Tech 21 SansAmp Classic SA1
It is rare an electronic music-related product can withstand the test of time. For over 30 years, the SansAmp Classic has been used for every kind of music style from death metal to commercial jingles, in countless pro studios, on tours around the globe, on a vast variety of major releases (including Grammy Award-winning records), and by hundreds of thousands of everyday players, producers, and engineers.
Put on a manufacturing hiatus in 2016, the SansAmp Classic was reissued in 2021 due to a surge in popular demand. Virtually unchanged and still made in the USA, the all-analog SansAmp Classic pedal design is B. Andrew Barta’s unique invention that was the catalyst for the whole “going direct” movement way back in 1989. Since then, SansAmp evolved into an extensive line of pedals and racks, as well as being the essential element of Tech 21’s Fly Rig series.
Of the pedal formats, SansAmp Classic is the most sophisticated. There is a bank of eight Character switches, which adjust the fine and subtle nuances of tonality, harmonics and dynamics. A three-position Input switch gives you a choice of pre-amp styles: Lead (Marshall®-style), Normal (Mesa Boogie®-style), and Bass (Fender®-style) which is excellent for rhythm as well as bass guitar.
While all SansAmps are flexible, user-friendly, robust devices that deliver the warm, rich, natural tones of the most desirable tube amplifiers on the planet, the SansAmp Classic is the original. Not just for guitar and bass, everything from industrial samples to maracas have been saved from atonal death by its analog magic. It has defied the odds and remains the standard of the industry.
The design of the Classic inspired many of our products but there’s still only one original. Of all the pedal models, this is the most sophisticated. Its unconventional design not only keeps the unit compact, it is key to the wide range of sounds you can achieve. Made almost entirely by hand, the main module contains a bank of eight Character switches, which adjust the fine and subtle nuances of tonality, harmonics and dynamics.
A three-position Input switch gives you a choice of pre-amp styles:
- Lead (Marshall®-style),
- Normal (Mesa Boogie®-style),
- Bass (Fender®-style)
which is excellent for rhythm as well as bass guitar.