Pre-Amps, Rack Pres, Pedal Pres to put in front of a TNTL

[steve_k]

I thought about trying a Mesa V-Twin at one time. Would probably be good. Those Blackstar pedals are nice (tube driven) pedals too for more traditional tone. There are some videos around with the Bogner Red/Blue pedals that are quite nice too. Other options - JMP-1, Triaxis, Mesa Studio Pre and others which are pretty reasonably priced and have good resale if it didn't work out.

There's always the Zerrer too.....

 

[Bleedback]

I'm currently using a Marshall JMP-1 & a MAKO MAK4 preamp with my live. Both direct into the live or through a loop return then back into the live. Coupling both with some Ownhammer IR's sounds really great as do the dedicated IR's of the live too. Even direct into my PA system without an actual tube power amp I can get a pretty decent tone. My band (hard rock/alternative rock) just tracked a majority of the rhythm guitar for our new EP with the JMP-1 and Mako by themselves with excellent results. They both sound massive together! I actually ended up preferring it a bit more to the tracking we did with my '78 JMP 2203 w/APC mod (my favorite amp).

Other preamps I've used with the live...
- Voodoo Labs preamp
- Mesa Boogie Rectifier preamp
- Bogner Fish Reissue
- Bogner Blue, Red, & Uberschall pedals
- Blackstar HT-DISTX
- Electrode SR-71 Blackbird

I only own a few if the above still, but it wasn't due to them sounding crappy. They all sounded great too. Just had to use my budget for tools that worked with my current project. I can't wait to try the Zerrer with my live!

 

[Bleedback]

So exactly how are you connecting them to your live, are you going into direct in on the back?

Yep, basically--but I don't run it like that all the time. Sometimes I run the preamp into the return on my VH4 or JMP 2203, then run the speaker out on either amp back into the live. I've really been meaning to buy a dedicated power amp (like a vht 2/90/2) for both preamps as I haven't tried that with the live yet. Running the preamps into the power amps of either my VH4 or 2203 does add some additional body, low end, and color when playing or recording, but honestly I've found the ownhammer IR's (which are captured with an R2/50 power amp I believe) sound really good just by themselves with the preamp output direct into the live's input. I can't really tell much of a difference between the two methods without being real nitpicky. But, as always, YMMV.