Power amp and pre amp questions.

[IBNZ_RG]

I've been looking around at some tubed power amps like the Marshall 100/100 and Peavy 60/60. I'm kind of new to power amps and have a few questions. If I have one I need a pre amp, correct? If so what are some good pre amps that are cheap?

Thanks

[LonePhantom]

I received the AMT Electronics SS-20 pedal preamp last Friday, and I tell you what. It is an amazing piece of gear. You want a preamp on a budget that is tube powered, check it out.

Has 2 channels, each with their own 3 band tone controls, and a boost for the crunch channel. Effects loop built in too, which makes putting your pedal board together a simple neat process with just some patch cables.

Seriously versatile, capable of probably all styles, probably Marshall-y in tone. The cleans are like a nice Fender amp, and the crunch can go from a nice rock crunch, through to scooped modern metal with the boost kicked in.

I hope to have my review (and maybe some samples if I have time) up this week.

[IBNZ_RG]

Thanks alot man! I'll have to check it out!

[racerevlon]

If Phantom says the AMT is good, I'd endorse that. If you can spend a little more, you may want to look at the Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station.

http://guitars.***************.com/p...ion?sku=151915

Has outputs for going to a mixing console or to a power amp. Really flexible and sounds great.

Cheers,

Race

[LonePhantom]

SS-20 has the same thing! Has output for power amp, or to hook in to the effects return in an amp, plus a cabinet simulator that you can plug in to PA or PC, etc.

I've submitted my review just now, but not recorded samples yet. I will be doing it straight to pc through the cabinet simulation.

[LonePhantom]

Here's my Jemsite review.
http://www.jemsite.com/compare-guita...reamp/reviews/

I'm hoping to record some ghetto sound samples tonight to add to it.

[SonicProvocateur]

Agreed, if LonePhantom says its worth your time, i'll say second his opinion!

I've seen those AMT preamps floating around for quite some time, but never had my hands on them...

If you are looking for a piece of rackmount gear, I personally have extensively used the ENGL e530 (a tad bit more pricey than the AMT unit, but its a more much more modern voiced preamp...think Mesa...)

If you wanna hear what it can do, I recorded my bands old recordings on our myspace (unmixed and unmastered) with it; http://www.myspace.com/ytwwvofficial

However the Rocktron Gainiac 2 is a good cheap entry level preamp if just some straight up metal is all you need.

[blackspy]

You can also find the ADA MP-1, or Peavey Rockmaster pretty cheap on **** from time to time, they're both awesome pre's if you like 80's/90's overdrive tones.

[Van Noord]

I second the Peavey Rockmaster preamp. These can be found used everywhere for cheap. All tube with great crunch and high gain tones.

Or, you can run any distortion pedal into the poweramp.

[SonicProvocateur]

Originally Posted by Van Noord

Or, you can run any distortion pedal into the poweramp.

Also true...You can get -very- creative with this sort of thing (although then you are dancing around pedals alot). If you have a very pure tube power amp you can also just go the modeler route like a Line6 unit or a grab up a nice Boss GT-10 and model yourself crazy. You can always get very convincing results with such arrangements...but somewhere in your signal chain you need tubes for tube tone...

Of course any digitial product is always gonna sound "more digitall-y" than their tube counterparts, but stuff like Boss' newer and more high end COSM modeling do a great job of emulating tube stuff, IMO....and mixing at least one tube component is gonna get you closer to have a more satisfying tone. I have however heard some veeery convincing tones come out of those GT-10's; ESPECIALLY live where big volume and mondo bass covers up deficiencies in gear and exemplifies midrange and thoughtful treble.

[LonePhantom]

I've added some pretty basic samples to the review now.