Why You Need A Preamp

on today's episode I'm gonna tell you why every guitar player needs a preamp in their rig I'm gonna explain what a preamp is I'm gonna show you the most classic one's ever made and my favorites and I don't know might even Jeremy Lou [Music] so whether you know it or not any of you who have ever plugged your electric guitar into an amplifier have played through a preamplifier because all guitar amps had them at the front end and my special guest today is a block diagram of an old tube amp this is your guitar and it sends a signal into the first section of your tube amp called the pre amplifier section and this amplifies voltage gain it usually always includes an EQ bass mid treble whatever your aunt passed that's where it exists and this prepares the signal of your guitar to go into this blue section and that's the power amp section that amplifies current gain and allows your signal to move the coil of the speaker so that your beautiful music is heard in the nutshell it's like take your uneducated guitar send it to Community College and it gets in an internship you know it achieve something and then maybe one day it gets a real job and then that real job it's heard it's voices listen to and it changes the world maybe that's what happens maybe not but you're asking why would we want to use pre amplifier pedals if our amps already have preamplifiers can we preamp a pre amplifier yeah we can let me explain in the mid to late 70s it became really popular to slap the term pre amplifier onto an overdrive pedal like the classic Tod 250 we see people referring to the old boss OD 1 in that way and the classic and coveted ts808 these pedals are pre amplifier pedals some say is it true well it's true in the sense that they go before it amps so they're pre amp but they're not preamps because every preamp has a similar characteristic they have EQ ability that can tone shape a little and most importantly they stay crystal clean you can use them push the volume way up and distort the amp or drive afterward but the pedal and circuit itself of this pre amplifier device will stay crystal clean let me show you a few of my favorite pre amplifier first is the DoD by fit studio preamp for ten it was followed up by the by FEM Priya FX tune this is the one I first saw it was around the year 99 2000 I don't know and it really doesn't matter but I plugged my strat into this into my basement mind blown it stayed completely clean added definition and clarity and has a handy convenient tone control I can't say enough about these they're really great they're sleepers and you might want to try to find one I don't know number two is a pedal by my favorite pedal company ever and it came out when I was two years old it is the boss FET amplifier fa1 boss put this out kind of a weird little series of two pedals they called the pocket series it's brother was the mascot amplifier and it's awesome it's powerful and the edge used it on the unforgettable fire he toured with it and on records after that I'm sure he used it but the best feature of this pedal is that it has a belt clip you know why that's important because you're gonna want to pre amplify your life you're gonna want to go to dinner with this on your belt you're gonna want to go on a date you're gonna want to go to the movies your kids baseball game clip this on preamp make everything better it's amazing but it got really expensive and really rare and that makes me really sad until now the clover is everything I love about the FA one but with some extra features that I think make this the perfect preamplifier pedal let me walk you through those now at its heart it is an FA one but this rotary switch is pure magic so in the top position we remove the entire EQ section and you just have a pure clean boost then when we go to the middle section we have no mid control and that is the exact one for one FA one replica but my favorite feature is to add in the mid control this gives you huge versatility and it does magical things when you place it before your OverDrive's or before your amps on the side we have the original low cut switch that was found on the top of the FA one and on this side we have a balanced output for direct box this is great for acoustic guitars and bass because this is a fantastic prix for those instruments when running in direct to a mixing desk output input and 9-volt power you're gonna like it one way that I love to use preamplifier pedals is to put them before my big clean fender style amps like my Saab Tech MIG 50 these amps have a lot of low-end they have a lot of body but when you take a good preamp you can reshape those frequencies and make the tone a lot clearer in certain situations [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] another favorite way of mine to use a preamplifier pedal is to put it before my favorite overdrive pedals I'll leave those overdrive pedals on but engage the preamp free overdrive and cause more grit and more distortion in different segments of the song [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] on preamplifiers that have a really powerful treble and mids control I love to make my Fender amp sound way more voxi so I'll put them in front of that amp turn the volume way up cut the lows and boost those highs it's almost like a treble booster meets a Vox but it makes something magical with a Fender amp that otherwise was it possible [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] another really powerful application for a preamplifier is to use it alongside of a lot of echo and delay so in some instances when I'm running a quarter note delay a dotted eighth delay and even a reverb it can muddy up the signal but I'll take a preamplifier first in my chain and carve out some of the muddy frequencies that my guitar makes when all those delays get going that makes everything sound better your delays are clear your reverbs are more pristine and your overall sound cuts to the mix just like [Music] [Applause] [Music] you don't need a clover to do all these sounds this might be the perfect one for you it might have all the features that you need for your rig but you can get on reverb you can get on google and search around there's a ton of really cool old preamplifier pedals that go for really cheap so whether you buy mine or not there's a lot of cool options out there dig around and in the comments below ask me about a few I'll try to chime in and tell you if it's worth grabbing or not today's record time is brought to you by recovering the satellites by the Counting Crows most everyone on planet earth who had a radio during the 90s or MTV has heard the song mr. Jones but counting crows has a lot of great records and a lot of great songs that no one ever hears and it kind of drives me mad they're one of those bands but this record is a masterpiece in my opinion I love the guitars I love the hooks the songwriting and it's just fantastic I've been listening to good night Elizabeth on repeat it's one of my favorite songs by them and I want you to listen to it I have a feeling a lot of you don't realize how good this band is and that's why it's my choice so in the comments below tell me about a band that you really like but maybe people have only heard those one or two radio songs that slightly annoy you that's what this is for me so let me know what that band is for you and check this out thanks for watching this episode I have a huge favor to ask in the comments below please tell me your favorite song from today's jams and also tell me about your favorite preamp the one that's in your rig the one that used to be in the rig the one that broke your heart I don't know there has to be a story and I want to know about it also hit like if you liked the episode subscribe to the channel and hit the bell to get notifications of every future episode and until next time know that I love each and every one of you I really do seriously I really do [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: JHS Pedals

Views: 722,060

Keywords: JHS, JHS Pedals, Guitar, Guitar Pedals, Electric Guitar, Guitar Effects, Guitar Player, Guitar Playing, Pedal Demo, Guitar Demo, New Pedals, New Guitar Pedals, Josh Scott, Guitar Gear, Music Gear, Guitar Tones, Pedal Tones, Good Guitar Tone, Best Guitar Tone, Best Electric Guitar Tone, Analog Guitar Tone, Guitar Sounds, JHS Guitar Pedals, JHS VLOG, JHS Videos, Pre-Amp Pedals, Preamp Pedals, Preamps, JHS Clover, Clover Preamp, U2 Pedal, JHS Preamp, How preamps work

Id: SVbceQGhbdM

Length: 15min 29sec (929 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 24 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/CalicoJack]

I looked up the name on the headstock. It is a Bilt Relevator, and apparently they will do custom pickup configurations.

[u/Coderado]

Soooo many buttons! And pickups. I mean, if you have trouble making up your mind, get one of every type of pickup out there, right? Jump to 5:20

[u/shrugs27]

Most impressive part of this video is that snare tone, dang

[u/RugsbandShrugmyer]

I could watch JHS vids all day long.

And I do.

[u/ghost_jazz]

Obligatory fuck JHS