Re: SansAmp (was Stage monitors)

[Chris Chovit <cho@newdream.net>]

Floyd wrote:

>I love my SansAmp PSA-1 - the rackmount SansAmp.
>Not only does it give me a wide palette of sounds
>and tones but it allows me to play live and record
>without having to mic an amp (which always changes
>the character).  So with the SansAmp, what you
>hear is what is recorded too.  And since I also
>use a GR-50 with a few external sound modules
>I can easily control my mix.
>
>The previous poster also made a good point - start
>with fresh ears.  It is not hard to find the tone
>you are looking for with the Sans Amp.  You may
>not get an exact clone of your Mesa or Marshall
>but if you are like me and enjoy having many tones
>to work with the SansAmp is the most versatile
>piece of gear I can think of (other than a truck
>load of different amps and a raod crew to help
>lug them around.


I agree.  The SansAmp gets CLOSE to the sound of a variety of amps.  I used
to use a Boogie Mark IV.  When my brother picked up a SansAmp PSA-1, I ran
it in parallel (with an A/B/ box) with the Mark IV preamp, then back into
the Mark IV effects return.  THis allowed me to A/B  between the Sansamp
and Boogie preamps, using the same power amp/speaker setup.  The results?
I found that I could almost exactly reproduce each of the (3) Mark IV
preamp channels, using the SansAmp.  And it sounded damn good!  PLus, the
SansAmp gets Marshall, Hiwatt, Vox, ...etc.

However, when I ran the SansAmp directly into the board, I could not get
the warm sound I had using the Boogie power amp and speaker.  This showed
me that it was the power-amp and the speaker that was giving an aspect to
the sound that I really liked.

So, I ended up picking up a PSA-1, selling my Mark IV -- and now I run my
guitar into the PSA-1 -->  Fender tube reverb --> Boogie tube power amp -->
THD Hot plate -->  Celestion Greenbacks.  AND  I LOVE IT!  (I can also run
the Line Out of the Hot PLate into the board, for looping).  I find this
setup to be versatile.