Guitar Preamp
Guitar Preamp
whats the best guitar rack-amp/preamp or amp head for 70s - 80s rock, that will sound great even at low volume?
You can't beat the Marshall
But Line 6 gets close
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Fender® Starcaster Acoustic Guitar Pack, 2-Tone Sunburst Finish, with Fishman Preamp and Built-in Tuner List Price: $149.00 Sale Price: $149.00  |
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The Starcaster® Acoustic-Electric Pack by Fender® features a 2-tone sunburst guitar that is ready for action! This guitar is equipped with a built-in tuner as well as a Fishman® preamp making it ideal for live performances and recording sessions... |
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Piezo Pickup / Pre-Amp Unit for Acoustic Guitars EQ-7545R Sale Price: $17.99 |
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These great little powered pre-amp units include all of the parts you need to add a pickup to your acoustic or cigar box guitar. The rod piezo offers great tone and pickup range, and is made to be mounted beneath the saddle of a standard acoustic guitar, but it can be easily built into a cigar box guitar bridge as well, or mounted inside the instrument... |
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Fishman G-II Acoustic Instrument Preamp List Price: $79.95 Sale Price: $49.95 Used From: $29.92 |
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The G-II is designed for acoustic guitar, violin, viola, cello, and mandolin. On the inside, all new electronics deliver cleaner, more transparent sound and an unprecedented 400 hours of battery life. The preamps are housed in a rugged, lightweight injection-molded case, measuring 1... |
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Behringer Xenyx 802 Premium 8-Input 2-Bus Mixer with Xenyx Mic Preamps and British EQs List Price: $139.99 Sale Price: Too low to display Used From: $48.42 |
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Need to accommodate a vocal duo in a hurry? Got a small choir in need of a little projection? The BEHRINGER 802 mixer has everything you need to give a small multi-vocal performance a robust sound, offering plenty of versatility at a price you can afford... |
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Fishman PRO-EQ Platinum Bass Preamp/EQ/DI List Price: $209.95 Sale Price: $139.95 |
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Designed to plug in between your axe and amp, the Fishman Pro-EQ Bass Preamp provides feedback control, photo-optic compression, 5 bands of EQ, and XLR direct out with ground lift, and tuner/send output... |
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Xotic BB Preamp Distortion Sustain Pedal Sale Price: $160.00 |
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The Xotic BB Preamp Effect Pedal offers a wide variety of sounds. It's capable of a 30dB+ clean boost with an adjustable ±15dB two band active EQ which adds a wide range of harmonic content to your ideal sound... |
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Fishman PRO-EQ Platinum Preamp/EQ/DI List Price: $209.95 Sale Price: Too low to display |
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The Platinum preamp utilizes a four-band equalizer, modeled after Fishman's versatile Prefix Plus onboard preamp. Each band of the Pro-EQ Platinum's EQ section is assigned to just the right frequencies for acoustic equalization... |
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Behringer PP400 Ultra-Compact Phono Preamp List Price: $43.99 Sale Price: $21.99 |
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In the age of the MP3, it can be easy to forget that a turntable signal needs a little help before it reaches a mixer or home stereo if it's going to be heard. Thanks to the PP400 phono preamp, your turntable will get the boost it needs to bring your vinyl to life... |
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Fender FA-130 Acoustic-Electric Guitar Pack, Black List Price: $324.99 Sale Price: $199.99 |
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From the industry leaders in guitars and amplifiers comes our new FA-130 Acoustic/Electric pack. Everything you need to get started playing, now in one convenient package. Features include a slim Concert body shape with cutaway, a Fishman Ion preamp with built-in tuner, an SA-10 acoustic guitar amplifier, gig bag, instructional DVD, picks, strings, and other goodies to get you on your way to conquering the world! The centerpeice of Fender's FA-130 Acoustic-Electric Guitar Pack is a quality fender guitar with a slim concert-shaped body, with a black laminated spruce top, a gloss polyurethane finish, and Multi-ABS inlays on the soundhole rossette... |
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ART Tube MP Studio V3 Microphone Preamp and Limiter with Presets List Price: $119.00 Sale Price: $69.95 Used From: $64.99 |
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The Tube MP Studio V3 features ART's V3 (variable Valve Voicing) technology - found only in ART microphone preamplification systems. Provides superior preamplification for microphones, instruments, and line level sources... |
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 FISHMAN AURA SPECTRUM DI GUITAR PREAMP  US $329.95
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 Rack Mount Digitech GSP 7 GSP 7 Guitar Preamp and Processor US $49.00
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 Soldano Supercharger GTO SLO Pre Amp in a Guitar Pedal US $695.00
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How to Record Guitar at Home, No Matter What Your Budget
With today’s technology there are several methods of recording at your disposal. Which works best? Well that’s entirely up to you to decide.
Before you rush out and buy the latest and greatest products, you need to carefully think about what type of instruments or music you want to record. For instance, if you want to record an electric guitar you may opt for the simpler and direct method of plugging into your computer. However if you want to record an acoustic guitar or vocals, it’s worth investing in some high quality microphones and a preamp.
The two methods we will be focusing on are direct recording using an interface / software and the indirect / amplified method. Each method has its benefits, and you’ll no doubt find that one method is most suited to your own needs and budget.
Which Method Is Right For You?
Direct or indirect, which method best is right for you? Well, of course that’s completely up to you to decide however there are a few factors you should take into consideration.
Budget - The first thing you must contemplate, and decide upon is your budget. How much can you currently afford to spend on equipment? The indirect/amplified method of recording is by far the most expensive option due to the amount of equipment you will need to purchase. For this method, you will minimally one or two microphones, a mic pre-amp and a converter, which can become very expensive, especially if you are starting from scratch.
Direct recording eliminates the need for expensive microphones and amplifiers, as you will be plugging into a relatively cheap interface unit, such as the M-Audio Black Box. When it comes to your budget, it’s a good idea to think about when you would like to be up and running. If you were looking to record immediately, then the direct method would be a real time saver, and also a lot less expensive.
Environment - Consider where you will actually be recording. Are you in a detached house where you can make more noise, or are you in an apartment block where you have neighbours on all walls? Direct recording enables you to plug your clean, un- amplified guitar straight into a unit that connects to your computer producing minimal noise.
Whilst recording indirectly requires you to plug into a loud amplifier - whilst there are ways to help silence the amplifier such as placing it in an isolation box (more on isolation boxes later) the environment you are in should be something you really take into consideration.
Sound - Can you achieve the sound you are looking for using the less expensive software method? If so, then definitely go for it, there’s no need to spend hundreds and thousands on expensive equipment if you aren’t 100% sure you absolutely need to have it.
However, be sure to bear in mind that there really is something unique about the “old school” amplified method that just can’t be achieved using computer software packages, or modeled and emulated hardware. What I’m referring to here is the warmth, or pushed air. An amp pushes the speakers and that pushed air really adds a lot to the overall sound that you’re hearing. While digitally modelled amp simulators can go a long way to creating the beloved sound, they aren’t quite there just yet.
About the Author
Richard Marples has over 10 years experience of playing and recording guitar, and also hosts a website exaplaining how you can record at home. If you enjoyed this article on Home Recording then you can get more free tips at =>
www.uncleslinky.co.uk