Would love to be able to justify going down the modular route, but dont even know if this will end up being for gigging im just trying to find something cheap locally (NZ), and for the same reason i think postage on one of youre rocktrons or that starfield would be a bit of a killer
a sansamp psa1 (not 1.1) just turned up on the local auction site, is that what you were meaning by the original sansamp rack gwEm?
some wierd knobs on there, are they used to change the whole character so you can go from something like marshall, or crank up the "buzz" knob and get rectifier in the same unit, could be quite cool to play around with.
the PSA sansamp racks have knob controls, but one disadvantage is that if you change patches, obviously the knobs don't move and then you need to look at the change LED. i don't know if this bothers you?
the nice thing with the really early version of the sansamp rack (before even the PSA) is that there are no patches (just on, off and a slightly redundant live control which is meant to switch off the cabinet simulation) so wherever the knobs are is the tone you get.
the flexibility with sansamp units in the tone you get is really quite remarkable - fender, marshall and mesa tones are easy to dial in, and with a wide range of gains. its also very tight in the bass. the disadvantage is that since its a solid state unit, it doesn't clean with the volume knob up quite as well as one might hope.
if you can get one at a cheap price it would be worth trying it (in my opinion) to see if you like it. you can also use it as a modeler - straight into a desk.
the buzz, punch and crunch controls are more like pre-distortion EQs. there is also bass and treble post-distortion EQs. thats the secret to the wide range of tones.
i've been using sansamp gear for years. there is that one disadvantage i mentioned with the volume knob clean up, but the units are generally good sounding, reliable and reactive to player technique.
