This was really everything a guitar player needs to know about the subject in less than 10 minutes and with a level of clarity that is rarely reached on UA-cam. Great! Hope that my Kingsley Pedals will be coming soon :-)
man, I wish the video was around years ago when I was shopping for and trying to understand how preamps work and the possibilities with amps!!!!!! this is a public service announcement!!!!!
This is the most important tuto that any guitar player should watch before buying any gears such as amps or effects ...'N watch the ridiculous amount of views thats why folks out there on YT are always complaining about the crappy tone they get regardless of the amount of money they spend on their equipment ...hahaha My setup is a Blackbird trial tube preamp pedal (with tube swap) + an MXR solid state kind of preamp 10 bdsEQ pedal + a Boss GT100 mulifx N finally i run all those in a pretty simple KC110 keyboard amp with a bunch of stereo inputs < Ze Nirvana Tone > ...you got it ^-6
As Many have already said good job on explaining about using a pre amp. I am using a Tube Pilot as a preamp into solid state amps to get the Tube sound you dont normally get from SS preamps I have found that changing the Tube to different types and adjusting the tubes bias I can get a wide variety of sound from a preamp.
Hello, thank you for that advice. I'm an old hobby guitar player, and I don't really understand this modern gear. I bought the blackbird pe amp pedal on a whim, now I have some idea how to use it.
Good job describing pre amps and power amps. Very informative. For this reason I want to purchase one of your pre amp pedals. Not sure which ones to look at. I have A 1 watt jcm 800 marshall head. no effects loop. Any ideas. Looking for suggestions. Thank You Mitch
Very informative. Brilliant. I guess David Gilmour back in 1994 had Pete Cornish remove the preamp from his hiwatt heads and he used the alembic f2b as his main preamp with the hiwatts as slaves. I know a lot of Pink Floyd nuts that would love that preamp in a pedal or in a power amp clone of a hiwatt.
Thanks tunaXonXtoast - the Alembic f2b is simply a fender blackface preamp in a box...the Kingsley Maiden BF is exactly the same thing (in a smaller box) , but with a couple of extra options (like a mid boost and a 3-way bright switch, EQ lift option etc...
I do not have an acoustic amp but I have an acoustic guitar which I play quite often as well as electric guitar. After watching this video I plugged my acoustic guitar into the fx return, bypassing the amp preamp. My acoustic is equipped with a preamp. The sound was much more acceptable. Not perfect since it came through regular guitar amp speakers but it wasn't harsh like it normally is when you run an acoustic through an electric amp.
This video was exactly what I was looking for. Mick & Dan got me onto your pre-amps, but I found this channel just now, on my own. I'm leaning to SS power amp because of cost & consistency. Your preamps are the best out there in this market IMO. Lovely. I must have. Cheers!
A well made and understandable take on it. I would love to see more videos like this! Also a little question...what is your advice in starting to build pedals?
SIMON JARRETT< it would be nice if these kingsley marshall, fender, dumble preamp pedals has a SAG compression control, biasing controls, Variac brown sound tone controls. Trying to get a large variety of "breaking up tube tones"
Oh. Almost forgot. Do you do pedal format power amps? Do you make solid state analogue pedals, both preamp and power amp by any chance. Sorry for all the questions.
Great video Simon. I fall into the category of using digital amp simulators when recording due to my living situation (cant blast out guitar too loudly!) and am now seeking to improve my clean tone using a tube preamp of some description. I wonder if you could point me in the direction of some of these that might be suitable as there is so much stuff on the net? I found another video earlier that pointed me in the direction of getting a better d.i. box, so i guess that is another option. My current signal path uses a focusrite usb interface which i currently d.i. my guitar directly into, sometimes i use my other pedals before the interface but none of these have valves or tubes. Any guidance would be most appreciated cheers!
