best rack preamps?

[FSU_Seminoles]

Re: best rack preamps?

is it possible to nail some of the Children of Bodom, Blind Guardian, Megadeth, Metallica tone with a JMP-1 using a 9100 as power amp ?

[Tetsuo]

Re: best rack preamps?

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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.

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The Triple Giant is awesome. I sorely miss mine. Voodoo did a nice mod on a guys that truly made it sound like an Ecstacy which it isn't that far from but closer to a fish. there is no question that it sounds like Bogner at all. I will pick up another one again. In fact when I had that through my VHT2150 I can't think of a sound I liked better sans the lack of some of the bottom end it had.

[shredmonster]

Re: best rack preamps?

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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.

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Peavy Rockmaster is great for the money. There are better pre-amps but the Rockmaster would work for a lot of people and they are inexpensive.

[horns666]

Re: best rack preamps?

If I had to give up my JMP-1 or my dick...well that would be a tough call..

as far as THE shit...I would ASSUME that four channel Engl 570 would be it...I "assume" because my fingers were never on one.. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Fragle]

Re: best rack preamps?

well, i'd like to build a small litte rack setup (2 or 3 space), because they appear to be more road worthy and bulletproof than regular amp heads - and because i'm already using a 2 space rack consisting of a tuner and a wireless [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

i'm playing thrash metal, in general going for a heavy hotrod marshall tone - the jcm800 is quite nice, although its gain is a bit limited for lead playing (which i'm not doing...ATM!). for rhythm it's very nice. articulate, not overly gainy, and midrange rich - far from that mushy scooped bottom heavy "modern metal" sound folks tend to use nowadays.
anyways, the rack i'd like to build should be in that ballpark. i dont NEED 100 presets and stuff....i'd be fine with 3 or 4.....basically i'm using one rhythm sound, one clean sound which is set to a very low volume for tuning purposes, and a lead channel. i don't use any fx other than maybe some reverb for lead sounds, or one in a while a little delay a la lynch. no need for a multi fx unit here.

i was looking at the mp1 as well as the piranha. both tend to go for around 200 euro. at first i'd try it through my marshalls poweramp, and if it's decent i'll buy a tube poweramp...requirements: LIGHTWEIGHT, max. 2 HE.
my lead guitar player used to use a jmp/100:100 setup live, and that one is a BITCH to carry around. waay to heavy. i was thinking either a mesa 20:20 or a peavey 50:50....something around that. 100:100 would be very nice power wise, but is 1) too expensive and b)too heavy.

atm i'm watching a piranha on the bay......18h left, 112 euro.

any thoughts?

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: best rack preamps?

Bill would trade his Dick for a JMP-1.

I, on the other hand, would not give Bills dick for one...

Hehehe...

[Mordor]

Re: best rack preamps?

I think too that the e570 is the best buy atm for a metal preamp.I'm thinkin to get one myself in the next months.

[rstites]

Re: best rack preamps?

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atm i'm watching a piranha on the bay......18h left, 112 euro.

any thoughts?

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I don't know if the Piranha has the kind of gain a lot of people around here want. It's a good preamp, but it's been years since I played one and I mainly used the owner's presets which were more light/alt/rock than anything else.
Maybe it'll get there and I just didn't - didn't want to mess with his programmable equipment!

Keep in mind that most of us are in the US. If I lived in your area, I'd look hard at the Engl preamps. I've played a couple of them in stores (no idea which models) and they were excellent. They're uncommon here, but I'd assume much more available and probably less pricy there.

[horns666]

Re: best rack preamps?

"I, on the other hand, would not give Bills dick for one..."


oh man! John you just walked into this one... [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

so , yer sayin' ..you'd rather have my dick... [img]/images/graemlins/poke.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I knew you loved me.. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Rupe]

Re: best rack preamps?

The ADA MP1 is a classic and I find myself going back to it every time I buy a new pre. I've played CAE, Soldano, Mesa Triaxis, JMP1, Bogner Fish, Hafler/Bogner Triple Giant, and even the MP2 but the MP1 just works for me. The catch to it for me is using it in conjunction with a BBE Sonic Maximizer. This unit really breathes some life into the MP1. All of the other units I mentioned sound good (Soldano/Caswell X99 was awesome but I couldn't find one when I would have been in the market), in fact I still frequently use the Triple Giant, but the flexability and feel of the ADA keep it in my rack. I hope this helps.

[horns666]

Re: best rack preamps?

you must go with works for you...

what works great for others don't work for some..

go with what ya know..

[MetalMedal II]

Re: best rack preamps?

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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.



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I got a Voodu Valve a while back and am pretty pleased with it. I used a Digitech 2120 Artist before that and wanted something that switched presets faster..as the 2120 has a pause when you click the next preset before it switches. Also, I never took advantage of the 9 or so effects the 2120 had. The Voodu has reverb, chorus, and delay whcih are the only things I use anyhow.

And the Voodu's got gain out the ying yang! So much so that I had to swap out the preamp tube it came with (an AX-7), with a lower gain tube so the low gain setting could be used for clean tones. I use it thru a Mesa 50/50 poweramp.

[Zerberus]

Re: best rack preamps?

I´ll keep my V-twin, thank you... unbelievable cleans, and most importantly MY distortion tone [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[MOSHWITZ]

Re: best rack preamps?

digitech 2120 baby [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]
i can get anything out of 'em
MOSH ON
DAVE

[Fragle]

Re: best rack preamps?

mh....the thing with those midi preamps with 20 billion channels is that you have to tweak the presets to balance out the room acoustics....i found that if i don't change my amp settings (slightly), the very same tone sometimes just doesn't cut it, depending on the venue.
so, what i'm actually rather looking at is a more "amp like" rack preamp, where you have knobs for EQing the channels...and only 2-4 channels, so that if i think that my sound needs a bit more treble tonight, i just turn the dial and thats it...without having to edit a preset (and maybe even store it as a new one....)

any recommendations? i know this excludes a whole lot of rack preamps, such as the jmp, the mp1, most rocktron stuff, digitech stuff.....actually the only preamps i can think of right now are the soldano and mesa boogie preamps (except triaxis), and maybe some engl stuff (although - believe it or not - i'm not a huge engl fan....they sound great alone, but in a band context they tend to sound "weird" imho)