Why You Need a Preamp
In this article, I want to explain why every guitar player needs a preamp in their rig. Short answer: they just do. But I’ll go into a little more detail than that further down.
I'm also going to explain what a preamp is, and I'm going to show you the most classic preamps ever made, a few of my favorites.
Really, the only aspect of the JHS Show this article is based on that I can’t properly transition is the jam sessions throughout, so if you want to go back and watch this episode in its entirety before you read this article, I understand. We’ll be here when you get back.
What Is Preamp?
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.
I know. I just blew a few minds. It’s okay.
Basically, all guitar amps have the electric guitar/bass electrified at the front end. To help give a bit more clarity to this, feel free to follow along the diagram below.
Basically, the yellow square in the upper righthand corner is your guitar. The guitar sends a signal into the first section of your tube amp called the preamplifier section, and this amplifies voltage gain. The preamplifier section usually includes an EQ: bass, mid, treble, etc. Whatever your amp has, that's where it exists. This voltage gain prepares the signal of your guitar to go into this blue section, which is the power amp. The power amp section amplifies current gain and allows your signal to move the coil of the speaker. As a result, your beautiful music is heard.
Think of it this way: take your uneducated guitar, send it to community college, it gets an Associate Degree, and maybe it gets into an internship. It achieves something. That’s the voltage gain going into the preamp. And then maybe one day it gets a real job. And then at that real job it's heard, people actually listen to that melodious voice, and it changes the world. That’s the power amp section in action.
But you're asking, “Why would we want to use preamplifier pedals if our amps already have preamplifiers? Can we preamp a preamplifier?”
Yeah, we can.
...Sort of.
Let me explain. In the mid to late ’70s, it became really popular to slap the term preamplifier onto an overdrive pedal, like the classic DOD 250. We see people referring to the old BOSS OD-1 in that way, as well as the classic and coveted Ibanez TS808. Some companies say that these pedals are preamplifier pedals. Is it true? Well, it's true in the sense that these pedals go before the amp, which does technically make them “pre”. But no. They aren’t preamps, per se, which means you could stack an actual preamp with a Tube Screamer or an overdrive. This means that, technically, you can preamp a pedal that is pre-amp.
Honestly, this is getting more complex than necessary and I'm bored. Nick assures me that the math on this is right. Anyway, you didn’t come here for Schoolhouse Rock**. Let’s get back to the music side of things.
**I’d like to make a pitch here for a little special I call Guitar Pedal Rock, which is the same basic principle but teaches kids about guitar pedals instead of useless things like grammar and American history. Highlighted tracks: “Distortion-Portion, Sound Contortion,” “I’m Just a Muff,” and “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Reverbs Here”.
Every preamp has one characteristic in common: all preamps have EQ ability to tone shape a little, but most importantly they stay crystal clean. This means that you can use a preamp to push the volume way up, and then distort the amp or drive afterwards, but the pedal and circuit itself of this preamplifier device will stay crystal clean. This is maybe the most useful pedal effect I regularly use. It’s a toss-up between this and a Metal Zone, because you can never have too many Metal Zones.
Next up, let me show you a few of my favorite preamplifier pedals.
DOD Bi-FET Studio Preamp 410
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DOD Bi-FET Preamp FX10
First is the DOD Bi-FET Studio Preamp 410, which was followed up by the DOD Bi-FET Preamp FX10. The FX10 is the one I first saw around the year ’99, 2000. I plugged my Strat into this, rocked out in my basement, and this preamp blew my mind. It stayed completely clean with definition and clarity, and also had a handy tone control?
I can't say enough about these. They're really great. They're also sleepers, so I’d definitely try to buy one before word gets out about how awesome they are.
BOSS FA-1 FET Amp
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BOSS MA-1 Mascot Amp
Number two is a pedal by my favorite pedal company ever: BOSS. It came out when I was two years old. I was not super proficient as a guitar player yet, if I’m being honest, but most two-year-olds aren’t, unless you’re August Rush.
I’m talking about the BOSS FA-1 FET Amp. BOSS put out kind of a weird little series of two pedals that they called the pocket series. Its brother was the MA-1 Mascot Amplifier and it's awesome, but the FA-1 is a powerful preamp. Also, the Edge used it on The Unforgettable Fire. He toured with it**, and I’m sure he used it on records after that.
**When I found out that the Edge tours with one of my pedals, the Crayon, I may have spontaneously combusted from joy.
Hands down, the best feature of this pedal is that it has a belt clip. You know why that's important? This allows you to pre-amplify your whole life. You're going to want to go to dinner with this on your belt. You can take this on a date. You can take it to the movies, to your kid's baseball game, to the mall. Preamps make everything better. Even the mall.
The FA-1 is truly amazing, but I gotta level with you: it’s gotten really rare and really expensive. That makes me sad.
Or, rather, it did. Until we released the Clover Preamp.
JHS Clover Preamp
Now, the Clover is everything I love about the FA-1, but with some extra features that I think make this the perfect preamplifier pedal.
I know. I’m pitching my own wares. This never happens. But it’s happening today.
Now, at its heart, the Clover is an FA-1, but this rotary switch at the top is pure magic. You’ve got three options here. In the top position (“No EQ”), we remove the entire EQ section and you just have a pure clean boost. Then when we go to the middle section (“No Mids”), we have no mid control. If you want to play this as an exact one-for-one FA-1 replica, hang out in this section. But my favorite feature is the last section (“Full EQ”) which adds in the mid control. This gives you huge versatility, and it does magical things when you place it before your overdrives or before your amps.
On one side, we have the original low cut switch that was found on the top of the FA-1. You’ve also got a balanced output for direct box applications. This is a great pedal for acoustic guitars and bass, because this is a fantastic pre for those instruments when running in direct to a mixing desk. You’ve got input, you’ve got output, and it runs on 9 volt power.
TLDR, you're going to like this pedal.
How I Use a Preamp
I have a few different methods for using preamps on my board. First off, I love to put my preamplifier pedals before my big clean Fender-style amps, like my Sovtek MIG 50. These amps have a lot of low end and 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.
Another of my favorite ways to use a preamplifier pedal is to put it before my favorite overdrive. I'll leave the overdrive pedal on, but engage the preamp into the overdrive and cause more grit and more distortion in different stages.
On preamplifiers that have a really powerful treble and mids control, I love to make my Fender amp sound way more VOX-er, so I'll put them in front of that amp, turn the volume way up, then I cut the lows and boost those highs. It's almost like a treble booster meets a VOX, but exponentially better. It creates a magical effect with a Fender amp that otherwise wouldn't be possible.
One more great option (and a really powerful application) for a preamplifier is to use it alongside a ton of echo and delay. For instance, if I'm running a quarter note delay, a dotted eighth delay, or even a reverb, it can muddy up the signal. But if I 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. It makes everything sound better. Your delays and reverb are clearer. Everything is more pristine in your overall sound mix. It’s pretty miraculous.
I want to be clear, here: you don't need a Clover to do all the sounds. It might be the perfect preamp for you. It might have all the features that you need for your rig, but you can’t get on reverb. It’s a great product, and I’m proud of it.
At the end of the day, though, you can get on Google and search around. There's a ton of really cool, older preamplifier pedals you can buy used for crazy cheap prices. Whether you buy mine or not, there's a lot of cool options out there.
Dig around. Try something new. Actually play with your instrument. You’ll be glad you did.