I would recommend a nice valve preamp (like our Squire, Maiden , Juggler or Constable) followed by a cab simulator (like the Two Notes Torpedo CAB, Mooer Radar, Neunaber Iconoclast etc) then into your audio interface. Of course you can add effects before or after the preamp as well. Some cab sims have built in power amp sims as well....not 100% necessary but nice. I make the Crucible (1W valve power amp) also for adding the power amp warmth, both for low volume situations and for recording. Can also simply load your whole tube amp down with a reactive dummy load, then cab sims, DAW....eg Suhr ractive load, UA OX (I have this - great product). Cheers, Simon
That was a great explanation! A request for a future one: many of the available rack poweramps are stereo; could you address ways of using seperate mono preamps with stereo/duo monoblock poweramps?
Sure - will talk about it in the follow up video, but basically you would plug the output of the mono preamp into an effect that has stereo outs, like a delay or reverb unit, which can then feed both sides of the stereo power amp (whether or not the effect is used).
PPIMV thanks for your reply! The reason why I ask is because I currently use a digital stereo rack fx unit and am looking to move (or maybe just add to my setup) a (usually mono) pedal chain as well as changing/extending my tone range (currently a jmp-1 fed into said fx and then into a mesa 50/50). And all that without having to get a second poweramp. So basically, to be able to switch between my stereo setup and a new mono chain using the same stereo poweramp. Adding a stereo pedal was something I was considering so thanks for the affirmation :) Following up on your suggestion, would an aby switch also work?
Good. But if you put your pre amp pedal in the fx loop, where dou you put you overdrive pedals? Before or after your pre amp pedal? I assume is before, but maybe not...
most of the commercial 'tube' pedals use the tube inside another bigger circuit with IC or transistors, so they are hybrid and the tube doesn't do that much. a smallnumber of tube pedals rely only on the tube itself, feeding with hih voltage or starved voltage usually 12v
Yes of course tubes like transistors and ICs can be used in many ways....in the case of Kingsley pedals the tube is either the only amplifying element or the primary one. They are also not starved plate designs.
Hi Simon, Great video! Is there a big difference in output level between your preamp pedals and the Page? If not, maybe to use the page and a graphic EQ pedal in series would be an alternative solution (straight in a power amp) ? Boss GE7 has a lot of output... maybe the only pedal that need big headroom would be the last before the power amp... I'm I right? I just need to find a temporary solution to fill the leadtime to get a proper Kingsley preamp. Do you make stereo versions of your preamp that would be a bit more affordable than 2 seperate preamps? Thanks!
The Page has a pretty hot output already - certainly enough for preamp use. However, it will sound a bit dark in place of a preamp. Adding a GE7 could help for sure - worth a try! I don't currently offer any preamps that are true stereo or have dual outputs. The easiest solution is to simply add a reverb or delay that has stereo outs (after the preamp).
If I had the money, I would get myself a Kingsley amplifier, simply the best I've ever heard. However, the most I can afford would be a pedal. My amplifier is solid state, it's very good but I'm wondering would my putting a Kingsley pre-amp pedal before it, bring some of these beautiful tones or would I not notice much difference?
While the power amp plays a very important role in the tone shaping of a guitar amp, the preamp is arguably just as important - replacing your preamp will make a difference for sure...whether or not it will be a change for the better is subjective of course and depends on the sound quality of what you already have and the preamp you replace it with.
Is there a difference between these tube preamp and regular drive pedals? I'm not really a techniqual guy. I mean could I use just any overdrive pedal in front a poweramp? Or is there some difference which does not allow me to use any overdrive (as preamp)?
Yes, there is a big difference (I talk about this at 8.20 in the video) - an OD pedal will sound too dark, dull and lifeless into a power amp directly...you need the preamp to liven up your signal in general.
Thanks for the clarification I'll keep it mind. I'd like to build myself a pedal rig around the seymour duncan powerstage 170 and you just might have helped me a lot with that info.
