Had a PSA 1 but sold it years ago and regretted it. Tech21 recently released NOS stocks of their PSA 1.1’s on Reverb and I grabbed one right away! Along with it, got a Two Notes Opus. Excited to see how it will turn out. Thanks for sharing your video! Learned a lot!
Very smart to pair the PSA-1 with IRs (I'm using Toropedo CAB or Helix Native), the same conclusion that I arrived at. Haven't tried the super overdrive yet.
Good video as always. Maybe you could try to adapt the HM2 to différent death metal styles: Gothenburg death (already done with at the Gates). Technical death (more challenging) Floridian death (almost impossible for me) Old school doom-death (autopsy or Incantation: easy with the HM300) Polish death (Hertz studio style) It would be challenging.
Some good suggestions. 👍 What Floridian death metal did you try with HM-2 sound? Try Atheist / R.A.V.A.G.E. demos, they are said to have influenced Nihilist (pre-Entombed) to find their now famous chainsaw guitar sound: th-cam.com/video/D_qT8Ox-qPg/w-d-xo.html Good to hear you got Autopsy sound, what settings did you use for that on the HM300?
Heh the PSA-1 is a BASTARD to dial in, but expertly perfected tone (DI, or DI pluls some meticulous saturation/power amp sims, IR cabs....) industrial metal in a box. There's a very good reason Rammstein's tone is based on meticulously conventionally recorded Dual Recto with Paul literally using near DI SansAmp PSA-1 or these days a Gt2. Ideal combo , the real deal 100+W beast doing doing the mids, with Paul inversely, mirroring with the SansAmp. Being totally honest, it took sitting down over many months to master this amp, but it WILL give you fucking miracles, especially once you start adding gain/impedance/tone altering pedals before it. I can't speak for people who don't have a janky ADHD brain like me... but if you back your PSA-1 presets up via MIDI, factory reset, and sit down for 24 hours straight high as fuck on speed/coke, saving every preset you think is ok...... you'll wake up the next day with 4 or 5 presets that you'll use for the rest of your life, trust me....... don't think of the "presets" like presets. They aren't: each preset is a different AMPLIFIER. A different stacking of gain stages. Then, you understand that this amp isn't designed to be fiddled and tweaked... you sit down, you grind till you get the perfect tone, then that's that. You save it, and perhaps you'll add a bit more highs, or up the drive a bit for one song. But you keep coming back to THAT preset. I have my Ministry preset, I can chuck out LiesLiesLies/Rio Grande Blood without breaking a sweat, so much gain it's unreal, but it's under your control. Same for Rammstein, I have my 3 Paul Landers presets, and I tweak them as needed, perhaps if I'm in Drop C for Mann Gegen Mann I'll drop the drive for example. The PSA-1 was too powerful. Too hard to use. That's why they neutered the PSA-1.1 and PSA-2, so normal guitarists can get normal tones. Not people buzzing their tits off on cocaine or speed, who have the compulsive, masochistic drive to sit there and tweak until they have THE tone. Thing is, if you pressed save.......... that tone comes back when you turn it on. Every time. That's the genius of the PSA-1. In my humble opinion, this is why Paul Landers used it for most of his career: He's a punk rocker from East Berlin: you ask your drug dealer to get you a guitar, and oops, he gets you an acoustic instead of an electric. That's the world he grew up in, you have ONE guitar, ONE amp, if you're lucky, and you master it. I've been playing guitar 14 years, and bought my first proper guitar, an ESP Eclipse 12 years go. I only just bought my second guitar, I kinda took on that East Berlin, Soviet mentality of "one guitar, one amp, master it". Also, it did help I bought a Paul Landers signature ESP... so I knew THE only thing holding me back was my skill playing guitar, or my skill using the SansAmp. That taught me what I needed to learn. I feel fucking spoilt having another ESP Eclipse (the standard commercial model, with a few cosmetic changes to make it look like my original PL signature)... it's so weird to be able to just unplug, plug in again, boom.... I'm in drop C, not drop D. Sadly I own a LOT of instruments now, my best friend/bandmate passed away at a very young age, and left me his entire studio in his will, so I truly am spoiled these days... but earning your stripes with one guitar on a PSA-1 is quite an experience!
