Tech 21 PSA-1.1 Owner's Manual

WARNINGS

•Attempting to repair this unit is not recommended and may void its warranty.

•Missing or altered serial numbers automatically void the warranty. For your own protection,
be sure that the serial number labels on the unit’s back panel and exterior box are intact.

ONE-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY

Manufacturer warrants unit to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period
of one (1) year from the date of purchase to the original purchaser and is not transferable.
This warranty does not include damage resulting from accident, misuse, abuse, alteration, or
incorrect current or voltage. If unit becomes defective within warranty period, Tech 21 will
elect to repair or replace it free of charge. After warranty period expires, manufacturer will
repair defective unit for a fee.

PROOF OF PURCHASE IS REQUIRED FOR ANY REPAIR

For residents of the U.S. and Canada, please call Tech 21’s main headquarters for shipping
instructions and a Return Authorization Number. Tech 21 will not accept packages without
prior authorization, pre-paid freight (UPS preferred), and proper insurance.

FOR PERSONAL ASSISTANCE & INQUIRIES

Contact Tech 21 weekdays from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time.

MADE IN THE U.S.A.

Fill in the following information for future reference:
Serial Number ___________________________________
Dealer’s Name ___________________________________
Dealer’s Address ___________________________________
Date of Purchase ___________________________________

T: 973-777-6996
E: [e-mail]
W: www.tech 21nyc.com
© 2005 Tech 21 USA, Inc.

USER’S GUIDE

Safety Instructions, Warnings, Fuse Information 2-3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Quick Start Instructions 3
Tech 21, The Company 4
SansAmp PSA-1.1 Overview 4
Front Panel 5-7

Input Jack 5
Pre-Amp 5
Character Controls 6
Low and High 7
Level 7
Trim 7
3-Digit LED display 7
Save Switch 7
Up and Down Buttons 7

Programming 8-9

Saving a Program 8
Moving/Copying a Program 9
Locating Individual Control Values 9

Rear Panel 10-12

Input 2 Section 10

Input 2 Jack 10
Level Selector Switch 10

0dB and -10dB Positions 10

Effects Loop 10

Effects Send 10
Mix 50/50 Switch 10
Right & Left Returns 11

Universal Output Section 11

1/4" Output Jacks and Output Level Switch 11
XLR Output Jacks and Output Level Switch 11
XLR Ground Lift 12

MIDI In and MIDI Thru/Out 12
Headphone 12

Suggested Setups 13-15

Using the SansAmp PSA’s Inputs 13
Using the SansAmp PSA’s Outputs 14
Using the Effects Loop 14
Using MIDI 15

Special Page Functions & MIDI Implementation 16-21

Function 1: Custom Preset Data Dump 17
Function 2: Define MIDI Mapping 17
Function 3: 0-127 / 1-128 Patch Offset 18
Function 4: Preset Protection Writer 19
Function 5: MIDI Channel Select 19
Function 6: Software Revision Number 20
Function 7: Edit Pot Display Mode 20
Function 8: Disengage All Pots 21
Function 9: MIDI Thru Disable 21

Factory Presets and Custom Settings Chart 22-23
Custom Settings Diagrams 24-27
Special Page Restore and Factory Preset Reset 28
Options 28
Specifications 29
Warranty Information Back Cover

1

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS.

RISK OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK

DO NOT OPEN

CAUTION

CAUTION: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK, DO
NOT REMOVE COVER. NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE.

REFER SERVICING TO QUALIFIED SERVICE PERSONNEL.

RISQUE D'ELECTROCUTION

NE PAS OUVRIR

ATTENTION

ATTENTION: POUR REDUIRE LES RISQUES D'ELECTROCUTION

NE PAS ENLEVER LE COUVERCLE. AUCUNE PIECE INTERNE

N'EST REPARABLE PAR L'UTILISATEUR. POUR TOUTE

REPARATION, S'ADRESSER A UN TECHNICIEN QUALIFIE.

ELEKTRISCHE SCHLAGGEFAHR

NICHT OFFNEN

VORSICHT

VORSICHT: ZUR MINIMIERUNG ELEKTRISCHER SCHLAGGE-

FAHR NICHT DEN DECKEL ABNEHMEN. INTERNE TEILE KONNEN

NICHT VOM BENUTZER GEWARTET WERDEN. DIE WARTUNG

IST QUALIFIZIERTEM WARTUNGSPERSONAL ZU UBERLASSEN.

