Underrated rack mount preamps

  • Thread starter Thread starter MadAsAHatter
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I gotta say, the Hafler Triple Giant. I had one I bought from Mentoneman a while back and never even got to play it before I listed a bunch of stuff for sale on here to put towards house buying costs and all the houses I liked fell through, but I had already sold cool gear I couldn't get back at a loss to get them out....and that was one of them.
 
Matt300ZXT said:
I gotta say, the Hafler Triple Giant. I had one I bought from Mentoneman a while back and never even got to play it before I listed a bunch of stuff for sale on here to put towards house buying costs and all the houses I liked fell through, but I had already sold cool gear I couldn't get back at a loss to get them out....and that was one of them.
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that TG was a bullseye of the 80s/90s rack era and the little brother of the fish.
thing sounded filthy with some effects through a 2-90-2 and v30s.
 
Shask said:
The Peavey TubeFex was pretty cool. It was basically a programmable Rockmaster with an effects processor attached.
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I think I may have to keep an eye out for that, sounds pretty interesting.
 
Langner DCP-1

Underrated until they weren't, for me has to go to the Langner DCP-1 which now fetch high dollar.

Back in my rack days I went through alot in fact of the big dogs the only thing I didn't try or own was the Bogner Fish, regardless the Langner was it for me until I moved back to amp heads.

Throw in the fact that there were not that many built and Todd never had the name recognition of Soldano or Bogner did "during that era", that's my vote.
 
I love preamps! I was using my Caswell almost exclusively until I got the X88 from myasnikov and it serves 2 purposes; 1) I don’t have to bring a collectible out 2) it’s sounds absolutely fantastic with 3 channels midi switchable. The other two Myasnikov units I have are very comparable but the 3 channel one beats them. Depending on the price of the new XR88 I would say it’s probably the unit to get it into the preamp world. Wouldn’t mind a Morin but with my tone now I’m not sure I’m going to shell out that money for something quite close to what I have now. The ADA mp1 is a hammer as well but even though the unit is well serviced I always worry about using a 30 year old unit for a show…idk maybe my own worries. Anyone have that Mako unit?
 
2nd the Pirahna..and the Progap through both a solid state QSC and a Marshall 9005 was great too.
Get a lot of value with the Rocktron stuff.
 
Don't know if it's underrated or not but the Mesa V-Twin rackmount would've solved all the issues I had with the floor unit. It was beyond my reach and my wherewithal to carry to gigs.
 
VonBonfire said:
Don't know if it's underrated or not but the Mesa V-Twin rackmount would've solved all the issues I had with the floor unit. It was beyond my reach and my wherewithal to carry to gigs.
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Where does the V-Twin fit in on sound compared to the Recto & Mark amps?
 
MadAsAHatter said:
Where does the V-Twin fit in on sound compared to the Recto & Mark amps?
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I've only played a few mesas, original Mark I and a Triple Rec and some rare 4x10 combo, so I couldn't really tell you. I'd describe the pedal as oriented towards richer/darker tones, especially in the "solo" setting which is kind of mesa-esque, so maybe like a rectifier amp, to my ears, and is the high gain mode. The blues channel does have enough high end sparkle to it and is sort of TS-Fendery.
 
Not rack mounted (they had one, ISP Theta Preamp - Rackmount), but late last year I picked up a like-new ISP Theta Pro Michael Sweet, which is really a floor preamp with some effects; the two EQ per patch on this preamp is amazing, reminds me of the dual eq in my ADA MP-2. It does '80s hair metal, and so much more.
 
Bow down to the mighty artsgx2000 noobs….
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Recently had a Morin pre; one of 18 out there. Very cool piece. Sold it to a forum member. Would still like to try a Langner someday though.
 
For flexibility in amp tones, I got lots of mileage out of the the original SansAmp PSA 1 rackmount.
 
IE4 (seriously, this needs more recognition than it gets)
GP3
Prophesy (Digital version of the IE4)
Access
E530
Rockmaster
Piranha...kinda. Lots of tones in this thing but easy to go way too extreme IME
That Voodoo Labs thing
Valve Sonic Plexi

Older Egnater and Randall gear before the Synergy transition is still kinda slept on, and probably a good handful of others I'm forgetting
 
If you are looking for a 5150 the Kartakoa colossus was pretty much perfect although I had v1 and v2 with v2 having some weird behaviors that the builder said were by design (I doubt it). Having said that it is hands down the best 5150 tone you can get apart from a full amp. Although I have not tried the synergy stuff
 
I still wish I had my old JMP-1. It sounded great through a Fryette 2:50:2 or whatever it's called. I also loved the way it sounded through the FX Return of a Mesa Mark IV. I wish I would have tried it with the 101b.
 
I almost picked up an Egnator IE4 his last winter for a decent price, but decided to think on it a bit. It was gone when I check back a couple of hours later. I assume it's the same as the TOL's preamp, which was one of the best balanced channel-switchers I've owned. It was a killed amp.

I owned a Kasha preamp years back that was very inexpensive at the time and sounded pretty good. It wasn't up to the Soldano I had at the time, but not that far off for a pretty big price difference.
 
Rocktron Prophesy is the most under rated preamp of all time. Super flexible EQ, built in effects, clean channel is pretty decent, high gain channel can get into sort of Engl-ish / boosted Recto-ish territory. Way better tones than the Chameleon/Pro Gap/Voodoo Valve. I’ve never tried the Piranha.

Everyone knows about the MP1 but the Hughes & Kettner Access has its own hot rodded Marshall flavor.

The E530 isn’t under rated but I never hear anyone talk about using it for leads. I’ve had a ton of different preamps and the E530 is my favorite for leads.
 
I think I've had most all of them,even the rockman xpr.
Favs I let go:
Hafler triple giant- loved ch 2.Got a fish and it was better almost all around.kept the fish.
Mesa boogie formula- was nice,until I got a triaxis. Kept the triaxis.
Matchless gpr2- this is the best for last story- loved the gp2 but felt it could've been more all around,so I asked them to build an updated deluxe version and they shot it down immediately.
One simple ph call to badcat and James was all in to make me the 1rst badcat preamp ever.He made one for him and one for me.i have serial #1. He took it namm that year and it got a lot of interest,
We were going to make a 4 space power amp to go with it,the first ever to footswitch different power tube sections in and out in real time,lighted front, etc..but unfortunately as we know he wasn't around long enough to make it happen. Great guy, miss him.
 
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