Re: So what is a preamp and why do i need one

If you are meaning a guitar preamp then as others have said it bumps up
your guitar volume.

I myself have wondered about buying one.

Having a preamp would mean you could flick it on a drive the preamp
section of a tube amp harder (gets more distortion). This would be of
great use if you had single channel amp becuase its impossible to go
from clean to metal distortion without turning the amps preamp volume
or power tube volume up, which you cant do for obvious reasons when
playing). Using a distortion stompbox is a workaround but IMO dont
sound as nice as a proper tube distortion

Another use is to get a small gain and volume boost say if you were
playing some rhythm and you then go to play lead and need that little
bit extra. Again multichannel amps, volume knob on the guitar etc
could be used to get similar effects.

Another use is if you just want to drive your amp ragged to get your
sound, but I wouldnt advise that.

Another use is if you had a single and you wanted to warm it up, one
method is to preamp it with a tube preamp, and depending on it it can
'warm; the sound up somewhat. Again other effects can do this (your
pod for example does it digitally)

And final use I was thinking for is I have a couple of 'hot' pickups on
a couple of my guitars and they somewhat overload some of my pedals and
I get a little crazing (hardly noticible but its just its like a small
itch). So with my compressor I can adjust the post gain to have the
single comming out quite enough so it doesnt overlaod my effects,
however, the single to my amp is to weak and I struggle to get a good
distortion (for when I play heavy metal), therefore I could use a
preamp to bump up the single again. - but I'm worried of introducing
too much noise into my setup if I do that.

Especially with a pod etc I dont think you would need one. However, I
think proper microphone's and microphone preamps are an essential part
of recording the guitar to get distortion sounding right (you must have
a mic preamp if you buy a mic, the signal is just too weak)

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Blues Jr Power Tube Overdrive?
    ... is lower than it was earlier, then the distortion you hear is power ... distortion you now hear is power amp distortion, ... Lots of preamp gain. ... better and voice level volumes than it does with the attenuator. ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: Rich on Amp Use For Live Music. Part #2 Re: Once in a lifetimepirchase - tone monsters
    ... >> SF Deluxe Reverb with no master volume, and a later Deluxe Reverb with a master volume. ... >> what small amount of pre-amp distortion, if any, is present at a lower volume. ... > Not with the amp that you chose for your example. ... In some other amps, I actually LIKE preamp ...
    (alt.guitar.amps)
  • Re: Blues Jr Power Tube Overdrive?
    ... maximim clean preamp setting. ... preamp is lower than it was earlier, then the distortion you hear ... distortion you now hear is power amp distortion, ... With the attenuator turned ...
    (alt.guitar)
  • Re: Guitar to line level inputs? (Paging Steve Hawkins)
    ... I've never fooled with gain knob on the preamp ... I'm surprised your having problems hitting the mixer input hard enough wuth ... good setup with any guitar that has a preamp in it, ... crank it up, but any distortion you hear will be happening in the preamp, ...
    (rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic)
  • Re: Output tube distortion without preamp tube distortion
    ... output tube distortion without preamp tube distortion? ... I seems to me that some preamp ... amp settings. ... I have a Blackface Princeton Reverb that was hacked with a master valume, ...
    (alt.guitar.amps)