Pre Amp Question

loberg3

Hey I have a question about preamps. I have a Roland JC120 which has a very clean tone. I like the sound of Tube amps as do most people here so...... if I got a tube preamp, rack mounted, would this give me the tone I am after??? I like my JC 120 for the cleans but will the preamp give me the whole tube tone rather than buying another amp?? then I could bypass the preamp if I wanted the clean tone??

any thoughts would be great...I just figured paying 100 to 200 for a used tube preamp would be better than buying a whole new amp....

also if I do this, would it make it a sort of Hybrid Combo Amp? so I'd be using the JC 120 just as a solid state power amp.

and after all that garble....are there any suggestions for a good tube preamp?

Pacomc79

It really depends on your ears. It depends on the sound you are after.

For me, no. Now, will it warm up the sound and give you a nice full sound yes. In fact one I suggest you to check out is the Electro Harmonix Hot Tubes or see if you can find a Real Tube or Chandler Tube Driver on Ebay.


The Rolands are excellent for cleans but the sound you are after probably comes as much from overdriving the power amp section as the preamp section. I would suggest trying the pedal or rack mount preamp you'd like first. If you don't like it you can always ebay it. If that dosen't work come back, and we'll talk about dual amp set ups.


Check out the hot tubes at http://www.ehx.com It should be right up your alley.



I believe they still sell the blue and real tube at http://www.musiciansfriend.com or http://www.zzzounds.com

check http://www.harmony-central.com for reviews.



Head and shoulders above all is the Soldano Supercharger. In essence the preamp section of the SLO. It's the dog's balls but it's spensive at 400 bucks.

I think Budda makes 2 versions the Zen Man and the Fat Man both are decent.

Also Mesa Boogie has the Bottle Rocket (I think) http://www.mesaboogie.com

see others at http://www.musictoyz.com

http://www.soldano.com


soldano also has an old rackmount preamp designed congruently with caswell I think. See if you can find one on Ebay, It's called the X-99

loberg3

thanks for the responce...

is there a major difference between a rack mounted or a pedal Preamp (as long as they have tubes)??? besides the fact that one is a pedal and one is not.

my brother has an old soldano rack mount and a new tube works preamp, but he is out of town so I can't try them out for a couple of weeks. I think he wants to get rid of his soldano anyway...(i don't see my bro that often so its always hard to ask him a ton of question)

and what about this dual amp set up? is that just using an a/b box to switch between 2 amps?

anyhow, thanks again Paco, you've been a big help

Pacomc79

Well, they are all generally preamps. Usually rack mount preamps are more flexible and many of the new ones are digital offering you a multitude of different sounds. Tube pedals are basically a floor mounted preamp many offering tone shaping just like that in a rack mount preamp usually they aren't quite as tweakable as the rack mounts and don't have as many options such as dual stereo outs or XLR's or digital outs to send to the mixing board. To many people the pedal is better because of the simplicity, In some cases the analog vs. digital argument comes into play. I think Mesa makes a good rack preamp as does voodoo labs and even Marshall and Sans Amp used to make some cool ones as well. I will steer you away from Johnson Millenium/Digitech (2112) as I have had and heard of many problems with the units cutting out and not working anymore other than reliability, It's all pretty much personal choice. You'll have to try everything. I'm not trying to decide for you. You can spend a boatload if you aren't careful. Do attempt to try everything you can get your hands on or listen to sound clips because they will give you a better idea of what you want. Don't rule out non tube pedals as many that are designed correctly sound awesome as well.

The dual amp setup is acomplished by using some kind of splitter, for most of us, A,B and Y (both)

Pacomc79

http://www.loooper.com/



If you do need an AB/custom effects switching box whatever these folks can provide whatever you need

loberg3

Hey thanks again.

I started goofing around with some pedals, I've built a FX loop, an A/B box, an overdrive, a fuzz(don't really like it), a boost and I modded my DS1. its actually pretty easy if you sit down with the stuff for a while.

So I have an A/B box, thought those looopers look pretty cool though, and not to expensive.

but with all that stuff I still can't get a sound that I love or would call my own.....

which is why I wanna try some tubes....I think I will wait till my brother returns and ransack all of his equipment!!!!

one day, when Im eventually broke, I will have the sound...until then!!

Pacomc79

Indeed. I feel your pain. You will never have "the" sound it's pretty much and endless quest I fear your Guitar Equipment Acquisition Syndrome henceforth refered to as (GAS) is terminal.

But you know, finding one amp that was perfect would be kind of boring huh.

You'll definately want to try a different amp then I'm sure. There's a great company in your area that's called Savage Audio.

http://www.savageaudio.com You should go check them out since they are close. They build one of Stone's stage amps called the "Blitz 50" They are expensive as hell but it won't hurt to try one out.

loberg3

yeah, I might try one out but probably won't buy one cause holy geeze they aren't cheap. the 15w at "willie's guitars" here in MN is over 2 G's

I think I will play around with what I've got and maybe by the end of the summer scrap up enough to buy a tube amp.....

thanks again for the advise