READ AND SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS.

HEED ALL WARNINGS.

This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts the user to the presence of uninsulated dangerous
voltage within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of
electric shock to persons.

This symbol, wherever it appears, alerts the user to important operating and maintenance
instructions in the accompanying literature. Read the manual.

This unit is powered by potentially hazardous voltage. Therefore, observe
the following safety precautions:

1.

Read and follow all instructions before using

product.

2. Do not use product near water (such as near
a bathtub, washbowl, kitchen sink, swimming
pool, in a wet basement, etc.).

3. Unit should be located so that its location or
position does not impede the flow of air through
the ventilation openings.

4. Product should be located away from heat
sources such as radiators, heat registers, or
other products, including amplifiers, that produce
heat.

5. Product should be connected to a power sup­ply only of the type described in the operating
instructions or as marked on the product.

6. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, con­venience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the unit.

7. Do not allow objects or liquids to penetrate the enclosure through openings.

8. During heavy use, chassis may get hot to the touch. Handle with care.

9. Protect unit from strong impact.

10. Unplug product before cleaning. Never spray liquid cleaners into the amp: wipe

with a clean, lint-free cloth to remove dirt and film.

11. Only use attachments/accessories specified by the manufacturer.

12. This product should be used only with a cart or stand that is recom-

mended by the manufacturer. When a cart is used, use caution when
moving the cart/product combination to avoid injury from tipping over.

13. Amplifiers may be capable of producing high volume levels that
could cause permanent hearing loss or damage, if the exposure to such levels is pro­longed. Such damage is progressive and irreversible! If you experience any hearing loss
or ringing in the ears, consult an audiologist.

2

14. Unplug unit during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of
time.

15. This unit must be earth grounded. To reduce the risk of electric shock, NEVER
remove or otherwise attempt to defeat the ground pin of the power cord. If the provided
plug does not fit into your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete
outlet.

WARNING: To avoid the risk of fire, electric shock or injury, do not expose this unit to
rain or moisture. Do not remove metal covering from chassis parts. Doing so exposes
extremely dangerous high voltages. There are no user-serviceable parts inside. Hazard­ous voltages are present inside the chassis. Refer all servicing to qualified personnel.

CAUTION: Never modify the power cord. If original power cord becomes damaged,
frayed, or has exposed wires, replace immediately with same rating and gauge, or high­er. Replacements are commercially available or you can contact Tech 21 directly.

WARNING: Attempting to repair this unit is not recommended and may void its
warranty. NOTE: In the U.S. and Canada, servicing is performed at factory only. In
other countries, please refer repairs to the local Tech 21 authorized distributor.

FUSE

Fuse holder located inside A/C cord receptacle. You must remove power
cord to change fuse.

Replace with similar type & same value: F 0.5A L.

QUICK START INSTRUCTIONS

Here’s how you can get your SansAmp PSA up and running before you read the entire manual.

1. Plug your instrument into the front-panel

2. Plug one end of a cord into the rear panel’s left

Input jack (on the left side).

Output jack, and plug the other end into the

input of a mixer or an amp or power amp.

3. Attach the AC cord and plug into a wall socket. Turn on the SansAmp PSA.

4. Turn on your amp or mixer. (If the mixer is patched into a monitor or recorder setup, make sure
the power amp and speakers are turned on, too.)

5. Turn up the input level on your amp or mixer. If the signal is too “hot,” resulting in unwanted
distortion, or too weak, check the amp’s or mixer’s input control. Also check the
the front of the SansAmp PSA and

Output Level Switch on the back of the SansAmp PSA.

Trim control on

6. Play your favorite riff or chord changes, and you should hear a sound coming through your system.
If not, recheck your connections, and make sure your guitar’s volume control is turned up.

7. Select a program by pushing either the

Up or Down buttons. The unit is shipped with the first

49 programs (01-49) as factory presets (refer to the list on page 22). Programs 51-99 are dupli­cates of presets 01-49. From 100-127, all knobs are preset neutral at 12 o’clock. Programs 00
and 50 are permanent bypass settings. For more details, refer to “Programming” on page 8.