I had the PSA 1. Just got the PSA 1.1. Am not able to play with it now, am overseas, but looking forward to it. May I just ask, neutered in what way? I have read the differences online, but would appreciate you’re sharing the actual tone differences between the 1 and 1.1. Thanks. I also bought a Two Tones Opus having read that the PSA sounds better with an IR
@@nvn25 The PSA-1.1 feels to me like the range on every pot has been limited to be less extreme. If you're not using extreme settings, the PSA-1.1 feels like it would be easier to use, because honestly, tweaking PSA-1 is a nightmare. Every single stage of the gain interacts so much that I find myself balancing on a knife edge constantly, the tiniest change to a certain knob can radically alter the sound with extreme sounds. It seems like they've sacrificed the massive tonal variety to make it easier to get conventional sounds, which is no good for me unfortunately!
@@Corvid so you prefer the PSA 1 then? I used to have a PSA 1. Sold it. Regretted. I didn’t understand it. I mean it sounded great but just wasn’t ready for it at the time. Huge regret selling ever since. I got a PSA 2 and somehow, I finally understood it. But I didn’t like the form. Too small. Sold that because I have a Sansamp Blonde v2 that I love. Bigger knobs. Finally, Tech21NYC just recently started selling NOS PSA 1.1’s. I grabbed one right away. Haven’t had a chance yet to play it. But I am looking forward to seeing this easier interface to use.
@@nvn25 New old stock? Might have to get one! I'm picking up another couple of PSA-1s in case the prices go any higher, I'm totally hooked on it. Absolutely prefer the PSA-1, the Buzz, Punch and Crunch knobs almost feel like they're not to be touched once you get your sound right, only adjusting the preamp gain and drive (plus EQ). I've not heard anyone mention that, but you're basically altering the drive/distortion of the lows, mids and highs... essentially morphing between different styles of gain stage in different amplifier models. Very very powerful, but unpredictable. Something like the Tech21 GT2 is just a SansAmp PSA-1 with everything fixed but drive, EQ and very limited switches for different amps/cabs. Instead of a Mesa Boogie setting like the GT2, the PSA-1 is able to mimic the gain structure of basically any Mesa amp. It's great to have a plug and play pedal like the GT2, but the PSA-1 is almost limitlessly powerful. People tend not to rave about the tone shaping because it ultimately doesn't sound that authentic at all tone wise, but that's one reason I love it, pure unique character. The ability to have one preset in a song with a perfect tone for palm muting, and another that sounds massive playing power chords is something I didn't know I needed. I've always been frustrated with having to balance the amp settings between palm muting and feeling right, and the tone of power chords... the best palm muting geared sounds I use are too harsh for power chords to sound amazing, but with a second preset I can actually tweak the distortion to perfection for both. The best part is that it's all in-the-box. The amount of hassle it takes to get a regular amp to sound and feel like I want it to pushes me right back to the PSA-1. I should probably mention that I use it very heavily plain DI, no cab or power amp sim, it takes care and practice to not to get a harsh sound, but DI is a wonderful contrast to a miced amp (Rammstein style, Paul Landers with the GT2/PSA-1 Di and Richard Kruspe with a Mesa Rectifier)
Your sound sucks. Play it with a tube power amp or a rocktron velocity (i like them ...) over a 4x12" with V30, SM57 and voila. Your sound with pedal sound not modern, but more like 1990 Morrisound death metal (Massacre). Not bad. But good to know how to achive this. In direkt comparison PSA-1 + Rocktron Velocity nearly beats a 5150 and both sounds nearly equal. The 5150 a little better. Subtile. So subtile that we skip the borrowed 5150 and used the sansamp. Dont remember exactly how. I think a little more life, whereas the psa-1/RV is a little more steril. But thats not a deal when quadruple tracking.
Fair enough! I just find it interesting, that you can achieve a total different sound with some IRs but also get usable sounds out of it as a stand alone unit. but thanks for the suggestion 😊
These PSA videos were helpful for understanding more about the functions of the unit. Thanks!
Had a PSA 1 but sold it years ago and regretted it. Tech21 recently released NOS stocks of their PSA 1.1’s on Reverb and I grabbed one right away! Along with it, got a Two Notes Opus. Excited to see how it will turn out.
Thanks for sharing your video! Learned a lot!
