). Jag hoppas man får ta sig en titt i Panic Room någon gång :Saint:
 
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