Wish Sansamp PSA-1 style preamp

Chris Hurley

Power User
Wish: a model of something like a Sansamp PSA-1.

The PSA-1 has a fantastic ability to get a variety of different amp styles. I'm guessing it can't be done because the controls don't fit into the existing framework that models have (i.e. gain, bass, mid, treble, master, etc...)
 
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Don’t you already have a fantastic different variety of amp styles to pick from?

Is that a requirement for wishes? You can't get something similar or do it some other way? About 70% of the Axe-FX III is combining features in convenient ways, etc... for example- look at the boost switches and styles and multiple EQ options and filters everywhere, and multiple kinds of delays and everything else. Can't you get that stuff some other way? There is obviously a precedent for things that you CAN already do in some other way.

Ever used a PSA1? Being able to dial a variety of tones from a single model would be cool- especially if you can attach modifiers to some of the controls.
 
I don’t get the point of asking for something to be modeled that literally was itself a modeler of all the things we already have modeled. Is there a “PSA-1 tone” that people seek? That’d be worth asking for.
 
The Sansamp has a particular sound to it and was used by Robert Fripp as his main amplifier for a couple of years. That’s why you want a model of it. It has a particular sound and voice to it that’s just as unique as any amplifier
 
If I recall correctly, the sansamp pedal is based off of an ampeg svt. It may try to capture the cab and mic too. You could try the sv bass amp block with a clean signal in parallel to satisfy immediate urges.
 
If I recall correctly, the sansamp pedal is based off of an ampeg svt. It may try to capture the cab and mic too. You could try the sv bass amp block with a clean signal in parallel to satisfy immediate urges.
Thats a specific sansamp pedal, not the PSA1 which had a lot of sounds for guitar or bass.
 
I don’t get the point of asking for something to be modeled that literally was itself a modeler of all the things we already have modeled. Is there a “PSA-1 tone” that people seek? That’d be worth asking for.

So... what you're saying is that its something you wouldn't probably use? OK. Cool. :)

The PSA1 isn't a modeller exactly- it really was "pre modeller". Its a tone generator that had very flexible controls that allowed it to make a ton of different tones, including some that were familiar to some famous ones as well as many that were different.
 
Eddie Van Halen used the SansAmp for a while. The same with Kurt Cobain. I wasn’t going to mention these two but it’s pretty obvious that it would be great if it was on the Axe…
 
Sans amps, if I recall correctly since I haven’t owned one in a long time, were essentially non-digital modelers. They basically used eq/filters to get a few different characteristics of several classic amps and cabs, but never really sounded exactly like any of them. It’s just like a pedal like the dirty little secret or anything that said it’s a “Marshall in a box”.

Seems hard to model something that is an emulation of products already modeled.....???

you got a sans amp because it wasn’t practical or affordable to get a proper Marshall rig..... it wasn’t great but it was pretty good for many applications

when you’ve already got things like 30 really good models of Marshall amps though, why model an inferior model ?

what’s next, buying a Indonesian copy of an 80’s Japanese lawsuit guitar which in itself was a copy of an American made guitar ?

digital model of the model of an original line6 POD or a Digitech GT ?

how about we model a Rockman, which was designed to be an emulation in itself, and then profile the Axe model with a Kemper ?

gets all and all rather silly, no ?
 
So... what you're saying is that its something you wouldn't probably use? OK. Cool. :)

The PSA1 isn't a modeller exactly- it really was "pre modeller". Its a tone generator that had very flexible controls that allowed it to make a ton of different tones, including some that were familiar to some famous ones as well as many that were different.
That's not what I'm saying at all. You said it had "a fantastic ability to get a variety of different amp styles" -- which made me wonder why we'd want a modeler modeled. If it's got a specific sound, one that's not in the box already, sure. But otherwise it seems pretty redundant, no?
 
@Chris Hurley what are some quintessential PSA-1 tones that you're after? Post some clips?

Edit: Found a @2112 post.



Honestly, the controls are all there in the advanced parameters. I bet you could tone match most of what you'd want of the PSA-1 tones with existing models. Buzz, Punch and Crunch are low, mid and high frequency saturation controls respectively. The rest work as you'd expect though they are pre-gain so maybe switch to a Mark series preamp topology.

Run without a CAB block and just EQ post AMP block to dial back some of the fizziness.
 
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That's not what I'm saying at all. You said it had "a fantastic ability to get a variety of different amp styles" -- which made me wonder why we'd want a modeler modeled. If it's got a specific sound, one that's not in the box already, sure. But otherwise it seems pretty redundant, no?

Again, I'll say- "when has redundancy had anything to do with the features in the Axe-FX?" Its full of redundancy.

PSA1 has a unique approach to getting tones. I wished it because it would be cool to have a similar capability in the Axe-FX in addition to what is already there. The way you control it with buzz/punch/crunch is unique and interesting. That's all I'm saying.
 
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Preamp: overall preamp gain
Buzz: Low frequency preamp gain control, could impart fuzz type character
Punch: Mid range preamp gain control
Crunch: High frequency preamp gain control
(With those 3 in one handy place, you could do a lot of interesting things)
Drive: Subsequent output stage style gain control
Low/High, channel-strip style EQ

There is probably some way you could use a parametric, a couple of drive blocks and a filter block to get in the ballpark- spread all over multiple screens and hassle.
 
Or just use all kinds of different amp and drive blocks combined with parametrics.

The Axe-FX was originally a tone generator first. It was explicitly called "not a modeler in the strict sense". Somewhere along the line, we lost that idea and it just became "absolutely a modeler in the absolute sense"
 
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