I was just wondering how to set up my psa-1 signal! That was so helpful!
Very smart to pair the PSA-1 with IRs (I'm using Toropedo CAB or Helix Native), the same conclusion that I arrived at. Haven't tried the super overdrive yet.
Did you prefer the Torpedo Cab or the Helix with your PSA? Thanks in advance
Very nice sound! But are parts available if they break? Because they were apparently changed significantly when the 1.1 came out
good question. I don't know
Good video as always. Maybe you could try to adapt the HM2 to différent death metal styles:
Gothenburg death (already done with at the Gates).
Technical death (more challenging)
Floridian death (almost impossible for me)
Old school doom-death (autopsy or Incantation: easy with the HM300)
Polish death (Hertz studio style)
It would be challenging.
cool idea, and a big project! I have to think about that :D
Some good suggestions. 👍 What Floridian death metal did you try with HM-2 sound? Try Atheist / R.A.V.A.G.E. demos, they are said to have influenced Nihilist (pre-Entombed) to find their now famous chainsaw guitar sound: th-cam.com/video/D_qT8Ox-qPg/w-d-xo.html
Good to hear you got Autopsy sound, what settings did you use for that on the HM300?
Heh the PSA-1 is a BASTARD to dial in, but expertly perfected tone (DI, or DI pluls some meticulous saturation/power amp sims, IR cabs....) industrial metal in a box. There's a very good reason Rammstein's tone is based on meticulously conventionally recorded Dual Recto with Paul literally using near DI SansAmp PSA-1 or these days a Gt2. Ideal combo , the real deal 100+W beast doing doing the mids, with Paul inversely, mirroring with the SansAmp.
Being totally honest, it took sitting down over many months to master this amp, but it WILL give you fucking miracles, especially once you start adding gain/impedance/tone altering pedals before it. I can't speak for people who don't have a janky ADHD brain like me... but if you back your PSA-1 presets up via MIDI, factory reset, and sit down for 24 hours straight high as fuck on speed/coke, saving every preset you think is ok...... you'll wake up the next day with 4 or 5 presets that you'll use for the rest of your life, trust me....... don't think of the "presets" like presets. They aren't: each preset is a different AMPLIFIER. A different stacking of gain stages. Then, you understand that this amp isn't designed to be fiddled and tweaked... you sit down, you grind till you get the perfect tone, then that's that. You save it, and perhaps you'll add a bit more highs, or up the drive a bit for one song. But you keep coming back to THAT preset. I have my Ministry preset, I can chuck out LiesLiesLies/Rio Grande Blood without breaking a sweat, so much gain it's unreal, but it's under your control. Same for Rammstein, I have my 3 Paul Landers presets, and I tweak them as needed, perhaps if I'm in Drop C for Mann Gegen Mann I'll drop the drive for example.
The PSA-1 was too powerful. Too hard to use. That's why they neutered the PSA-1.1 and PSA-2, so normal guitarists can get normal tones. Not people buzzing their tits off on cocaine or speed, who have the compulsive, masochistic drive to sit there and tweak until they have THE tone. Thing is, if you pressed save.......... that tone comes back when you turn it on. Every time. That's the genius of the PSA-1.
In my humble opinion, this is why Paul Landers used it for most of his career: He's a punk rocker from East Berlin: you ask your drug dealer to get you a guitar, and oops, he gets you an acoustic instead of an electric. That's the world he grew up in, you have ONE guitar, ONE amp, if you're lucky, and you master it. I've been playing guitar 14 years, and bought my first proper guitar, an ESP Eclipse 12 years go. I only just bought my second guitar, I kinda took on that East Berlin, Soviet mentality of "one guitar, one amp, master it". Also, it did help I bought a Paul Landers signature ESP... so I knew THE only thing holding me back was my skill playing guitar, or my skill using the SansAmp. That taught me what I needed to learn. I feel fucking spoilt having another ESP Eclipse (the standard commercial model, with a few cosmetic changes to make it look like my original PL signature)... it's so weird to be able to just unplug, plug in again, boom.... I'm in drop C, not drop D.
Sadly I own a LOT of instruments now, my best friend/bandmate passed away at a very young age, and left me his entire studio in his will, so I truly am spoiled these days... but earning your stripes with one guitar on a PSA-1 is quite an experience!
