Based on my own needs as a guitarist and my extensive experience as a modifi-
er and customizer of amplifiers, I set out to answer my own questions. Spanning
a ten-year period of research and development, I have probed stages of design
addressing the full character of sounds particular to various amplifiers (i.e.,
Marshall
®
, Fender
®
, Mesa Boogie
®
, etc.) in conjunction with speakers and
microphones.
The end result is SansAmp --”sans” meaning “without” in French. By design,
SansAmp has extremely low noise, is compact and portable, and is able to
quickly and consistently reproduce a wide range of sounds for a variety of uses.
It is important to understand the nature and interaction of the controls on
SansAmp. It is not a device simplified to a few presets that makes all guitars,
pickup combinations and players sound the same. Much like a Moog® synthesiz-
er, its programmability lets the user explore fine and important nuances within
the tube amp sound spectrum to achieve a personal voice.
The switches and knobs are designed to be interactive in a way that makes
sense; they affect each other enough to build a wide range of sounds, but they
are tailored to remain within the tube amp “vernacular” in order to be as use-
ful and easy to use as possible. SansAmp was designed to recreate the natural
sound of tube amplifiers without effects. Signal processing (including distortion,
compression, etc.) can be added creatively to complement the sound of
SansAmp.
Historically, nothing has been able to match the sound of a tube amplifier --until
now. SansAmp stands alone as a tool that gives you the freedom to explore,
define and refine sound right at your fingertips. It is with great pride that I bring
you SansAmp in the hopes it will complement and contribute to the evolution-
ary process of your self expression.
B. Andrew Barta
1989
Special thanks to Dale for all her help.
21
INTRODUCTION
SansAmp was designed and engineered to satisfy your critical ear. It is not a dis-
tortion pedal or fuzz box. Attempts have been made to recreate the unique,
full sound of various tube amplifiers in one convenient, compact unit you can
easily carry anywhere. But the technology has eluded designers and resulted in
products that continually disappoint musicians.
Uncompromising standards and ten years of research now bring this engineer-
ing feat to reality. SansAmp not only duplicates the warm, rich tones of tube
amps, the sounds are actually improved to be cleaner and more flexible (“Hot
Wired”) with less noise. SansAmp preserves the original sound of your guitar
so that your individual personality and style remain unaltered.
With SansAmp, you can plug directly into any recording console, stage amplifi-
cation, stereo, or even into a set of headphones alone. SansAmp virtually elimi-
nates all existing considerations of tube amplifiers without sacrificing any sound
quality.
THE HISTORY
Since an early age, I have been awed by the irony of high technology. Why, in
this age of ultra sophistication, do we still have to assemble a seemingly endless
chain of mechanical and electronic devices to produce a guitar or bass sound
suitable for recording and live performances?
To me, the whole process was like using a turbo jet engine to blow out a can-
dle....you have to assemble hot-rodded amps, speaker cabinets, microphones,
equalization, etc., to achieve an end result equivalent to a couple of millivolts of
signal! The standard method of miking amps and speakers is time consuming,
frustrating, inefficient, and expensive. Due to the nature of tube amps and the
many steps involved, it’s virtually impossible to quickly obtain a consistent
sound every time you set up. For years I wondered why couldn’t the sound of
an amplifier be created on an electronic level in a compact unit?
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