So where are all the holy grail 80s preamps at?

[guidedbyechoes]

Okay, this is my list of owned pre-amps that are all long gone now. I don't miss the refrigerator & the stupid weight AT ALL.

The end result is I got the most joy hands down sound wise using humbuckers out of the Kasha RockMod 2.
The clean channel blew but the dirt channels were stellar.

These were all mated to a VHT Blackface 2150 into a Marshall cab with either V30s or greenbacks.
My wet sound was provided by an Eventide H8000a.

Mesa Quad Pre amp - Plenty of knobs but not too many different sounds & dirt lacked punch focus
Soldano X88 - Nah, just too Soldano for me but not as good as a SLO either
Soldano X99 - Flat thinnish sound but plenty of programming options obviously. Watching the knobs spin was a blast.
Egnator ie4 Red Face - way too bright & thin
VHT GP3 - Great on paper but a dog sound wise & lacked gain. Flat & lifeless best describes it.
Kasha Rockmod 2
Gallien Kruger 100MPL - Lifeson's pre for a time
Mesa Triaxis - without the dynamic voice at 3.5 for everything it was a dog. LD2 Red was noisy JUNK.

This is what a Kasha Rockmod 2 can sound like here.

Today, a good modern head with a decent reverb etc ....gets me a far better gainer punchy ballsy result today.

I hated my Triaxis until I learned how to dial in it's weird eq. I have the version with the recto as L1 red. Sounded like tinny undefined garbage until I heard if you put the input gain at 6 and then dial drive to taste it can sound good. Well it sounds close enough to the vintage channel on a recto for my needs. If you dig that tone or not is another story. It is pretty gained out on any drive setting.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

I just sold my MP1 and Myasnikov Superlead SLO clone. I think what I'm pretty much looking for is a Morin preamp but I doubt I'll find one, or maybe one of the Metaltronix preamps Zakk used in his early days.

Morin preamps are pretty much cream of the crop. The only preamp that's come close is a Soldano X88R modded with a channel 3 bright switch (fixes the slow attack).

CAE 3+ is kind of underwhelming for high gain. Langner DCP-1 sounds great based on Michael Nielsen's recent video—mids are in the right place.

Please tell me about the X88R ch3 bright switch mod? The preamp already has a bright cap on the gain pot for ch3, and the traditional Soldano mod is to remove the cap so that it doesn't get too bright when set for low gain.

Ch2 on the preamp and the crunch channel on the SLO100 has fixed bright circuit before the gain pot instead of cap on the actual gain pot. Is this what you're talking about implementing?

 

[Snave]

I just sold my MP1 and Myasnikov Superlead SLO clone. I think what I'm pretty much looking for is a Morin preamp but I doubt I'll find one, or maybe one of the Metaltronix preamps Zakk used in his early days.

Morin preamps are pretty much cream of the crop. The only preamp that's come close is a Soldano X88R modded with a channel 3 bright switch (fixes the slow attack).

CAE 3+ is kind of underwhelming for high gain. Langner DCP-1 sounds great based on Michael Nielsen's recent video—mids are in the right place.

Please tell me about the X88R ch3 bright switch mod? The preamp already has a bright cap on the gain pot for ch3, and the traditional Soldano mod is to remove the cap so that it doesn't get too bright when set for low gain.

Ch2 on the preamp and the crunch channel on the SLO100 has fixed bright circuit before the gain pot instead of cap on the actual gain pot. Is this what you're talking about implementing?

I don't know the specifics of it. The switch had a noticeable effect at high gain settings, so it wasn't just the Haynes mod. It sounded quite different from the other X88R I had later, and the new owner thought it sounded different from his other X88R as well.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

I just sold my MP1 and Myasnikov Superlead SLO clone. I think what I'm pretty much looking for is a Morin preamp but I doubt I'll find one, or maybe one of the Metaltronix preamps Zakk used in his early days.

Morin preamps are pretty much cream of the crop. The only preamp that's come close is a Soldano X88R modded with a channel 3 bright switch (fixes the slow attack).

CAE 3+ is kind of underwhelming for high gain. Langner DCP-1 sounds great based on Michael Nielsen's recent video—mids are in the right place.

Please tell me about the X88R ch3 bright switch mod? The preamp already has a bright cap on the gain pot for ch3, and the traditional Soldano mod is to remove the cap so that it doesn't get too bright when set for low gain.

Ch2 on the preamp and the crunch channel on the SLO100 has fixed bright circuit before the gain pot instead of cap on the actual gain pot. Is this what you're talking about implementing?

I don't know the specifics of it. The switch had a noticeable effect at high gain settings, so it wasn't just the Haynes mod. It sounded quite different from the other X88R I had later, and the new owner thought it sounded different from his other X88R as well.

Ok! Could you describe the difference compared to a stock X88R?

 

[jabps]

Okay, this is my list of owned pre-amps that are all long gone now. I don't miss the refrigerator & the stupid weight AT ALL.

The end result is I got the most joy hands down sound wise using humbuckers out of the Kasha RockMod 2.
The clean channel blew but the dirt channels were stellar.

These were all mated to a VHT Blackface 2150 into a Marshall cab with either V30s or greenbacks.
My wet sound was provided by an Eventide H8000a.

Mesa Quad Pre amp - Plenty of knobs but not too many different sounds & dirt lacked punch focus
Soldano X88 - Nah, just too Soldano for me but not as good as a SLO either
Soldano X99 - Flat thinnish sound but plenty of programming options obviously. Watching the knobs spin was a blast.
Egnator ie4 Red Face - way too bright & thin
VHT GP3 - Great on paper but a dog sound wise & lacked gain. Flat & lifeless best describes it.
Kasha Rockmod 2
Gallien Kruger 100MPL - Lifeson's pre for a time
Mesa Triaxis - without the dynamic voice at 3.5 for everything it was a dog. LD2 Red was noisy JUNK.

