Guitar preamps

[schismatic]

Ok guys,

I'm looking to get a tube guitar preamp and I was just wondering what is available that will give me a decent metal tone. I don't really know what models of pre-amp are around, but I've read a little about the Marshall JMP-1, Rocktron Prophesy and the Peavey Rockmaster. Any other ones that do a good job metal wise?

 

[IronApe]

Among the ones you mentioned, I'd go for the Prophecy and stay away from the JMP-1, never tried a Rockmaster.
Otherwise Engl, Mesa or others, depending on your budget, and some can get VERY expensive.

 

[Metal Overload]

Sansamp psa-1, not tube but really metal, way to much versatile as the others, and cheaper

 

[Razorjack]

Among the ones you mentioned, I'd go for the Prophecy and stay away from the JMP-1, never tried a Rockmaster.
Otherwise Engl, Mesa or others, depending on your budget, and some can get VERY expensive.

The Prophesy over the JMP-1? Really? I guess you've never tweaked a JMP-1 properly then!?! The Prophesy is the biggest waste of money I've ever seen!! I tried everything to get a useable tone from one and it never worked out. For the same money (the Prophesy being about £900 new) a recto recording pre is a better option.

 

[Torsis]

I'd rather have a JMP-1 and a rack effects unit of some kind rather than a Prophesy.

Shit, I'd rather have a Rockmaster and Replifex more than a Prophesy

 

[Mr. Brokenamp]

Depends what you want. I've owned mostly everything.
The JMP-1 is good with an eq in the loop but they are mostly solid state and can
be very non pleasant to fix. The mesa studio is very metal with a bbe in the loop and it's inexpensive. The Soldano preamp is good too. The Bogner Fish is excellent but very expensive.

 

[Jackal_Strain]

I've also heard that the engl pre gives great results.

 

[006]

Rocktron preamps are....how to put it...BLEH. My friend uses a Chameleon through his Laney GH head and it's god awful.

JMP-1's can sound absolutely killer with the right processing units in the chain. Had a bunch of them come into the studio back in the day. Some were bad, some were good, and some were just amazing. Depends on a lot of things.

The Rockmaster supposedly is similar to a 5150 in many ways....but the fact that it's also *different* from a 5150 in many ways makes it a secluded unit. I've heard nothing but good things though, if that matters. Dunno if it's metal-ish or not, never tried one.

Soldano, Engl, and Mesa make some great preamps, as Brokenamp stated.

~e.a

 

[kaomao]

if you can find a x99 motorized preamp by soldano buy it
the best preamp I have ever heard

http://www.soldano.com/amps/x99.htm

They don't produce it anymore I think, you can't find a page on the homepage of soldano, I found it just by google-ing.
or you can try this
the sp77 from soldano as well, it kills

 

[IronApe]

The Prophesy over the JMP-1? Really? I guess you've never tweaked a JMP-1 properly then!?!

I'd rather have a JMP-1 and a rack effects unit of some kind rather than a Prophesy.

Really? Well, then I probably heard the most fucked up JMP-1 in history. A guy I used to play with had both, and he couldn't manage to get even a decent tone with his JMP-1, while he could dig out some good stuff with the Prophecy. But then again, maybe my ears are just fucked up...!

Kaomao, did you ever try Masotti stuff?

 

[kaomao]

Kaomao, did you ever try Masotti stuff?

Never tried it, but I heard good things about it

 

[Ronnie_Rocker]

Mesa Triaxis is tha shit in preamp ways! Triaxis+2:90 poweramp.

 

[JeffTD]

TriAxis, no doubt. The JMP-1 has always sounded thin to me.

 

[gibbed]

What do you guys think of the peavey rockmaster? They're cheap and from what I hear, they do high gain well.

 

[joeymusicguy]

is it just me or does the pod xt's emulation of the jmp1 sound too muffled?

 

[Daunt]

I have Rockmaster and made a sample of it a while back:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/5139362-post16.html

It's pretty good but not as metal as 5150/6505. There's something in the midrange that makes it sound more rock oriented.

 

[sparkyness]

My ENGL E530 pre just got delivered on Friday and have only had time to screw around with it for a couple of hours thus far, but really digging the higher gain tones I can pull out of it. Haven't delved into the clean channel too far yet.

 

[cobhc]

The Digitech 2101 can sound good, JMP-1 sounds killer to me, not so good if you dig a more scooped tone though. The ENGL preamps are awesome, Triaxis is fucking great (see Dream Theater, Metallica, etc.). ADA-MP1 is supposed to be good, especially with the huge amount of mods you can do to it. I'm suprised noone's asked what Poweramp you're thinking of using it with yet, let us know, it might help aid our advice. Also what do you class as metal, do you mean the likes of Arch Enemy, Chimaira, Nevermore, etc. Or more classic metal bands?

 

[carvedones]

sp77 from soldano as well, it kills

Are these good for heavy nevermore, testament tones?

 

[kaomao]

Are these good for heavy nevermore, testament tones?

Nope I don't think, maybe for something warmer, but not for the grinding tone of Nevermore/Testament.