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What's the deal with ampsim/preamp/amp-in-a-box pedals? (kbin.social)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey everyone, I'm a bit out of the loop with these pedals, and I'm trying to understand the ways people are using them.

I understand what they do, I'm just wondering why someone would use a pedal instead of just setting on an amp that has the gain or tone shaping characteristics that they're looking for.

In particular, because the pedal then (presumably) gets plugged into the amps preamp section anyway, which is going to colour the sound again. So then, would the optimum use be to plug into a really transparent, clean amp?

To be clear, I'm talking about pedals like the UA Ruby, Zvex box of rock, Benson Preamp. Not so much about Helix, ToneX, etc. I know the latter are more like an all-in-one recording solution, so you can DI and still get great sounds at home, but the former? I'm not so sure what they're best used for!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Thanks for the replies, so far. I definitely understand the appeal of amp-sims to use at home/in the studio, I use them for that myself.

I should say, I'm more interested in pedals such as the Benson Preamp, Zvex box of rock, JHS colourbox (?), EQD Acapulco Gold, etc. AFAIK, theyre supposed to be used as gain pedals, not amp replacement/sim pedals.

So what I'm specifically interested in, is in which cases it's preferable to use one of these pedals, when volume is not an issue. When you have something like a Roland Jazz Chorus that you want to add some gain to? I imagine you wouldn't want to use them with a Bassman or Marshall, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah if the pedal doesn't have a CAB sim then it's just putting the preamp section (and maybe tone stack) of an amp into a pedal, and you can arrange the rest of your signal change around it the same as you would like it's the front of an amp. You can stack it in any order with other gain pedals, or you can go front of amp to stack the gain stages of both. Some amps' FX loop are line level, and some are instrument level. So some of these preamp pedals might not work going directly into the FX loop return. You could even use them as underdrive, to quiet an amp that is otherwise too loud for the situation (there's a recent TPS show episode on this posted in [email protected])

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

One thing you might end with is a setup that allows you to have more or less the same sound regardless of the amp you’ll find on the stage; i had a friend that did it because of that… he’d set the amps flat when they had no fx loop and he ran his rig in front