If you need further guidance in setting up your SansAmp PSA, check out the diagrams and infor­mation on pages 13 through 15.

3

TECH 21, THE COMPANY

Tech 21 introduced the SansAmp™ Classic (the original pedal design) in 1989. Our proprietary
circuitry pioneered Tube Amplifier Emulation in professional applications for recording direct
and performing live, and created an entirely new category of signal processing. While there have
since been many entries into this niche, SansAmp continues to maintain its reputation as the
industry standard.

Engineered for the studio and stage, SansAmp delivers consistent quality sound. Players, engi­neers, and producers can obtain a wide spectrum of warm, natural tube amplifier sounds from
one convenient unit. Available in various formats and models, each SansAmp is suitable for any
music style, from jazz to metal, and can be used with a variety of instruments --guitar, bass, key­boards, samplers, even sax and vocals.

The SansAmp Classic was conceived and developed by a guitarist who possesses the unusual
combination of a trained ear and electronics expertise. The technology is designed in the true
tradition of tube amplifiers in their totality—with a pre-amp stage and an output stage. It incor­porates the harmonics and sweet overdrive characteristics unique to tube amplifiers. SansAmp
captures these characteristics, and does so even at low volume levels.

FRONT PANEL

I

NTRODUCTION

The SansAmp PSA gives you access to specific tone-shaping characteristics within the tube
amplifier sound spectrum. Controls of this nature are traditionally inaccessible on stock amps.
Adjustments like these are ordinarily achieved only by permanent professional modification.

Tonality, for instance, can be adjusted in a variety of ways. The individual Character Controls,
labeled Buzz, Punch, Crunch, and Drive, offer different results than the post EQ section (the
controls labeled Low and High).

Gain structure can be adjusted via the Pre-Amp control, which results in a different kind of
overdrive than the Drive control. Additionally, Buzz, Punch, and Crunch each affect the gain
structure within specific frequency bands.

SansAmp gives you the most coveted trademarked sounds and the flexibility to refine and rede­fine your own. Each model responds to and interacts with the dynamics of your individual play­ing style, your individual musical style, and your instrument’s individual tonality. All of these
factors play an important role in the resulting sound, which will ultimately be yours alone.

SANSAMP PSA-1.1, AN OVERVIEW

SansAmp PSA-1.1 maintains its superior tone with our exclusive, 100% analog circuitry. Only
the programming and memory sections are digital. The results are easy to hear: punchy, respon­sive, powerful sounds that bring out the best in any instrument.

The SansAmp PSA can be used for various applications. In the studio, you can record direct,
enhance existing tracks in mixdowns, as well as add interesting touches to any instrument. Live,
it can be used as a pre-amp direct into a power amp with guitar or bass speaker cabinets, as a
“monster direct box” to a P.A. system, (or both simultaneously), and as an outboard processor.

The SansAmp PSA features MIDI capability for calling up programs and storing program data.
There are 49 factory presets and 77 memory locations to store your own custom sounds, plus two
bypass programs. When you switch between programs, there is no lag time, or “cutting out.”
The controls on the SansAmp PSA work very much like those found on a sophisticated amp.
You don’t need special training or a degree in physics to operate your unit. Storing and recalling
programs is simple: set your tones and push the Save button. You just turn a knob and hear the
difference immediately --in real time. There are 256 incremental steps in the rotation of each
control, so increases and decreases occur in a smooth, gradual, linear fashion.

The SansAmp PSA is designed to provide you with the flexibility to find almost any conceiv­able tonal personality within the tube amplifier sound spectrum.

As you experiment and become familiar with the controls’ interrelationships, you’ll be able to
customize your own sounds and store them in the SansAmp PSA’s memory.

INPUT JACK

This 1/4" Input features an impedance buffer so that the tone from a guitar’s or bass’ pickups, or the
signal from other instruments, reaches the SansAmp PSA without degradation. A second input jack
is located on the rear panel. Note: plugging into the front-panel Input jack overrides and discon­nects the rear-panel jack. So you can set up your SansAmp PSA as a permanent part of a rack or
patch-bay setup, with its usual input source plugged into the rear-panel jack. If you want to plug
straight into the SansAmp PSA, bypassing other parts of the system, use the front Input.

