Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: precarius on February 08, 2011, 08:16:28 PM
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Does anybody have experience with this preamp? I picked one up for $150 just for something different to play with. Anybody like it? Anybody hate it?
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I have their Acoustimax preamp for acoustic instruments. I love it. It also has their famous Sonic Maximzer included in the unit.
Bill, tgo
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I have heard good things about the tube version, though less interest in the non-tube. Everything has a color and everyone has an ear. It's a rare item in the market that doesn't have some usable tones in it. If you have it, give it a whirl. Toss any preconceptions out the window and give all the knobs a thorough spin, you may find something interesting.
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Leaving the F1-X aside, to my ears, I can't tell that much difference between a solid state amp and an amp with a 12AX7 tube in the preamp. With the F1-X I can hear a big difference with a different brand tube. Everything else? Not so much.
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A a general review, it's a good quality mid-line pre-amp; with the added clarity of the BBE circuit...The compressor function on it is very adequate, though it does not rise to the level of a DBX 160A...The gain structuring is very good...but the unit itself can be noisy in non-filtered power situations.
Overall; I would not be ashamed to fire it up on stage at all. The Tube version; (BMax-T) is warmer in tonality, nothing more.
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I use the non-tube version in rehearsal and have occasionally taken it to a gig when I've had problems in my stage rig. It doesn't give me the sound I like in my main rig, but having heard a couple other players playing through it (we were responsible for providing the backline for a benefit), I'd say it sounded pretty good out front. A bargain for $150.