best rack preamps?

[Fragle]

hi all

just a quick survey. what do you think is the best rack preamp for shred, speed and (old school) thrash metal?
i've heared a LOT of great things about the ada mp1, the soldano sp77 (or whatever it is called....something with 77 though) as well as the rocktron piranha, but then again, i've yet to play those preamps, so i can't say what i think about them.
what i know is that the jmp1 is actually quite an awesome preamp for old school thrash metal....not so great for leads though.....IMO

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: best rack preamps?

In the realm of high end preamps, ENGL 570 would pretty much be the best thing for all that and much more IMO... My Custom Audio CAE3+se covers it all that pretty well as well as classic VH etc. Those are out of the range of most sane people but I just wanted to mention them.

You could look at the ENGL 530 as sub 500 dollar solution and this may be easier available for you in your geographic area. These have a ton of tone and are similar to the 570 tone in some ways as well. VERY nice preamps.

The Rocktron Voodu Valve (US Version not korean) or the PSA-1 Sansamp as a sub 350 dollar solution is a nice solution as well.

As yuou mentioned, SP-77 is way cool. MP-1 is definitely in that realm. Piranha is cool as well.

However, if you like the JMP-1, we are not on the same wavelength as far as tone goes. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Twisteramps]

Re: best rack preamps?

I still want to check out a CAE, personally. I'm a bit afraid to though - it might make me sell a bunch of gear and get one, from what I've heard.

Pete

[PallarAndersVisa]

Re: best rack preamps?

Lee Jackson Perfect Connection

[jgcable]

Re: best rack preamps?

I have heard many people talk about the Peavey Rockmaster as being a good shred tone preamp. Without hearing the Peavey, my vote will go for the MP-1.

[FSU_Seminoles]

Re: best rack preamps?

do you own one of those Lee Jackson pre ?

I heard so much stuff about this preamp, one says it's a low gain preamp and then someone else says it's totally the inverse ... how is it ?

[Twisteramps]

Re: best rack preamps?

I owned a Peavey - it was better than a JMP1 imho, not as good as an SP77, liked the dirty on the rockmaster better than the dirt on a mesa studio, but the clean on the mesa was much nicer. The peavey is three channel and doesn't have the same amount of control as the Mesa, and it isn't midi switchable like the JMP1. I like the ADA MP1 a little better than the peavey, personally.

Pete

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: best rack preamps?

POD XT Pro [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

How is the Halfner/Bogner Triple Giant?

I'm more of an amp head kinda guy and never got into the rack stuff. I may eventually get one of those Soldano SP-77 and maybe a Mesa 20/20 just for a low wattage 2 channel solution.

[Inazone]

Re: best rack preamps?

I'm going to say the ART DST-4, and I haven't even played with the MIDI, cabinet emulation or direct recording capabilities yet. I've been using ART's Xtreme preamp pedal for years, and the DST-4 has the same distortions and effects in a rackmount version. The DST-4 adds a 12AX7 tube for the clean channel (but not the distortions...weird), and through a tube power amp it sounds fantastic.

It's also available in a rackmount head version (solid state power amp) called the Eighty-Eighty.

[rstites]

Re: best rack preamps?

I had the Soldano SP-77 in a rack system for several years and really liked it. Great band-for-buck preamp there. It's no frills though. You get two channels - no midi switching, multiple presets, etc.

I was never a huge JMP-1 fan, but I took one as a partial trade several years ago (then sold it off), but I must say it sounded very good. He claimed to have gone through a bucket of tubes to get it to sound it's best and either it worked or he had a magic one. Whatever was in there, it sounded very good and much closer to a classic Marshall than the couple of other JMP-1's I've played.

The Peavey Rockmaster is a nice preamp. IMO it doesn't hang with the SP-77 very well, on it's own. However, if you match it up with a good offboard EQ you can get some killer sounds out of it. It just seems like it's internal EQ is limiting or just works weird.

I've always been a fan of using the non-midi preamps and just dialing in a handful of great sounds vs. trying to program up a bunch of patches, but that may just be me. I always feel like I should be using more of the functionality of my midi controlled equipment just because it's there! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: best rack preamps?

Ross, your old school [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I know I am, give me knobs, not MIDI

[FSU_Seminoles]

Re: best rack preamps?

are the Triaxis and JMP-1 pretty much of the same quality ? like does the JMP-1 re-create the JCM tones as well as the Triaxis for the Rectos and Mark heads ?

[Fragle]

Re: best rack preamps?

never played the triaxis, but the jmp is nothing like my jcm 800. not neccessarily worse, but different. the poweramp obviously plays a role, too [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
it's much more like the newer dsl/tsl stuff, which CAN sound more than just decent (i know, i played 30 shows using one, and my lead guitar player plays a tsl head - no complaints whatsoever) if you don't go crazy with the gain (i.e. use the crunch channel on the tsl for metal rhythm or the lead 1 on the dsl with the gain no higher than 7 or 8 )
though, i'll have to say that i use the od1 on the jmp with the gain no higher than 13...bass shift disengaged...and a shitload of mids.
....i'm sure cleve would HATE the tone i'm using [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[rstites]

Re: best rack preamps?

[ QUOTE ]
Ross, your old school [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I know I am, give me knobs, not MIDI

[/ QUOTE ]

You're right. I like knobs, and just a few of them. I haven't found very many amps with lots of knobs and switches that I like either! In fact I'm so old school, that I don't even get into effects much. That's why I ditched the rack - lots of cool devices in there that weighed a ton and I never used. I went to a SLO w/ a wah pedal or my Mesa .22+ w/ a wah and occasional flanger or chorus pedal. (I'd probably use the flanger or chorus with the SLO more, if it had a reasonable loop for pedals or old analog rack units.)

I just bought a couple of nice effects processors. They're old (read: inexpensive), but sound good. I played with them some and put them away. I don't feel like reading the manual to program them - too much work! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[toejam]

Re: best rack preamps?

I hear the Voodoo Lab 3-channel preamp is supposed to be really good.