Thanks for the info! I once read, that the to flatten the frequency response of a tipical tone stack guitar amp (Bass, Mid, Trebble) we need to set: Bass 0; Mid 10; Treble 0; I see you are recommending a similar setting to get a flat response and to get a better result with a pedal preamp with it's own "tone stack"...
Hey Simon, for small gigs I like to take a solid state like the Boss Katana with me and was wondering if these preamp pedals would work great in the fx loop of a solid state amp?
Hi, I'll find your video very clear and understandable... so, I wish contribute to translate for italian people, adding translation subtitles to this video. Can you change in properties the ability to add external translations? Thanks anyway for your outstanding work.
This was really everything a guitar player needs to know about the subject in less than 10 minutes and with a level of clarity that is rarely reached on UA-cam. Great! Hope that my Kingsley Pedals will be coming soon :-)
Such a great dude. Clear, concise, humble. A great engineer and a fantastic player on top of it all.
man, I wish the video was around years ago when I was shopping for and trying to understand how preamps work and the possibilities with amps!!!!!! this is a public service announcement!!!!!
Great job Simon. Very useful and straight forward. You are the King of preamp pedals!
Fantastic, the combinations are almost limitless and one can finely tune their own sound. AWESOME!
This is the most important tuto that any guitar player should watch before buying any gears such as amps or effects
...'N watch the ridiculous amount of views thats why folks out there on YT are always complaining about the crappy tone they get regardless of the amount of money they spend on their equipment ...hahaha
My setup is a Blackbird trial tube preamp pedal (with tube swap) + an MXR solid state kind of preamp 10 bdsEQ pedal + a Boss GT100 mulifx N finally i run all those in a pretty simple KC110 keyboard amp with a bunch of stereo inputs
< Ze Nirvana Tone > ...you got it ^-6
Great to see more videos from you Simon!
What a great concise explanation. Learned a couple new things myself. Thank you
Everything Simon makes is incredible ... you cannot lose in buying his gizmos!
Thanks for the accuracy, brevity, and clarity,..!
thanks so much for this simple & fascinating explanation of what a pre-amp really does. Great job & well done ☆☆☆☆☆
Awesome video Simon! these little details escape the majority of players these days. Thanks for the video!!
Thanks KrazyDirtWeed!
Great video. Very informative and intelligently described.
As Many have already said good job on explaining about using a pre amp. I am using a Tube Pilot as a preamp into solid state amps to get the Tube sound you dont normally get from SS preamps I have found that changing the Tube to different types and adjusting the tubes bias I can get a wide variety of sound from a preamp.
Awesome and educational! Thanks
LOVE these videos.
I agree Simon has been killing it with these videos lately!
Very informative. Awesome job mate 👍
Very nice overview. Thumbs up. One person that thought they where watching a pasta making video gave this a thumbs down apparently.
Hello, thank you for that advice. I'm an old hobby guitar player, and I don't really understand this modern gear. I bought the blackbird pe amp pedal on a whim, now I have some idea how to use it.
Great informative video Simon!
Good job describing pre amps and power amps. Very informative. For this reason I want to purchase one of your pre amp pedals. Not sure which ones to look at. I have A 1 watt jcm 800 marshall head. no effects loop. Any ideas. Looking for suggestions. Thank You Mitch
Very informative. Brilliant. I guess David Gilmour back in 1994 had Pete Cornish remove the preamp from his hiwatt heads and he used the alembic f2b as his main preamp with the hiwatts as slaves. I know a lot of Pink Floyd nuts that would love that preamp in a pedal or in a power amp clone of a hiwatt.
Thanks tunaXonXtoast - the Alembic f2b is simply a fender blackface preamp in a box...the Kingsley Maiden BF is exactly the same thing (in a smaller box) , but with a couple of extra options (like a mid boost and a 3-way bright switch, EQ lift option etc...
PPIMV really I didn't know that. I'll have to look into it
Clear, concise, great explanation.
