Tech 21 PSA 2.0 - Does this analog amp modeling tech of the early 1990's still hold up? 

I've always figured that there aren't more Vox flavors in there because the gain structure(s) of a Vox are different than a Fender/Marshall/Mesa (which all share DNA).

A proper mindset is required with these sansamp boxes... 1) This is first and foremost an analog amp emulator that works really hard to provide you the truest tube response possible without tubes in a compact unit that doesn't require cranking and blowing out the windows to get there. 2) The cab sim provided although decent is not a "be all end all" they just give you something vanilla to work with. 3) If you are looking for a multi-fx unit to "do it all" this ain't it. If you are looking to address the guitar amp portion of a modular setup where you are trying to get high quality specfic stuff in your signal chain/path be it recording or performance this is aimed directly at that. It can actually be a very freeing experience for people who find themselves "locked" into multi effects units which force them to have do things specific ways. 4) Think of this as an amp. Like an amp it needs certain things put in front of it to get specific stuff. Example your gonna have to put a green box in front of it to get mid boosted/low cut tones. And this one will give you BOTH the Fender and Marshall versions to boot in that scenario! 5) Lastly this is not outdated technology from the 80s 90s. It originated back then but Tech 21 has constantly improved this stuff to what it today in account for how people will want to use it in the 2020s. They were one of the first to the game and the knowledge base/experience in that company is first rate and goes way back.

I like the sound and the overall concept of this thing

Swapping different guitars with the presets would have been good. 😊

I loved my tech21 Liverpool when I had it - when I moved into digital modeling I got rid of it, but it was super fun!! I think the analog modeling they use would pair extremely well with an impulse response, rather than the built in cab sim

I think you'd like a Tech21 Flyrig more for what you're looking for. I LOVE mine.

I have a PSA 1.1 and one of my favorites is to take Patch 6 (Bluesbreaker) run the input gain up to 3/4 and then the power amp drive up to 3/4.

The sans amp bass DI gave me the tone I chased for years. I have the pedal and now I have the rack mount RBI and couldn't be happier. Mind you I play bass but I've seen people run guitar thru it aswell.

i remember being surprised when i read Kurt Cobain used a Sansamp live for a while (in either nevermind or in utero era) the amp simulator into an amp thing messed with my mind...

Paul Landers from Rammstein has his own signature model of SansAmp. He mainly used SansAmp for recording and even for live setup since Rammstein arrived on the scene. He's not the only one who does this. Recently, even Steve Harris from Iron Maiden has his own signature bass model. Tech 21 makes good stuff. This seem s to be another brilliant idea from them. Good review, tho!

I miss my Tech 21 TRI AC.

Thank you so much for demoing this. I found out about Tech21's analogue amp sims a few days ago and have been fixated on them since. I really like how you approached this like a noob. It gave me a good idea of what it would be like for me to use it. When you "dialled in something flat" with all the knobs at about 1 o'clock, the sound was very clean, which intrigued me. I wonder whether that means there could be even more clean sounds to play with than distorted ones. I would love to play around with the left hand side of those dials. I also wonder whether the simulated pedals sounded crappy because they were recorded direct. Maybe some of the sounds this box makes are better with an amp.

I have both the Tech 21 Boost Fuzz and the Boost Chorus on my board. Both are outstanding though I wish the chorus would have stereo in and out.

I owned a PSA1 back in the day, and now I own a Sansamp PSA 2.0. It is, to me, one of the best ways to get the sounds of the 90's with a current amplifier. I mean, is there any other device on the planet that attempts a preset to emulate a Mesa Boogie Triaxis preamp, or a Marshall JMP-1 preamp? It sounds best if you truly use it as a preamp and not a pedal - plug it into the effect loop return on your amplifier. Also, I think that their "cabinet emulation" is not particularly good. I would not record direct with it, but if you use it with something like a Torpedo Cab-M it's fantastic. Add in midi control and you have an amazing little unit. I mean, one thing that you really didn't get a feel for in this video is just how tiny it is! It blows my mind that a device that used to take up a full rack space is now the size of a distortion pedal.

