Tech21 PSA-1

[rickeb1]

So I have this old Tech21 PSA-1 pramp that has been sitting in my closet for several years, and I decided to pull it out and re-acquaint myself with it a little bit.. I had used it for a while some years ago, but I was new to the whole preamp/power amp setup at the time, and didn't really know what I was doing with it.  I have to say, this is a pretty darn good preamp!  If you're not familiar with it, it has an all-analog signal path, no tubes, but it's not a modeler or solid-state, either.  I think it's rather unique in that regard.  As I went through the presets, I found many that were really good starting points, and with very slight tweaks (mostly toning down the high end), I had a wide variety of sounds, from Fender cleans to brutal distortion, and lots in between.  I compared the high-gain tones to my 3TM, and I would say that the 3TM has more "depth" and growl to it and more of that tube "sag", while the PSA-1 is much tighter, and has a more immediate pick response with less sag.  They are different beasts, but I think the PSA-1 is a lot more versatile in the tones you can get.  If you ever get a chance to try one out, it's worth a look!

~Rick

[rnolan]

Hey Rick, well if it's not tube it's SS  :wave: Glad you're bringing it to life again  :thumb-up: Sound like it's similar the Rocktron Pro GAP Kim is wanting to trade

[Systematic Chaos]

The PSA-1 is way more sophisticated than the *old* Rocktron Pro-GAP and is also used by lots of Pros.
Jim Matheos of Fates Warning is a long-time user of the PSA-1. The full-stacks are always only used for poweramp purposes