Seeking Advice on Preamp/Amp heads

Daniel Jones · Post by **Daniel Jones** » 24 Oct 2002 12:59 pm

I play a Mullen D-10, lacquer/metal necks, BL 910 pick-ups. For some time, I have been using a single 12" JBL (K120) in a ported box (I don't play very loud), which I really like the sound of (JBL highs, and the ported box gives plenty of low end). I have been driving this speaker with a Nash 400 (w/ LeMay mod) head.

While this setup sounds pretty good, I'm interested in exploring other heads in search of a "warmer" sound. I'm not that interested in going stereo (too much stuff for my little car and our little band). I would love to hear people's suggestions about integrated or separable preamp/amp heads to consider.

Thanks for your ideas.

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Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 25 Oct 2002 7:26 am

Dan,
You may want to try the Peavey Tube Sweetener . (link is a recent thread from Mike Brown at Peavey)

May help take the solid state edge off. You may want to try a tube amp head as well -- a Twin or Vibrolux or even a Showman/Dual Showman head might sound great.

Other devices like the BBE Sonic Maximizer may also help. If you prize the compactness of your rig, please realize that will be in jeopardy when you start looking to components like preamps and racks and stuff.

I have a small gig setup that's very similar to yours, except with a single 15" BW cabinet and a Session 400 head. My Standel and a stompbox is even more portable. If I want the 'full Monte' (and risk a hernia), I carry a six-space rack with a Digitech 2112 preamp/fx, Mosvalve 500, and outboard Alesis reverb. For most rooms, the small rigs work great, but sometimes stereo and hi fi are fun too if you don't mind carrying around what is, in essence, a PA system.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro[This message was edited by Larry Bell on 25 October 2002 at 08:29 AM.]

Mike Brown · Post by **Mike Brown** » 25 Oct 2002 8:37 am

Thanks for the recommendation Larry. As I stated, we never advertised the Tube Sweetener very much and it is a good and useful product. Since we manufacture well over 1000 products at this time, I'm sure our Product Developement Managers and Advertising folks have a difficult time determining where to spend their advertising budgets.

Since the Tube Sweetener is catagorized as a "specialty" product, which normally peaks in sales at a certain point in its product lifetime, there was not a lot of advertising money spent on it. But, that doesn't mean that it isn't a good product though.

If you would like a copy of the operating guide, give me a call at 1-877-732-8391 and I will send one to you. I've used one withh my Nashville 400 and it does warm up the tone quite a bit.

Mike Brown
Peavey Electronics Corporation

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 25 Oct 2002 10:42 am

Tubes, tubes, tubes. Guitar pickups love tubes. I haven't heard the Peavey tube sweetener but it sounds like a great fix. As Larry mentioned, a good tube amp may also be the ticket. Peavey makes some great tube amps and of course the old pre-72 Fender amps cant be beat for tone.

Brad Sarno
'66, '69 Emmons p/p, '69 Fender Twin w/Peavey BW 15"

Michael Holland · Post by **Michael Holland** » 25 Oct 2002 12:14 pm

Dan,

I hope you've read the current thread about Mesa/Boogie amps. Of the recent Mesa offerings the Heartbreaker is a great choice. It's kind of like a Twin Reverb on Steroids. Very versatile and toneful amp that works great for pedal steel. And they can be bought for around $900; there's one that looks like brand new on eBay for about that. I don't know if you can put a 15" baffle board in one of those, but that would be something!

Brad's right, tubes do have a personality all their own, but I still love my Session 400, too. There's nothing that sounds like it either.

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Fessenden SD10 - Mesa/Boogie amps

Steve Stallings · Post by **Steve Stallings** » 25 Oct 2002 1:06 pm

Daniel,
I just went down this road and went to a rack setup. I have multiple guitars including Emmons and Mullen. The Mullen is a lacquer guitar with wood necks.

What I tried:
Evans Preamp (older low voltage version)
Profex II
Sans Amp PSA1
Mesa Boogie Studio Pre

My final setup is the Mesa Boogie Studio Pre. It is a very clean tube preamp that is built like a tank. I just bought a newer Evans preamp to compare, but I most likely will continue with the Mesa Boogie.

God Bless,
Steve

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 25 Oct 2002 1:21 pm

This has been talked about before but I'd like to hear more in this context about the ART tube mic preamp. Can this do the job of taking off that edge? At $79 and as small as it is, it would be asking a lot for it to compete with the Peavey sweetener but......