Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

[toneseeker74]

One is tube, the other solid state. A fair amount of tweakability either way. Which do you like better for 70's rock to modern metal? Which does each excel at? Where does each one fall short?

BTW, I will run the preamp into a Traynor YBA-1 head pushing a Peavey 412MS loaded with Celestion G12-65s. Guitars include Strat with 57/62 pickups, an SG with Seth Lovers, an SG with 59s (soon to be Screamin Demons), and a Kramer Focus with Distortion Mayhem set.

[jtougas]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

Erm. Apple to oranges... While they're both preamps, the Rockmaster will be a Peavey flavor, while the PSA-1 is more like the entire display at Baskin Robbins, plus a few more buckets from the back of the freezer...

[toneseeker74]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

Yeah, I think the "less is better" part of my personality will like the Peavey better. When I have too many knobs and too many options I either tweak endlessly but never really play, or I stop using the gear because there are WAY too many options.

[Ascension]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

The Peavy is a great sounding unit for high gain stuff but really needs a tube power amp to sound right. Running it into the Traynor YBA-1 then a 4/12 should sound pretty good. My Peavy Ultra + head is pretty much just the Rockmaster pre with a built in 120 watt tube power amp.
Rex Carroll with White Cross ran a Rockmaster into a 120/120 tube power amp here and I have personally played through this particular rig, it was a great sounding set up.

Make certain you get a footswitch with the Peavy and that the channel switching works as it should though as that is a weak spot for those rigs.

[toneseeker74]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

Yeah, I have listened to lots of clips of the Rockmaster including the one above. From what I have listened to online (and I know that this doesn't translate well to hearing gear live) the Rockmaster is "almost there" with the hot overdriven tones I am looking for. I never hear much of a difference in the actual amount of clipping between the gain and ultra channels, however, just that the ultra sounds more compressed. I'm still on the fence with the Rockmaster for this reason.

[jtougas]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

Well, the PSA-1 *is* easy to tweak, and find usable tones in it.

Just don't be surprised if your bassist asks if he can take it for a spin... got a place around you where you can rent one?

[Aceman]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

Rockmaster = whatever

Sansamp = everything you want.

[toneseeker74]

Re: Peavey Rockmaster or SansAmp PSA-1?

Hmm...you guys are swaying me back toward the PSA-1. Hmm...thinking...thinking. My town doesn't have a shop that I could audition / rent one. I may just bite the bullet; worst case scenario is that I sell it if I don't like it. They seem to keep their value pretty well.