T
ECH 21, THE COMPANY
Tech 21 was formed by a guitarist possessing the unusual combination of a trained ear
and electronics expertise. In 1989, B. Andrew Barta incorporated Tech 21 and made his
unique invention commercially available to players and studios around the world. His
highly-acclaimed
SansAmp™
pioneered Tube Amplifier Emulation in professional
applications for recording direct and performing live, and created an entirely new cate-
gory of signal processing. While there have since been many entries into this niche,
SansAmp continues to maintain its reputation as the industry standard.
With a full line of SansAmp models, Tech 21 also offers effect pedals and MIDI prod-
ucts, as well as “traditional” style amplifiers for guitar and bass. Each product is
thoughtfully and respectfully designed by Andrew himself with the player in mind. Our
goal is to provide you with flexible, versatile tools to cultivate, control, refine and rede-
fine your own individual sound. Tech 21 takes great pride in delivering consistent pro-
fessional quality sound, studio to studio, club to club, arena to arena.
S
ansAmp RPM, an Overview
Simply put, SansAmp RPM is a rackmount version of our popular SansAmp Para Driver
DI pedal. With sweepable, semi-parametric EQ and variable gain, SansAmp RPM offers
detailed tone shaping for any signal source. SansAmp RPM is a versatile, multi-instru-
ment pre-amp particularly useful for acoustic guitar, electric and upright bass, man-
dolin, fiddle, and even vocals.
Tech 21’s proprietary, 100%
analog
circuitry gives your instrument a natural warmth
and presence as if you were miking your instrument through a tube pre-amp. For studio
and live applications, our SansAmp Tube Amplifier Emulation technology enables you to
go straight into the mixer of a recorder or PA system via the XLR Direct Output.
SansAmp RPM will complement any pre-amp system, particularly our own SansAmp
RBI for bass, and our programmable SansAmp PSA for guitar and bass.
FRONT PANEL
SansAmp RPM is designed with
active
controls, which cut and boost, rather than
traditional passive controls which only cut. This effectively doubles many of the
control’s capabilities, giving you a much larger range of adjustability and, ultimately,
more variety. It should be noted that you need not necessarily set everything at max to
achieve maximum results. As you experiment and become familiar with the interrelation-
ship of the controls, you’ll easily be able to customize your own sounds.
Input Jack
1/4" Input is 4.7MOhm. The unusually high impedance was designed with piezo pickups in
mind to provide maximum output and dynamics. It is factory set at -20dB instrument level.
A second input jack (Input 2) is located on the rear panel. Plugging into the front Input jack
overrides and disconnects the rear panel jack. This allows you to set up your SansAmp
RPM as a permanent part of a rack or patch-bay system, with its usual input source
plugged into the rear panel jack. Then, if you want to plug straight into the SansAmp RPM,
bypassing other gear in the system, you can use the SansAmp RPM’s front Input.
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Drive
Adjusts the overall amount of gain and overdrive, similar to when the output section of
a tube amp is being pushed.
Bass and Treble
These active tone controls cut or boost ±12dB from unity gain at 12 o’clock. Bass is
80 Hz. Treble is 3.2kHz.
Mid Shift and Mid
Mid Shift is a parametric EQ control, with a sweep ranging from 170 Hz to 3.0 kHz,
which allows you to select the center frequency of the Mid control. Mid will then cut or
boost ±12dB from the frequency selected by the Mid Shift.
Blend
Blends the direct instrument signal with the SansAmp circuitry. In most cases, you will
probably have this set at maximum (100% SansAmp). For certain applications, however,
such as an ultra-transparent sound or for use with piezo pickup-equipped instruments,
you may want to blend-in the direct signal to achieve your desired sound. While the
SansAmp Tube Amplifier Emulation circuitry is bypassed when
Blend is at minimum,
the
Bass, Mid Shift, Mid, Treble, Level and XLR controls remain active.
XLR
Adjusts the volume level of the SansAmp XLR Output to optimize your amp’s output rel-
ative to the P.A. system.
Level
Adjusts the SansAmp 1/4" Output level.
REAR PANEL
Input 2 Jack
Plugging into Input 2 lets you match the SansAmp RPM’s input circuitry to the signal
level being fed into it, thereby assuring the best signal-to-noise ratio and least distor-
tion. This input is ideal for rack and patch-bay applications, especially if you use other
signal processors or multi-track recorders before the SansAmp RPM. Note: Whenever
you plug into the front panel’s Input, the rear panel Input 2 is disconnected. Also, you
can set the Input level selector switch to its -20dB position when you plug in extra-hot
signals, such as the output from active bass guitars.
Level Selector Switch
This switch lets you connect the SansAmp RPM to a wide variety of equipment with a
variety of signal levels. It has two positions:
0dB position.
Optimizes the rear panel Input 2 to receive an instrument level sig-
nal. In this position, Input 2’s sensitivity is exactly the same as the front panel’s Input.
-20dB position.
Set the switch in this position when sending a line-level signal
into the SansAmp RPM. When the switch is in this position, the signal coming into the
unit is padded down by 20dB.
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