Hello all, Been thinking of getting either or the rackmount Sansamp pre-amps - either the RBI or the PSA. From what I can gather, the RBI is specifically for bass, and is not programmable, whereas the PSA will do a nice job for bass and for my occasional guitar gig. Anyone use either of these for bass? Any feedback or advice as to whcih people prefer? Also, will I be able to/safe to use the power amp only section of my Hartke 3500 - in other words, can I take the output of the Sansamp and patch it straight into the "effect return" on the Hartke? Any advice would be mucho appreciated
yes you can run either sans amp right into the effects return of your amp. search the amps forum for sans amp rbi and be prepared to read for hours.
had a psa 1. thought most of its bass sounds were on the stale, artificial sounding side, had a good modern solid state sound but IMO sansamp's "tube emulation" attempts sound nothing like the real thing. Not necessarily bad, but not at all like tubes. Really liked the guitar tones though. For the hour it worked, until it suddenly forgot all the user patches I had made, and even most of its internal presets.
I had a PSA-1 and to be honest I never got a clean sound I liked out of it, and believe me I tried. Great for dirt though, and great on g&$*%r. Dirk
Had an RBI, really tried to like the durn thing, but it couldn't get the clarity and purity of tone I expect from a pre...so I sold it and got a BMax. Never been happier!
Hey Notts bloke - Click the link, scroll to the bottom and theres another clickable link called 'PSA Bass'. That has sound clip you might like to listen to. I thought was awesome. http://www.tech21nyc.com/psa.html
I changed from a Hartke 3500 head to a pre+power setup consisting in SansAmp RBI+multiband compressor+parametric EQ+power amp and couldn't be happier. I even use the EQ on the RBI dead flat (or just add a little bass -depending on the room-). Only thing is that both presence and treble controls are not that high and as I like to have these glassy Infectious Grooves highs I boost the 10-12KHz with the EQ (way out of the RBI's EQ section). ANDRUCA
also try out the MXR M-80 Bass DI, I like mine! http://www.jimdunlop.com/products/electronics/mxr/products/m80.html