Preamps vs actual amps

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Shask said:
How would you describe the SD KTG 2100? I have been looking at those the last few days.
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It has more coloration than the Fryette 2/90/2 and is less clinical/hi-fi. There’s no depth control. It has presence and another knob that turned one way sounds more modern/compressed and the other way more vintage/dynamic.
 
Personally, I've tried to go rack several times and do the separate pre/power amp thing. I always thought there was something missing between the two, especially when the full head was available. The pieces never sounded the same as, or as good as, the full head. There's a few cool pieces you can only get in preamp form that we're cool to try, though, but nothing that made me feel like I was missing out by using a head, instead. Also - racks are insanely heavy and even though it might seem like you're saving space, the equivalent pre/power amp setup to a head is definitely heavier than a head, at least if you're going tube.

Personally, the newer pedal preamps / power amps are far more appealing to me. They take up wayyyyy less space and they weigh wayyyyy less than a rack or a head. I like the feel of them more than digital modelers in most cases as well and they have a similar tactile feel to real amps. The preamps are also generally made to have all the color in them and nothing from the power amp, so the connection between the two is less finicky, it seems. They just expect a super clean power source, so while a cool tube power amp might sound better, they are not built with a certain sounding power amp in mind, so they're much more versatile in how you use them.
 
I think the main difference is to have separated power supplies, compared to a head with only 1 power transformer.
 
The Preamps I've owned had a Presence control but so do the Power Amps. Not sure how it worked on the Preamps, but in a Power Amp, it feeds back some of the signal. I wonder if it was just a set band that you boost in the Reamp..
Anyhow, there's more to mess with to get the highs right with separate pieces..
 
JerEvil said:
I prefer preamps with a good power amp. Like I’d rather have the Synergy SLO and a Peavey Classic 120/120 than an actual SLO any day of the week. It seems to me the preamp versions tend to be more aggressive.

My E530 is probably my favorite Engl tone ever. More so than the actual Savage I had briefly.
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The E530 has roughly 4 main sounds: clean, crunch, Lead Lo gain and Lead Hi gain; adding the E850/100 provides two stereo settings A and B, each with their own volume, presence and depth settings, for a total of 8 main sounds.

Covers a lot of ground, very versatile rig IMO
 
alund said:
what I have done on a few instances is run multiple pre’s through the voodoo loop switcher (px8) I think it’s called and I can switch rack pre’s into a common power source for different sounds. At one point I was using an Ada, Myasnikov superlead, Myasnikov iic+, and a soldano Caswell. Power source was plentiful as well. So the PS100 is fantastic; the SD KTG2100, Mesa 50/50, soldano power amp. Now I’m using my Rivera TBR 1SL as my main amp and plug and play shit into it. The TBR is my “soul amp”. Well, for now.
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If you want EVH, run the bias all the way up and use the half power setting. Try it, you’ll like it.
 
rsm said:
The E530 has roughly 4 main sounds: clean, crunch, Lead Lo gain and Lead Hi gain; adding the E850/100 provides two stereo settings A and B, each with their own volume, presence and depth settings, for a total of 8 main sounds.

Covers a lot of ground, very versatile rig IMO
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Yeah I’ve got the Fryette PS100 that does basically the same. I generally use my KSR PA-50 as it also has a negative feedback control which tweaks the tone very nicely.
 
I try to go preamp/power amp thing but it just makes me want the amp more. The Kartakou 5150 preamp for example sounds fantastic and if you match the volume of a 5150 it sounds identical if not better but as annoying as the volume taper is on those amps I love when you get to that point at 1 where it's already loud af.

Although I really want to try a few of the Synergy preamps. I feel like with my current amps those would work nicely in the effects return.
 
boltzthrower said:
It has more coloration than the Fryette 2/90/2 and is less clinical/hi-fi. There’s no depth control. It has presence and another knob that turned one way sounds more modern/compressed and the other way more vintage/dynamic.
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I see some of them are depth modded. That made me wonder if they are not naturally very bass heavy stock.
 
PLX said:
For me, the whole pre-amp thing is great because it allows me to build only a small section of an amp and then run it through the power section of my JCM-800 via passive loop.

This way, I can try a myriad of preamps & tones with out the cost/complexity of building an entire amp just to try something new.
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Same for me too - ive built piles of preamps and they dont take long. I cant be bothered building complete amps anymore.
The preamps Ive played with sound just as good as the whole amp. Except maybe something like a cranked plexi where the power amp is pulling down the whole power supply rail and browning out the preamp too.
 
I was thinking of getting another pa50 or something similar then getting the closest of the synergy preamps so I can have my tone vs taking my amps out. Like the 6505 module instead of carrying my 6505. 2c+ instead of taking my mesa mark iv etc.
 
Preamps with" The Right" power amp can most certainly be a better way to go- depending on what you want it all to do and be.For instance, at least for me,
I prefer my mesa quad & triaxis/ strategy 500 over my iic+ or mk iii,mk iv heads.
I prefer my soldano x88r/ vht 2150 over my slo head.
I prefer my vht gp3/ vht 2100 over my clx head.
Actually, this stuff racked is smaller than if you'd have to rack said heads,then a power amp and switcher into a full size head rack- they're huge,I've had them.
History wise," racks" main purpose in the beginning was to get all that expensive gear in a protective housing and just take off 2 lids at the gig and youre all pre-wired ready to go.It The concept just branched off and got crazy after that.
.You get a little bit more flexibility and versatility with preamps/ poweramps than heads.having said that,I have the preamps,I also have the heads.i like having them both.
 
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I love rackmount preamps, poweramps, effects units, etc. getting a nice stereo field, setting up presents with switchers. There's so many possibilities, but I also find I spent my time programming and messing with things, and usually to get 2-3 sounds I really enjoy....so I end up going back to a basic head and a couple of pedals for what I play. (Plus, it's smaller, lighter, and easier to haul.)

Now that I'm pretty well retired from playing out, I've picked up a bunch of rack gear (and brought a bunch out of storage) and have pieced a rack together for the fun of it......but only to play my home studio. I'm over hauling that stuff around! (I'm also probably over hauling my old Marshall 1/2 stack around too.)

I'd say go for it, if you want a lot of sounds. I have the Mesa Quad and it's a lot of fun with four very good sounds in it. I'd think any of the classic high end preamps would give you a good basis to build from.
 


When you get it all together, it’s a lot of fun but hard to transport. That’s why I have the mini set up also.


 
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