I do not have an acoustic amp but I have an acoustic guitar which I play quite often as well as electric guitar. After watching this video I plugged my acoustic guitar into the fx return, bypassing the amp preamp. My acoustic is equipped with a preamp. The sound was much more acceptable. Not perfect since it came through regular guitar amp speakers but it wasn't harsh like it normally is when you run an acoustic through an electric amp.
excellent explanation.Thanks Simon!
Great new series of videos! I would love to see some AB comparisons between a preamp + power station setup vs a real Blackface or Vox amp.
This video was exactly what I was looking for. Mick & Dan got me onto your pre-amps, but I found this channel just now, on my own. I'm leaning to SS power amp because of cost & consistency. Your preamps are the best out there in this market IMO. Lovely. I must have. Cheers!
Wow!! Fantastic explanation!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Fantatique information mister kingsley!! 😊
A well made and understandable take on it. I would love to see more videos like this!
Also a little question...what is your advice in starting to build pedals?
Very nice and clear
SIMON JARRETT< it would be nice if these kingsley marshall, fender, dumble preamp pedals has a SAG compression control, biasing controls, Variac brown sound tone controls. Trying to get a large variety of "breaking up tube tones"
Simon is a wizard.
EXCELENT VIDEO! thanks a lot
Oh. Almost forgot. Do you do pedal format power amps? Do you make solid state analogue pedals, both preamp and power amp by any chance. Sorry for all the questions.
You can see everything at www.kingsleyamplifiers.com
No pedal format power amps I'm afraid....only pedal preamps.
Great video Simon. I fall into the category of using digital amp simulators when recording due to my living situation (cant blast out guitar too loudly!) and am now seeking to improve my clean tone using a tube preamp of some description. I wonder if you could point me in the direction of some of these that might be suitable as there is so much stuff on the net? I found another video earlier that pointed me in the direction of getting a better d.i. box, so i guess that is another option. My current signal path uses a focusrite usb interface which i currently d.i. my guitar directly into, sometimes i use my other pedals before the interface but none of these have valves or tubes. Any guidance would be most appreciated cheers!
I would recommend a nice valve preamp (like our Squire, Maiden , Juggler or Constable) followed by a cab simulator (like the Two Notes Torpedo CAB, Mooer Radar, Neunaber Iconoclast etc) then into your audio interface. Of course you can add effects before or after the preamp as well.
Some cab sims have built in power amp sims as well....not 100% necessary but nice. I make the Crucible (1W valve power amp) also for adding the power amp warmth, both for low volume situations and for recording.
Can also simply load your whole tube amp down with a reactive dummy load, then cab sims, DAW....eg Suhr ractive load, UA OX (I have this - great product). Cheers, Simon
That was a great explanation! A request for a future one: many of the available rack poweramps are stereo; could you address ways of using seperate mono preamps with stereo/duo monoblock poweramps?
Sure - will talk about it in the follow up video, but basically you would plug the output of the mono preamp into an effect that has stereo outs, like a delay or reverb unit, which can then feed both sides of the stereo power amp (whether or not the effect is used).
PPIMV thanks for your reply! The reason why I ask is because I currently use a digital stereo rack fx unit and am looking to move (or maybe just add to my setup) a (usually mono) pedal chain as well as changing/extending my tone range (currently a jmp-1 fed into said fx and then into a mesa 50/50). And all that without having to get a second poweramp. So basically, to be able to switch between my stereo setup and a new mono chain using the same stereo poweramp. Adding a stereo pedal was something I was considering so thanks for the affirmation :)
Following up on your suggestion, would an aby switch also work?
Yes, an A/B/Y box will work too for getting two outputs out of a mono preamp....having said that, a simple Y-cable will work.
Good. But if you put your pre amp pedal in the fx loop, where dou you put you overdrive pedals? Before or after your pre amp pedal? I assume is before, but maybe not...
