I’m considering sacrilege... DI processor/SansAmp?

[olddawg]

Most of the time, I only use one channel. If I want to clean it up a bit, I just back off the guitar volume. That said, I'm well aware that this doesn't work for everyone- depending on what kind or kinds of music you play. Oh, and we do have a sound man to bump solos, so that isn't a concern either.

Edit: I should add that, on the rare occasion I'm gigging without a sound man, I just stick a pedal in front of the rig for a boost. I run more volume than gain. In other words, I don't so much use it for distortion, it's more for a volume/solo boost.

Interesting how this does/doesn’t work. I have to be very careful with my pedal dance. If I accidentally use the boost pedal or even a dirt box on the clean channel it will really pop the volume because of the clean overhead... especially with certain guitars. I generally use the clean channel for clean. Use the same pedals on the dirty channel there is little difference in apparent volume with a boost or a dirt box because of the different preamp architecture. It just gets dirtier and the saturation clamps it. So I used a footswitch resistive attenuator in the effects loop for a while... then started using the Weber speaker attenuator which works better. I imagine you could use a footswitch resistive attenuator on the SansAmp output. Most people would probably use a volume pedal. I prefer a set ratio independent of the master volume.

[J M Fahey]

I've always wondered if you would need two.One set up for the Marshall(ish) sound and one set up for a Fender(ish) clean sound and an A/B switch. They are not 2 Channel the foot switch is just a bypass. Bypass would just put the guitar straight into the board.

Thatīs exactly what I suggested earlier:

I suggest you build *two* boards, one *fixed* Blackface type, NO mode switches, just jumper the settings you like, and another "Marshally" one, same thing, then you switch between them, period.

Basically "your old setup inside a pedal box"

And... the other issue is volume boosting for lead solos.

You can put the boost pedal *only* in series with the high gain one, not "in series with everything"

I suggested self building 2 "preset/dedicated" boards and if you get into it, also the "Boost" and the "A/B Switcher" because itīs a "doable" project but of course all elements: 2 Sans Amp + 1 Clean Booster + 1 A/B Switcher (+ 9V power supply and some kind of pedalboard) can all be bought over the counter and assembled in a couple hours.

FWIW this is the Tonepad project.
The very well made PCB costs $11 each.
Switch wiring is a mess, you have to source and mount the switches yadda yadda yadda, but I ssuggest you *fixed* wire what you need.

In fact, to give it a try, buy and build *one* , fixed wire it for the Marshally sound which they call "Mid Gain" (the hig gain one is over the top) , no boost, no A/B switching, just the bare board on the table, and test that into a clean SS amp and guitar speaker or even through the loop return of an SS combo.

Is it bearable? ... go ahead; ... unbearable? ... try other path.

Other options:

maybe you can find one of those Crate thingies, donīt remember the name but they were housed in a cheesy "Car Amp" finned aluminum enclosure , weight less than 2 pounds, 2 x 75W or 150W bridged and the built-in preamp was quite good.

Single channel, not footswitchable, but you might set it for a "just on the edge" light crunch and blast it with some good dirt pedal.
Just by itself it had good clean and mid gain sound whic are the important ones.

Or try one of those Quilter thingies.
Thereīs a very light combo, boasts of unreal 200W but since it drives an inefficient (for Guitar) Eminence Alpha or Beta 8" speaker, which is actually a PA speaker, sso in practice itīs equivalent to a normal 50/60W 1 x 12" amp.

Not bad for a shoebox sized combo.

EDIT: forgot the Tonepad Sansamp GT2 clone link:
http://www.tonepad.com/project.asp?id=22

this is the ready made board:

[daz]

Do it. Trust me, tube amps are no longer the only answer. Just so you know where i'm coming from, i started gigging in the 70's and stopped a few years back, but i spent a lot of years and used a LOT of tube amps live and i'm intimately familiar with live guitar tone. I was a complete tube snob and never met a SS amp of any kind i would ever consider using in place of tubes. My style is old school where i use a driven amp and use my guitar volume and controls to go clean to dirt and get all my sounds from the guitar and my hands. And i require a amp to be very response and it the touch ain't there i'm OUT.

