I just got the PS2A and am using it with a Victoria Club Deluxe, which is essentially a black panel Deluxe Reverb and a very touch sensitive and alive sounding amp. I’ve been using just the power amp of the PS2A (line in input) and most of the dynamics of my amp become lost. When I AB the two, my amp has dynamics that are super loose, airy, bouncy, whereas the PS is comparatively super tight and stiff, it’s like it puts a blanket over it. I’ve experimented using the Presence and Depth knobs with the same results. Impedance knobs on the PS are set correctly.
Is there anything I’m missing, or is the PS designed to be like that? The PS is very accurate tonally but the feel is comparatively very stiff/flat.
Why not use the PS as it’s intended here and let us know how that feels? The PS power section isn’t intended to replace the power section of the amp. But I’ll bet if you run the amp speaker out to the PS speaker in and get switches and Presence/Depth dialed in it all feels pretty good.
That seems to be misinformation. Plugging an amplifier into Line In is an intended function (see manual), implicitly for use as a power amp.
I was using Line In instead of Amp In because I found it to have less of a dynamic blanket. I just double checked that and plugged into Amp In and used every setting/dials and compared it to Line In and found that to be true again.
Dynamic detail is just missing. My amplifier is very touch sensitive, so I wonder if this is just the way the PS2A is or if there’s something else I’m not aware of.
I think the point is that the dynamic feel you get when using your amp is coming from the power amp section (this is probably because of the way pentodes work and because of power supply sag – that affects the power amp more than the preamp).
What @Jerrod is saying is that you are not comparing apples to apples. You can indeed use Line In, but this only sends the preamp signal to the PS-2. If you use the AMP IN you will be sending the preamp + power amp signal to the PS-2 and this will retain the dynamics you are missing.
The PS-2 power amp can be driven to clipping and does have a character, but really it tries to stay out of the way to let your amp come through; that is what you are hearing.
I have tried dozens of amps with various Power Stations.
Yes it changes the dynamics. Anything you charge is going to effect the dynamics.
A lot of attenuators very much squish the dynamics. The Power Station is a load/reamp device. It is going to have better dynamics than pretty much aný version of reduction of lowering dB’s.
I take it you are using a load on your amp. That is going to have a different dynamic results than a speaker.
@dan
I was using Line In instead of Amp In because I found it to be slightly more dynamicu. I just double checked that and plugged into Amp In and used every setting/dials and compared it to Line In and found that to be true again.
Dynamic detail is missing significantly: the detail of attack (peak transients), the physical response of the speaker and the natural bloom and bounce of the notes.
My amplifier is touch sensitive. Is the PS2A just very stiff and dynamically narrow? Is there something else I can try that I’m not aware of?
Oh so it’s more dynamic using the Line In. What volume level on the PS-100?
Really, what you are hearing and enjoying is just your preamp then.
This is probably why when the power amp is engaged (either your amp or the PS-100) you feel it tighten up.
The various switches and dials are there for you to shape the sound a bit but if that is not getting you in the zone, then, unfortunately, you have reached the limit of what’s possible
But it sounds to me like you really enjoy the sound of your amp’s preamp but not the power section. And that the PS-100 power section is an improvement but still not what you want.
I don’t think that’s a representative synopsis of what I described. It’s the PS2A, not the PS100. There is big touch sensitivity and dynamics with my Deluxe Reverb type amp on its own. When I use the PS2A amp input and line input, those touch sensitivity/dynamics are largely lost, though to a slightly lesser extent using the Line In input. Therefore it’s the power section of my Deluxe Reverb that I really enjoy and the PS2A removes those dynamics. Dynamics meaning note attack (transient spikes) and bounce/bloom: it sounds highly compressed, stiff and flattened.
Is there anything else I can try, or is this just how the PS2A is?
I would like to be wrong about this, but the PS2A really did not meet my expectations. Fryette described it as “preserving the tone and feel of your amp”. I would never expect perfection, but I would expect it to do a decent job as Fryette described. It does a very good job with the tone, but completely loses the feel of my amp.
I’m a little bit confused about how you’re describing using the power station and I think it might be helpful to try to clarify it a bit.
I think you are describing using the PS-2A in two different use cases.
The “Using the ‘Amp In’ Use Case” – can you describe connections you made with the PS-2A and the amp? i.e. are you taking the speaker output from your combo and connecting it to the Amp In on the PS-2A, and then connected the Speaker Out from the PS-2A to the combo’s speaker? Assuming the answer is “yes,” have you tried operating the PS-2A in “bypass” so the reactive load/power amp of the PS-2A are completely bypassed, and confirm that your combo sounds as expected (i.e. preserve the dynamics), and then switch the PS-2A to “operate,” and without touching any knobs on the combo, adjust the volume on the PS-2A to match the volume when in “bypass,” and compare the dynamics? If doing this and you still notice the dynamics being weird, it’s possible there’s something on the PS-2A which needs attention, possibly new power tubes.
The “Using the ‘Line In’ Use Case” – can you also describe here the connections you made with the PS-2A and you amp? i.e. does your amp have its own line out/effects loop send which you are hooking up to the PS-2A line in? or are you doing something else?
Thanks @choalla. I am only using the connection from my amplifier (that ordinarily goes to my amp’s speaker) to the PS2A and in all cases from PS2A speaker out to my amps cabinet (and speaker). Yes, I have tried Bypass with all settings/dials.
Like choalla, I understood you to mean that in one case, you are connecting the Speaker Output of your amp into the Line In of the PS. If that’s a correct understanding, that’s a huge no-no.
The line In does not provide a correct load for your amp and could damage both the amp and the PS. In fact, I’d be surprised if you haven’t done one or the other already.
I think I’m trying to beat water out of a stone here. I was talking to some friends that have experience with power stations and they were in agreeance that the PS2A has a high headroom 50w power amp that is not going to respond like a 20w amp with an undersized output section. I don’t think “preserving the feel” was really a representative selling point
