Anyone using the VHT/Fryette GP3 preamp?

I just saw one of these for the first time in a long while and had a mild GAS attack. Ten-fifteen years ago you saw a lot of talk about these but I haven´t seen one in ages, is anyone still liking and using these or were they just not that great at the end of the day? It sort of was one of the last new high-end tube preamps to come out and it has great features on paper, so I´ve always been curious about it. All the VHT/Fryette heads I´ve played are great in their very typical way and I imagine the pre should be too.

I played one my buddy had. Think we used a 2/90/2 with it. I'd just as soon have the UL instead.

I owned one for awhile. Just couldn't get it sound big even with 3 different tube power amps. Just seemed boxy and mid heavy

I had the GP3 & 2/50/2 setup for awhile... I liked my UL better. I hear there is a gain mod available for the preamp that gets it in UL territory, but why do that when you can just have UL.

I still like mine, but I got the GP/DI later and found out that it basically covers the same tones at a lower price point (minus footswitchable channels/separate EQs).

My friend has an UL and we compared it with GP3 through the UL's power section. Sounded close enough to us, although GP3 has less available gain.

The GP3 gain mod is more of a makeshift mod to add gain in a simple way. From the clips I've heard it seems to take away some of the Fryette characters.

godgrinder":ysue3f7b said:

I still like mine, but I got the GP/DI later and found out that it basically covers the same tones at a lower price point (minus footswitchable channels/separate EQs).

My friend has an UL and we compared it with GP3 through the UL's power section. Sounded close enough to us, although GP3 has less available gain.

The GP3 gain mod is more of a makeshift mod to add gain in a simple way. From the clips I've heard it seems to take away some of the Fryette characters.

Click to expand...

Since I have a GP/DI but have never played a GP3 (though I did own a UL for a while), how would you compare the GP3 to the GP/DI as a preamp into power amp?

dirtyfunkg":3cvri6wd said:

Since I have a GP/DI but have never played a GP3 (though I did own a UL for a while), how would you compare the GP3 to the GP/DI as a preamp into power amp?

Click to expand...

Through the same power amp (2/90/2) the core tones sound the same to me (the 3 modes on the GP/DI correspond to GP3's 3 channels). The dual gain controls on the GP/DI work the same way as the gain and boost controls on GP3. The more/less switch is the same as the hi gain switch on the GP3.

GP3 has more fine tuning options (fat/bright/GEQ etc) though, but these might not be essential for some.