This is what a Kasha Rockmod 2 can sound like here.

Today, a good modern head with a decent reverb etc ....gets me a far better gainer punchy ballsy result today.

Good run down. I'll add some of mine. Power amp varied over the years with the MosValve, Boogie 50/50, 2:90, VHT Two/Fifty, Rocktron and Peavey Stereo 120 Classic. The Peavey and the Boogie 50/50 being my favorite power amps. For pre-amps - in no particular order...

Gallien Krueger 2000cpl. It was Lifeson in a rack. Incredible clean tones and frankly, I really liked the high gain sounds as well. One of the more truly underrated pre-amps.

Langner - I had two of Todd's DCP-1's. The early mint cream faced and the later mint brushed aluminum look. The later I had Todd add an additional Gain Pot on the back for even more gain. I bought both these for $400. Crazy. The second version was my main tone for several years. I would switch to the GK 2000 for clean tones. Both of these Langners sounded great however the early mint version sounded better. Unfortunately I sold it to buy the newer one but had it long enough to compare the two. I remember thinking, I'll just give this guy (my friend) the new one and I'll keep the old one but couldn't do it. Karma and all. I did try and buy it back from him but he wouldn't budge. I feel lucky that I was able to speak with Todd during this era, really nice guy that listened to me blabber on.

ADA - I had a stock ADA MP-1 and one modded by Todd. Also later had the MP-2 but much preferred the Langner modded Mp-1. I liked both the stock version and Todd's modded version. I actually moved from the modded Langner to his pre-amps. Both the ADA's were straight rock machines.

Triaxis - Not much to say on this. Didn't like it. Harsh is what I remember. I still think for single rack midi pre's, the ADA is just a ton better than this. Then again, I have never got on with Boogie amps as a whole other than their power amps.

Hafler / Bogner Triple Giant - I just didn't jive with this thing. Head to head with Langner, not even in the same ballpark IMO. Kinda lifeless IMO.

Egnater ie4 Red - same results as you.

Soldano Series II - No. I liked nothing about this except the purple face plate.

Marshall JMP-1 - Solid. Ofthe single rack space midi pre's this would come in number two behind the ADA. I could never get as much gain from this unit as I wanted but I did like the tones.

Rocktron ProGap - Highly underrated tones. Good high gain for solid state and cleans were great.

Never got to try the Kasha, it was for sure on the radar but then the 5150 happened. The rack was gone and that became my amp for a solid decade.

Of all the ones I owned I guess the Langners, ADA MP-1 stock and modded and the Triaxis would be considered grail tones. Of all that I owned my faves were -

1 Langner DCP-1
2 ADA Modded by Todd
3 ADA MP-1 Stock
4 Gallien Krueger 2000 cpl.

 

[Snave]

Ok! Could you describe the difference compared to a stock X88R?

More Marshall-like bite to the tone. Brings a bit of clarity like the crunch channel on an SLO. I found this schematic for an SP77 lead bright mod in my files—it's possibly similar to what was done to the X88R, since the two positions are labeled normal and bright.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

Ok! Could you describe the difference compared to a stock X88R?

More Marshall-like bite to the tone. Brings a bit of clarity like the crunch channel on an SLO. I found this schematic for an SP77 lead bright mod in my files—it's possibly similar to what was done to the X88R, since the two positions are labeled normal and bright.

Yep, that's a pre gain control fixed treble circuit. Thanks for showing it

 

[Jack Luminous]

The X99 has a bright switch on the third channel FWIW. Best 80s/90s style preamp for my own taste.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

The X99 has a bright switch on the third channel FWIW. Best 80s/90s style preamp for my own taste.

Yes, that's also a fixed circuit and not a bright cap. There is a bright cap on the gain pot, pot it's not switchable.

 

[Devin]

This isn't considered a holy grail.....frankly almost no one knows they ever existed but I managed to finally score a Starfield preamp last month after searching for one for like 15 years.

It's pretty fuckin badass, too

I'll get around to doing some clips with it eventually

 

[Norton666]

Let us not forget about the Peavey Rockmaster. Those preamps are KILLER. They will stand up against most modern high gain heads. The ADA MP-1 was my main rig for years and years , back in the day. I even had the 2x12 split stack ADA cabs. It was a great sounding rig

 

[Rufus Leaking]

One of my favorite setups back in the day was a Groove Tubes Trio running in stereo with an Engl E530. Both killer preamps that sounded great together.

 

[jabps]

One of my favorite setups back in the day was a Groove Tubes Trio running in stereo with an Engl E530. Both killer preamps that sounded great together.

The Trio was highly underrated. Was on my list before I left the rack gear.

 

[Little B]

^^^^ I totally forgot about the groove tubes trio..That was a killer preamp..Its on some hit records if my memory serves me right.
On a side note,maybe some haven't had good results with a triaxis-( eq in the loop is key here and keep dv down to 2 or 3).
Yes,the jmp1 does improve with high grade preamp tubes even if its running diodes too.
Bogner fish ,soldano x88r, vht gp3,and Cae 3+se all immensely improve with 8th,9th gen and high grade tubes; it lifts the blanket off these preamps.
At times I actually prefer my gp3,x88r, and quad or tri over my clx,slo,and mkiic+,especially when paired to a good tube poweramp.All these preamps have way way more than enough gain,no need to max out the gain knob,and thats running a tele w/ lindy fralins- not a high gain guitar at all.When my bradshaw rig was doing studio work,some clients preferred the preamps over their respective heads.So that tells me that its all in the details and how u set ur rig up and dial it in..ymmv