The Tri-Axis was Mesa/Boogie's flagship tube preamp of the late 80's / early 90's. Used by Metallica, Dream Theater etc. That "American Woman" preset is meant to be the *lead* tone on that song. Try playing it, it's pretty damn close.

I’m still using the ART sgx 2000 for recording a lot of clean tones. It’s all about how you use it.

I like tech 21 stuff, specially their preamp type pedals, but that needs to go into an amp or a real cab sim (I know that's an oxymoron).

I'd rock it. Both the guitar and the pedal. Seems workable 15:50

This makes me miss my PSA 1.0

Thx for this entertaining video! btw: I'm pretty sure rhythm riffing on the high gain presets (i.e. Mesa) would sound way better on the bridge PU... ;-)

I think on the pedal simulators you’re supposed to disable cab modeling and plug into the front of a real amp

Cool sounding box, but like most of the stuff Tech 21 is putting out these days, the analog cab simulation sounds and feels really flat. If you're going into a real amp (powersection) or cabinet in some way you'll have way better luck. I bought a GT2 a while back and though, I had a lot of nostalgia for it, it went through 2 live situations before I said, eh, nope. I know Tech 21 has an anti-digital stance when it comes to this stuff, but it's hard to accept when IRs are as good and plentiful as they are today. Buy one of these and a Cab M and you'll be off to the races.

Tri-axis is a Mesa preamp.

I like listen the bass sets!!!

I'm confused. I like their Character Series Pedals (for the most part). And this should be all of those pedals in one unit. But I just didn't hear it. The HIWATT....wasn't. The AC30...uh...no... And the Marshall presets sounded like anything other than. Maybe it's just one of those things where you have to play with the knobs enough....which I don't want to do.

I used to own the PSA-1 and was ultimately disappointed by it. Never quite lived up to its promise. One issue I found was that it is not just a preamp, it emulates the power amp effect too, which may be great for a few applications but doesn't sound great into many real power amps; the manual actually recommends using with a flat response solid state power amp. For DI the speaker sim was very poor and not optional as it is in the PSA-2. Patches were always short of brilliant particularly the clean ones which would never sparkle. I swapped mine for a theoretically less capable and much cheaper Award Session JD-10, another (this one British) analogue amp sim with speaker sim, which sounds much better to me to this day as I still use them.

Wow I am so, SO thankful for the modeling tech we have today. Seems like back then it was only limited to practicing, but now you have full, ripping, and accurate modelers.

Someone needs to pay you for that name Tone kitchen

I use a POD XT for some effects just so I can mess around with different things that I don't have experience with. So I can see if I like it. They're like $60 on ebay and you get a whole lot of pedals, amps and different micing simulations to give you a taste of what's possible with different pedals. It's a great place to start if you don't already know what you're looking for. I imagine this product is similar in that way.

That's a lot of money to be totally disappointed :) The money I wasted on bad crap back in the day.

I've just purchased this awaiting to put it on my pedal board-I als have the 1993 rack mount version-man this thing covered all conceivable clean/crunch/distortion tones-it has that true organic/analog sounds-u feel the spongi-ness thing we all general like ( for 80's type rock gtr) I used an am accustomed to all the sounds on this must have device....if I were u I would buy one -grab it while u can because if they stop making them its all gone-it has the all the sounds we are all forever chasing-this puts an end to the searching and spending all that money in search our tones-Steve Vai has one in his home studio rack-happy playing all!!!

At first it sounded good but it got worse when you cycled through the settings.

When doing the “pedal section” I didn’t you plug it into an amp? That’s what they’re designed for.

I'm a little surprised by the hate in some of these comments. Overall, I enjoyed a fair amount of the sounds in this thing, and it looks tweakable enough to modify sounds. I would like to see how it sounds through an amp without the cab sim, but it's intriguing and fun for sure! I would try this or something similar for the right price.

You’re running the level and gain too high. Tech 21 pedals are super punchy and loud

it sounds utterly awful to me! I've got an old zoom multi effect that I used to like but it sounds absolutely crap

Cool for $149, maybe, but $399? Hate to be price guy, but just no.

Box of farts.

This guys not doing it right. 😑

Its a no for CRAP at any price from me DAWG