PRE-AMP

This is the input sensitivity control. The Pre-Amp control adjusts
the signal level going into the input section of the SansAmp PSA.
The arrow indicates the unity-gain point (that is, no boost or cut).
When clean sounds are desired with the use of a hot-output instru­ment, decrease from the unity-gain point. Increasing the position of
the Pre-Amp control produces an effect similar to putting a clean
booster pedal into the input of a tube amp.

AFTER BURNER ZONE:

more definition to individual notes when using high gain sounds. If buzzier, fuzzier sounds are
desired, increase the gain by using the Drive control and set the Pre-Amp control outside the
After Burner zone.

The area where a low-cut/hi-boost function is activated. This gives

Arrow indicates

unity-gain point

4

5

To achieve the least amount of noise, we recommend keeping the Pre-Amp knob at unity gain
or higher. Experiment with the interplay between your instrument and the SansAmp PSA.

For best results, do not set the Pre-Amp level lower than unity gain when the Drive knob is at
9 o’clock or higher. However, if you want a crystal-clear sound and the Drive control is already
near minimum and there’s still too much overdrive, decrease the Pre-Amp’s level as needed.
Pre-Amp also influences different types of overdrive. For instance, a high setting emphasizes
pre-amp distortion (see Boogie®Lead-style setting), as opposed to when Drive is in a high set­ting, which emphasizes power amp distortion (see Vintage Marshall

®

-style setting).

CHARACTER CONTROLS

Character Controls offer tremendous flexibility in adjusting tonality, gain structure, and har­monic content.

BUZZ

Controls the low-end break-up and overdrive. You can boost the effect by turning clockwise from the
center point indicated by the arrows, and cut by turning counterclockwise. When you turn towards
maximum, the sound becomes (you guessed it) buzzy. For a clean setting, increase the setting in small
increments. For increased definition when using distortion, position the knob at its midpoint or
towards minimum.

PUNCH

Sets the amount of midrange break-up and overdrive. Boost or cut from the center point indicat-

®

®

-style break-up.

amp.

ed by the arrows. Decreasing from the center point produces a softer, Fender
Increasing its setting creates a harder, heavier distortion. At maximum, it produces a sound simi­lar to a wah pedal at mid-boost position placed in front of a Marshall

CRUNCH

Brings out the upper harmonic content and pick attack. For a smoother high end and for clean
settings, decrease to taste.

DRIVE

Like the volume control on a non-master-volume tube amp, Drive increases the amount of
power amp distortion. In live applications, we recommend using less Drive than when direct
recording. This compensates for the natural sustain of high volumes.

LOW AND HIGH

These active low-end tone controls are specially tuned for maximum musicality when used to
EQ instruments. Boost or cut ±12dB from its center point indicated by the arrows.

LEVEL

Simultaneously adjusts the output level of the rear-panel XLR and 1/4" outputs, and Effects
Loop Send.

TRIM

For live performances, this control globally adjusts the level of all presets so you don’t have to
individually adjust each setting on stage. Be aware that if you have any settings with the Level
programmed close to/at minimum or maximum, the Trim pot will not be as effective.
Additionally, when using an external effects processor in the Effects Loop, set Trim at maxi­mum before you adjust the input level of the processor. This will ensure you have enough head­room when you utilize the Trim control on stage.

3-DIGIT LED DISPLAY

Because the SansAmp PSA is fully programma­ble, everything you do is monitored by its inter­nal processor. And everything you need to know
is in these three digits. This display is readable
from any angle, in daylight or darkness. It tells
you which program is active, whether any knob’s
setting has been changed, when a program is
stored, and when MIDI functions have been
activated. (Refer to the sections on programming your SansAmp PSA and using MIDI for spe­cific information regarding the display’s functions.)

SAVE SWITCH

The Save switch stores your custom settings in the memory of the SansAmp PSA. It also gives
you access to the Special Page function menu. It is purposely recessed into the front panel to
make it difficult to inadvertently push. You can use a guitar pick, a pen tip, or a well-placed
fingernail to push it.

UP AND DOWN BUTTONS

Pushing either of these switches once counts up or down through the programs one at a time.
Holding the switch down moves quickly through the program numbers.

6

7