Put OD pedals before the preamp...just as you always do with any amp.
most of the commercial 'tube' pedals use the tube inside another bigger circuit with IC or transistors, so they are hybrid and the tube doesn't do that much. a smallnumber of tube pedals rely only on the tube itself, feeding with hih voltage or starved voltage usually 12v
Yes of course tubes like transistors and ICs can be used in many ways....in the case of Kingsley pedals the tube is either the only amplifying element or the primary one. They are also not starved plate designs.
Hi Simon, Great video! Is there a big difference in output level between your preamp pedals and the Page? If not, maybe to use the page and a graphic EQ pedal in series would be an alternative solution (straight in a power amp) ? Boss GE7 has a lot of output... maybe the only pedal that need big headroom would be the last before the power amp... I'm I right? I just need to find a temporary solution to fill the leadtime to get a proper Kingsley preamp. Do you make stereo versions of your preamp that would be a bit more affordable than 2 seperate preamps? Thanks!
The Page has a pretty hot output already - certainly enough for preamp use. However, it will sound a bit dark in place of a preamp. Adding a GE7 could help for sure - worth a try!
I don't currently offer any preamps that are true stereo or have dual outputs. The easiest solution is to simply add a reverb or delay that has stereo outs (after the preamp).
If I had the money, I would get myself a Kingsley amplifier, simply the best I've ever heard. However, the most I can afford would be a pedal.
My amplifier is solid state, it's very good but I'm wondering would my putting a Kingsley pre-amp pedal before it, bring some of these beautiful tones or would I not notice much difference?
While the power amp plays a very important role in the tone shaping of a guitar amp, the preamp is arguably just as important - replacing your preamp will make a difference for sure...whether or not it will be a change for the better is subjective of course and depends on the sound quality of what you already have and the preamp you replace it with.
@@PPIMV
Thanks very much for your reply. I have a Yamaha THR 100HD.
As for me, a preamp pedal (Blackbird) in front of a SS amp (Jazz Chorus) is really worth the investment.
Is there a difference between these tube preamp and regular drive pedals? I'm not really a techniqual guy. I mean could I use just any overdrive pedal in front a poweramp? Or is there some difference which does not allow me to use any overdrive (as preamp)?
Yes, there is a big difference (I talk about this at 8.20 in the video) - an OD pedal will sound too dark, dull and lifeless into a power amp directly...you need the preamp to liven up your signal in general.
Thanks for the clarification I'll keep it mind. I'd like to build myself a pedal rig around the seymour duncan powerstage 170 and you just might have helped me a lot with that info.
Thanks for the info! I once read, that the to flatten the frequency response of a tipical tone stack guitar amp (Bass, Mid, Trebble) we need to set: Bass 0; Mid 10; Treble 0; I see you are recommending a similar setting to get a flat response and to get a better result with a pedal preamp with it's own "tone stack"...
Just found you. Great vid. Had to sub. Are you in the UK? Do you sell in the states? Thanks in advance.
We are in Canada and ship to the US all the time. You can contact us through our website:
www.kingsleyamplifiers.com
Hey Simon, for small gigs I like to take a solid state like the Boss Katana with me and was wondering if these preamp pedals would work great in the fx loop of a solid state amp?
Absolutely - should be like plugging into a dedicated solid state power amp, which you can hear in my videos with the Seymour Duncan PowerStage 700.
PPIMV awesome thanks for replying!
Hi, I'll find your video very clear and understandable... so, I wish contribute to translate for italian people, adding translation subtitles to this video.
Can you change in properties the ability to add external translations?
Thanks anyway for your outstanding work.
Can you run these direct into a mixer?
You would want a cabinet simulator as well - electric guitar tone is very much affected by the guitar speaker.
@@PPIMV signal chain would be pre amp - power station - ir?
KaBOOM! My head just exploded!
Yes.
😭😭😭 I wish I could afford to pay a Joster overdrive
Isn't an overdrive a sorta preamp??
胜读十年书...
Thanks...i learned alot