Pre Amp Pedal?

[gusfinley]

ART Tube MP might be easily fixed
Check the tube and the power adaptor - I bought mine "as-is" for near zero with a dead adaptor

DO NOT open that thing up unless you want to deal with fragile ribbon connections that WILL break on you at least twice. I opened one up once before selling it and It took 4 hours to get it back together! I wan't sure if I would make the sale.

On the other hand, perhaps broken ribbon connectors IS your problem...

 

[Collin D Plonker]

I use the Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor as a preamp. It's actually a real tube overdrive that is light to medium gain. I run it before my board, and I use it to drive my comp and overdrives. It's very nice -- not harsh, but definitely brings it all to life. It rocks pretty good,t too, when you crank it and boost it.

 

[Mexitele Blues]

If money is not an issue I suggest the Chase Tone "Secret Preamp" & if cost is a factor then I say the E.P. Booster. Both are based on the preamp in the old EchoPlex units.

Both pedals can be used as boosters but are better used as always on pedals to improve your overall sound.

The ep booster is $120 and the secret preamp $129. But despite being based on the classic circuit, they are very different pedals. The booster has the ep's eq curve and plenty of headroom for boost while the preamp is more of a buffer with tone shaping options and only 3db boost.

I just looked at the site and the grey finish Secret Preamp is on sale for $120. That's a steal.

 

[G.Rotten]

The ep booster is $120 and the secret preamp $129. But despite being based on the classic circuit, they are very different pedals. The booster has the ep's eq curve and plenty of headroom for boost while the preamp is more of a buffer with tone shaping options and only 3db boost.

I just looked at the site and the grey finish Secret Preamp is on sale for $120. That's a steal.

I guess I haven't been following the Secret Preamp pricing. Mine is from the first run where it uses some N.O.S. components. It was more than $129 for mine. If the new version comes even close in sound then $129 is money well spent.

It literally makes everything sound "better".

Since I have both pedals I use the E.P. Booster before my overdrive pedals, an MXR Boost/Line Driver after overdrives if I need a solo boost & the Secret Preamp as the always on pedal last in the chain.

I do have one other always on preamp that I run through the effects loop of my Hot Rod DeVille & that is a Shift Line Twin. The HR DeVille has a tendency to be a little muddy on the cleans & the Shift Line cleans that right up.

 

[Jbnaxx]

The Secret Preamp is very impressive compared to the other offerings. I don't have a problem paying more for a guy building pedals in his garage........I look at it like buying art..... that I can use.

I've been playing around with the il Torino and a Catlinbread Belle Epoch (the only 2 pedals I am using) all morning and it is getting some sweet sounds. I think I'm in the ballpark now.

It's funny, I was not very impressed with the il Torino when I first got it and just threw it the unused pedal box..... When I push the gain up, it is very smooth and when I turn it down, it doesn't color the sound at all. That's about as good as it gets.

 

[BigBillow]

Whoa, cool! Haven't heard about a Tech 21 amp in a while. Guessing its the Trademark 60. My old man and my guitar teacher both used these back when they came out.

Currently my favorite pedal to pummel an amp's front-end is a King of Tone clone pedal, using the clean boost settings. Has a volume, drive, and tone knob. In clean boost mode, gain is very subtle. Great pedal, though I have not tried the real deal.

Maybe a dumb suggestion, but if OP is trying to get a 'more full' signal at low volume...tossing a volume pedal or one of those cheap attenuator boxes in the FX loop might help. You can crank the volume a bit, and back it off post preamp (but before it hits the output stage).

 

[ndcaster]

I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff, so can anyone tell me: if I buy a preamp with tubes in it, and run it into a solid-state amp, will the solid-state circuitry turn it into a "solid-state sound" or preserve the tubeyness of the tubes?

 

[Jbnaxx]

Whoa, cool!
"......................
Maybe a dumb suggestion, but if OP is trying to get a 'more full' signal at low volume...tossing a volume pedal or one of those cheap attenuator boxes in the FX loop might help. You can crank the volume a bit, and back it off post preamp (but before it hits the output stage).

