Do you need additional gear to profile a preamp only, not a full head/power amp?

  • I'm pretty sure the answer is "no", but I wanted to double check. I own several preamps that I would like to profile at some point, but didn't know if a DI box was required to do so, or if I could just plug in and go with the preamp and the Kemper, alone.


    Thanks,

    Jeffro

    Shred 'til yer dead,

    Jeff in Houston

  • Hi Jeff, I did it with my ENGL 530 pre and with my Two Notes LeLead. Worked pretty well for both without any additional boxes or other stuff. I profiled both of them with and without the integrated speaker emulations. For the profiles without the speaker emulation I merged them with other cabinets from different profiles to my liking. Stil open to try these with my poweramp and guitar cab but I am pretty confident that this will work out well too.

  • You should be fine without a DI box but just remember that the preamp often sounds pretty lifeless without a power amp attached. Where possible I would try hooking your pre amp of choice up to a valve power amp and profiling with a DI Box on the speaker out of the power amp. The results are much more convincing and dynamic.


    You might notice there is one commercial vendor with lots of Pre Amp packs like Triaxis, ADA MP1, Marshall JMP1 , Soldano etc. All of them were profiled with a power amp though for good reason.

  • You should be fine without a DI box but just remember that the preamp often sounds pretty lifeless without a power amp attached. Where possible I would try hooking your pre amp of choice up to a valve power amp and profiling with a DI Box on the speaker out of the power amp. The results are much more convincing and dynamic.


    You might notice there is one commercial vendor with lots of Pre Amp packs like Triaxis, ADA MP1, Marshall JMP1 , Soldano etc. All of them were profiled with a power amp though for good reason.

    Thanks, Alan. Unfortunately, the only power amp I have is a Mesa Boogie 20/20 power amp with EL84 tubes which basically, IMHO, "suck the life out" of every preamp I've ever used with it, hence my question. I have a couple different preamp packs from commercial vendors for the preamps you mention, but was hoping to do my own (Digitech GSP-2101 Artist, Mesa Boogie Triaxis, ADA MP-1, Fractal Axe-FX Standard), if for no other reason than my own curiosity. Plus, I thought it might be cool to offer the GSP-2101 Artist profiles, since I haven't seen anyone do those, yet.


    I appreciate the feedback... I'd love to do as you suggest if I had a nice EL34 or KT88 power amp like a VHT 2502 or Engl or something. The EL84's basically have zero high end or "sparkle"... but if you want to do jazz with a 335, I'd imagine it would kick ass.


    Jeffro

    Shred 'til yer dead,

    Jeff in Houston

  • The EL84's basically have zero high end or "sparkle"... but if you want to do jazz with a 335, I'd imagine it would kick ass.


    Jeffro

    8|8|8|8|


    Have you tried a new set of valves? EL84 are awesome. If you don't crank the power amp the EL84 character shouldn't be quite as strong but still add some life to the pre-amp profiles. Failing that use the FX return on a head (borrow a mates if you don't have one).


    If I was closer I would take the 20/20 off your hands in a heartbeat just to have one :)

  • 8|8|8|8|


    Have you tried a new set of valves? EL84 are awesome. If you don't crank the power amp the EL84 character shouldn't be quite as strong but still add some life to the pre-amp profiles. Failing that use the FX return on a head (borrow a mates if you don't have one).


    If I was closer I would take the 20/20 off your hands in a heartbeat just to have one :)

    And I would happily sell it to you. It's never met my expectations and basically just sounds like a blanket was placed over the cab when you throw any preamp single through it. Comparing it to the VHT 2502 or even Mesa's 2:90 is like comparing an AM radio to SACD recordings. :) As always, YMMV.


    Thanks,

    Jeffro

    Shred 'til yer dead,

    Jeff in Houston

  • Profiling an amp through its effectsloop worked quite well for me.

    I added a cab from another profile, works both direct as well as into a powersection for me.


    I used it on the lead part of this track:

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