That said, all i have used not for 6 years are modelers. 3 of them to date and no, they weren't all perfect and like tube amps each had thier issues. Till my latest, a katana artist. Like i said i no longer play out, but i DO still jam with friends. The best way i can explain this modeler is the very best tube amps i had may have had one advantage...***at times* i have had tones when the room was just right and all the starts lined up that was incredible. On the other hand the katana sound as good or better the vast majority of the time and ALWAYS WORKS BETTER. ALWAYS. What i mean by works better is in a live setting it just does everything right. Forget amazing tone for just a second and consider what is the most important thing live....a tone that does everything you ask of it, sits perfectly in the mix, sounds full balanced and clear with no peaks and valleys, cleans up to a great clean tone and responds to your playing. All to the point that you find yourself just playing all nite and not thinking about your tone and whats not happening with it, something i did most every nite with even my best tube amps. It simply WORKS ! And while you may not have those magic nites where the tone is ungodly that happens once in a blue moon and only with the best tube amps, it will sound fantastic pretty much every nite. And that's another bonus....they are consistent sounding from room to room, nite to nite. Forget about the other bonus' like built in effects, light weight, no tubes to go down, many having built in tuners, etc etc.

And finally let me tell you the price you will pay for all this and the reason there are still some that won't admit they have finally arrived. That being they are not plug and play if tone is very important to you. You guys here are all amp builders/techs and you will understand this....a good tube amp was designed by someone who basically created a amp sound that there when you plug in. The tone is built into the circuit. There are tone shaping components all throughout the circuit from beginning to end, and what you get when you plug in is that designer;s idea of what great tone is with a few knobs that really are just there to fine tune that tone to the room and to your guitar and ear. Tuning then is a 1 minute job and your tone is 99% of the way to the best u will get from that amp. Modelers on the other hand are liek an unfinished amp circuit with knobs and deep editing that in effect is the equivalent to designing of the circuit. In other words, those who write them off never speant the time to get the absolute best sound out of it or weren't able to just like some amp designers aren't great and cratering a killer circuit that doesn't just sound great but WORKS great. Heres my point....alll the tone and feel and touch, all the things that you think are only great in tube amps ARE there in some modelers/ss amps. I say SOME because just like tube amps there are plenty of crappy ones. But a good modeler is capable of greatness IF you delve in deep and spend a lot of time, and that is the price you pay. I spend a few months getting the best from my katana and in the PC editor where you can deeply tweak it i ended up with a EQ in front of the model and one at the output because i am aware of how differently EQs work pre and post distortion. It took time but i now have tone that just works to perfection live and sounds fantastic. As close to perfection as i have ever had in a band mix.

But if you don't have that designer's ear to where you not only know what you want but know how to get it with things like pre and post EQ as described, you may end up back with tubes. It IS in there tho. You have to get a right one just like with a tube amp, but it's there for you to find if you can/will. I don't know about that sans amp, as not sure they have much deep editing if any. So in that case you may end up buying a number of devices like that b4 finding a great one same as the ritual you go thru with tube amps. But a good modeler with deep editing is more than capable of getting you everything a tube amp gave you and much much more. I will never again be a tube amp guy for one simple reason....i have been happier with my tone since using modelers than i ever was with tube amps because they are capable of being as good while being FAR more consistently good and having a list of other advantages. I wish you could walk in my shoes for a bit. You'd become a believer. And trust me....i am not easily pleased as tone goes.

[nhbassguitar]

Olddawg, if you're still watching this thread, you might consider one of Kingsley's products. They're real tube preamps in tiny stomp boxes. Start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3rgRE6VHcI