Not a dumb suggestion at all....... I hadn’t thought of it. I have a volume pedal laying around here somewhere........no big deal to give it a try.

 

[Jbnaxx]

I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff, so can anyone tell me: if I buy a preamp with tubes in it, and run it into a solid-state amp, will the solid-state circuitry turn it into a "solid-state sound" or preserve the tubeyness of the tubes?

I’m no authority on tubeyness, but the answer to that question could fill up the whole forum. I think it really depends on everything in your signal chain. While some tube amps/preamps are accepted benchmarks for tone, tubes don’t necessarily give you automatic tone nirvana.

I am just trying to get a sound that is pleasant to my ear in my practice space. The tool in this case is all SS. The reason I want to be all SS is because of frequent on/off cycling and I often get busy doing other things and leave it on for long periods....no warm up time....... and no hiss.

 

[Captdan61]

Xotic BB Preamp is pretty solid. I use it almost all the time with both my PRRI & a ‘64 Gibson Scout. Good note articulation & response.

Xoric RC BOOSTER if you use everything straight at noon it just gives you a little bit more of everything it's fantastic with any amplifier it really doesn't Collier sound it just makes everything sound better I don't know what that was doing but it's good but if you find that you want more there is a gain knob on there and it will give you mild break up and if you want less game you can reduce the game and increase the volume level and there's a base of the trouble control so you can tweak your EQ settings if you choose to I don't I use it when I'm using an acoustic guitar or I'm using a mandolin and I need to kick my volume up for a solo and when I'm doing that I reduce the gain and increase the volume so I do not give feedback I generally don't test EQ settings at all but with a Les Paul with P90s and on Old Ampeg amp or a Tweed Deluxe amp everything at noon or with the game turned up just a little bit and everything I've known absolutely fantastic sound just had a hair of Reverb

 

[Old Smokey]

I used to have an ART Tube MP. I think they sound pretty good as instrument preamps, especially for the price. They are noisy though. Can't imagine running one into the front of an amp.

If I were going to follow that path, I would not necessarily be going with 9V clean boosts and transparent overdrives. Maybe take a look at the ART Pro MPA II or a Golden Age Project Pre73 Jr.

 

[Doug B]

At this point, I'm leaning toward the Xotic EP to the Dunlop Echoplex.

I think the Echoplex copies are what I'm looking for.

Check out the Xotic Super Sweet pedals.

 

[granterc]

My .02

https://www.thenocturnebrain.com/products/the-atomic-brain

 

[bigjohnbates]

Check out the Union Tube and Transistor MORE Pedal. So many international artists using this unsung hero, from Danial Lanois to Jack White to ... well, give it a shot ... https://www.uniontone.com/shop/union-tube-transistor-more-clean-boost

 

[doghouseman]

Two Notes Le Clean. Very nice clean tone and moderate overdrive. Avoid Le Crunch.

My Le Crunch sounds fine. I have found the weird thing about it though is that you really have to let it warm up. It sounds like crap for the first few minutes it is on, but then sounds much better after a few minutes.

 

[northernguitar]

My Le Crunch sounds fine. I have found the weird thing about it though is that you really have to let it warm up. It sounds like cramp for the first few minutes it is on.

I found it needed to be run through a different IR than the analog cab sim.

 

[breadfreak]

Two Notes Le Clean. Very nice clean tone and moderate overdrive. Avoid Le Crunch.

This is a very different sense of 'preamp' to what OP is asking about.

 

[doghouseman]

I found it needed to be run through a different IR than the analog cab sim.

Were you using the xlr out? That sounds fine to me.

 

[northernguitar]

Were you using the xlr out? That sounds fine to me.

Horses for courses? I tried using Le Crunch as an ampless rig, using some other pedals and and the Mooer Radar. For Hard Rock, I could not dial out fizzy harshness. I really wanted this to work. However, the day I went back to my Orange amp/loadbox setup, I put the Le Crunch up for sale.

 

[northernguitar]

This is a very different sense of 'preamp' to what OP is asking about.

Yes...I'm sort of figuring out the OP's need.