I had the PSA 1. Just got the PSA 1.1. Am not able to play with it now, am overseas, but looking forward to it. May I just ask, neutered in what way?
I have read the differences online, but would appreciate you’re sharing the actual tone differences between the 1 and 1.1. Thanks.
I also bought a Two Tones Opus having read that the PSA sounds better with an IR
@@nvn25 The PSA-1.1 feels to me like the range on every pot has been limited to be less extreme. If you're not using extreme settings, the PSA-1.1 feels like it would be easier to use, because honestly, tweaking PSA-1 is a nightmare. Every single stage of the gain interacts so much that I find myself balancing on a knife edge constantly, the tiniest change to a certain knob can radically alter the sound with extreme sounds.
It seems like they've sacrificed the massive tonal variety to make it easier to get conventional sounds, which is no good for me unfortunately!
@@Corvid so you prefer the PSA 1 then? I used to have a PSA 1. Sold it. Regretted. I didn’t understand it. I mean it sounded great but just wasn’t ready for it at the time. Huge regret selling ever since. I got a PSA 2 and somehow, I finally understood it. But I didn’t like the form. Too small. Sold that because I have a Sansamp Blonde v2 that I love. Bigger knobs.
Finally, Tech21NYC just recently started selling NOS PSA 1.1’s. I grabbed one right away. Haven’t had a chance yet to play it. But I am looking forward to seeing this easier interface to use.
@@nvn25 New old stock? Might have to get one! I'm picking up another couple of PSA-1s in case the prices go any higher, I'm totally hooked on it. Absolutely prefer the PSA-1, the Buzz, Punch and Crunch knobs almost feel like they're not to be touched once you get your sound right, only adjusting the preamp gain and drive (plus EQ). I've not heard anyone mention that, but you're basically altering the drive/distortion of the lows, mids and highs... essentially morphing between different styles of gain stage in different amplifier models. Very very powerful, but unpredictable. Something like the Tech21 GT2 is just a SansAmp PSA-1 with everything fixed but drive, EQ and very limited switches for different amps/cabs. Instead of a Mesa Boogie setting like the GT2, the PSA-1 is able to mimic the gain structure of basically any Mesa amp. It's great to have a plug and play pedal like the GT2, but the PSA-1 is almost limitlessly powerful. People tend not to rave about the tone shaping because it ultimately doesn't sound that authentic at all tone wise, but that's one reason I love it, pure unique character.
The ability to have one preset in a song with a perfect tone for palm muting, and another that sounds massive playing power chords is something I didn't know I needed. I've always been frustrated with having to balance the amp settings between palm muting and feeling right, and the tone of power chords... the best palm muting geared sounds I use are too harsh for power chords to sound amazing, but with a second preset I can actually tweak the distortion to perfection for both. The best part is that it's all in-the-box. The amount of hassle it takes to get a regular amp to sound and feel like I want it to pushes me right back to the PSA-1.
I should probably mention that I use it very heavily plain DI, no cab or power amp sim, it takes care and practice to not to get a harsh sound, but DI is a wonderful contrast to a miced amp (Rammstein style, Paul Landers with the GT2/PSA-1 Di and Richard Kruspe with a Mesa Rectifier)
Someone investet in some equipment I think... that lightbox is new? :P
Nope, it's there since the beginning :P
@@DomeNightbearer Damn, but the angle looks better now!
Really cool tone bro
Let me guess...u r German ??? :-)
🙃
Your sound sucks. Play it with a tube power amp or a rocktron velocity (i like them ...) over a 4x12" with V30, SM57 and voila.
Your sound with pedal sound not modern, but more like 1990 Morrisound death metal (Massacre). Not bad. But good to know how to achive this.
In direkt comparison PSA-1 + Rocktron Velocity nearly beats a 5150 and both sounds nearly equal. The 5150 a little better. Subtile. So subtile that we skip the borrowed 5150 and used the sansamp. Dont remember exactly how. I think a little more life, whereas the psa-1/RV is a little more steril. But thats not a deal when quadruple tracking.
Fair enough! I just find it interesting, that you can achieve a total different sound with some IRs but also get usable sounds out of it as a stand alone unit. but thanks for the suggestion 😊