Best Preamp For Electric Guitar (2024 Update)

Palmer > = Der SoundQualitt ! so hab ich das erfahren und gelernt! Von Netzteil ber Kabeltester / Di Boxen / usw alles Atomkriegs tauglich > also extra heavy Haptik – da knnten Panzer drber fahren. Klasse ! Bis auf die paar Plastik Sachen kann da nix kaputt gehen … Bei diesem kleinemn Amp ist auch alles Palmer – bis auf den seltsamen Fuschalter ? Da hab ich wohl einen Montags – Griff gemacht. Man tritt rein – – – und erst im letzten micro millimeter knackst es und dann schaltet "dat Dingen ' .." alles funktioniert – fhlt sich aber komisch an – kann aber Palmer wohl nix dafr – also behaupt ich mal – oder kann man sowas wollen? Der Sound ist gut – wenn man bedenkt was man damit vor hat. Einen Amp! einen Rhren Amp mit entsprechnder Box – Microphonie – usw …und das alles in der kleinen Kiste. Naja mit etwas geschraube werden die Sounds schn bis sehr gut – abstriche gibts natrlich bei der Verzerrung – ist aber auch klar – einen Vox AC30 ( 2×12")angezerrt kann man nicht simulieren – punkt oder einen JCM800(4×12") angezerrt – auch wenn man die Microfone in drei verschiedenen Stellungen simuliert. Es bleibt simuliert. Denkt mal an die Grundschule vierte Klasse – morgens vor der Deutscharbeit. Die simulierten Bauchschmerzen waren nie so erfolgreich bei Mutti wie die echten. Aber zum ben ist beides schn!sfptomi

Good vintage clean and crunch tones. The other 7 amp settings are disappointing though. I use it mainly for practice with headphones, sometimes as a preamp for recording.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I bought this used through Guitar Center to boost the output of my Eastman 815 acoustic-electric mandolin, which has an internal microphone but was too quiet. I'm a hobbyist but play in worship settings. I was able to EQ the output to sound like the natural mandolin tone and to boost the volume which was important to me, since, on occasion, I play outdoors or in a large church sanctuary. The tuner is a great asset, making clip-on tuners unnecessary. The tone boost gives the mandolin even more volume for those times when you want to play a solo. The unit runs on a 9V battery or a 9v DC adapter. I happened to own already own a 9v DC adapter, and it gave the unit much more power than the battery, which was great. I definitely recommend getting a 9v DC adapter. This was a good buy!Jamie

The Le Crunch clean channel compliments the Le Clean clean channel nicely both nice but different. The Le Crunch comes out very well in a mix with the result being surprisingly good. The crunch tone is not strident or rasping but nice and warm.moore9764

Looking to downsize and I saw one of these preamps and decided to give it a try. These are a lot cheaper than the Helix and Kemper units and I think worth it. I put this on my board, run my effects in the effects loop, then out to a velocity power amp. Sounds excellent. Highly recommend.TheDude

This enhances the Graphtech Ghost bridge I installed. Installation was relatively simple since all the wiring is modular and plugs into the pre amp. Minimal soldering was required for the jack and switches. There are a lot of wires so the electronic cavity in my guitar is full but I did not have to enlarge it or modify the cavity.Martin

Absolutely the best acoustic guitar sound from any electric guitar hands down. I've tried and owned aftermarket piezo systems and OEM piezo equipped guitars, the ghost just has that nature sound. It reacts like a "plugged in" acoustic guitar. Soft passages are smooth and even, all the strings have equal output, something the other systems did not have. Step into it and the Ghost just gets dynamic, no piezo "quack" or unnatural thin, sharp distorted tones. Add the fact that string breakage becomes a thing of the past, will pay for its self inside a couple of months. Once you've been able to play a cool acoustic intro, then light into the electric chorus, you'll never go back!Anonymous

Put this in my LP Studio and I've got better acoustic tones than many Taylor players I've heard. The difference on the Graphtech compared to regular piezos is dramatic. This setup is worth every penny!bdotson--vm.q

Outstanding product. I purchased this unit to blend the sources from a Highlander IP-2 system (piezo and mic) installed my custom Webber Roundbody. I absolutely love the Highlander IP-2 amplification system but have found it at times to finicky and delicate from a controls perspective — good for studio, home and can be challenging in live situations. The MIxpro has a huge sweet spot and is extremely quiet. Its nice to have volume on your belt. Easy to configure and very straightforward to use. I own an M1 Active and love it. Baggs is a well known name in acoustic preamps — the legacy continues.Christopher

I bought one of these on eBay to use with the JJB Prestige 330 I installed in my Seagull S12. I didn't need the capability to mix two channels together, but I wanted a preamp and this was the cheapest one I could find at the time.I've tried it several times with the JJB pickup, and I've never been able to get a good sound out of it. The tone controls were almost useless and the volume knob was the only thing that really did anything.I have an old Seymour-Duncan soundhole pickup that sounds quite good with this preamp, however. The tone controls come to life and the Mixpro really adds to the Seymour-Duncan's tone. I would definitely recommend trying this preamp out before buying it, because it might not sound good with your pickup.seagullplayer77

Just received my Synergy Deliverance module in the mail. It was professionally packed, in brand new condition. Plugged it into my Syn-2 and it absolutely RIPS!!! 10/10!!!Justin

With the "More" gain stage switches and assignable Depth and presence controls along with the Dual gain controls. A wide range of tones can be coaxed out of this. I really like this module as it has real nice harmonically rich tones. The only negative about it is the single tone stack, it would be perfect if it had a tone controls for both channels. I have had this for about a week and really like it, I have had no experience with Fryette amps and was pleasantly surprised how it exceeded my expectations. Can it do "Metal" absolutely. It is less compressed at high gain settings but has nice touch sensitivity and due to the lower compressed sound it is very articulate and chords ring out nice and clear.Dave

The Fryette Deliverance and Pitbull have been a curiosity of mine for many years because of the articulate sound, massive low end, and mid range bark they can deliver. $2-3k, however, has always been too steep a price for me for those heads. So, when I saw this, I was thrilled. Once again this module is a faithful representation of the actual pre-amp circuit. I am very impressed with this brand. My other module is the Powerball. In comparison, the Powerball is very tight and has a touch more gain on tap. I am running this through the Syn 30 into a Mesa 2×12 and the tone has me grinning ear to ear and spending too much time in my practice room. The green channel can deliver sparkly cleans and marshall-esque crunch. The red channel is more gain and low end "whomp." I use a Fortin 33 pedal to boost for metal, and to my ears, the green channel is just a bit tighter and less "hairy" than the red. Similar to the crunch channel on a 6505 but can give you a better clean. I would say that both channels certainly need a boost pedal for modern metal because the overall tone and feel sits right between heavy rock and metal. If you are playing something very staccato and fast, you may want to consider the Engl over this since the attack isn't quite as tight by comparison. I, however, enjoy both modules equally and do play primarily hard rock and extreme metal music. The feel is so authentic of these synergy modules, as others have pointed out, it can mess with you going from one module to another, but in the best possible way. Kind of like if you were just driving a Sportster and it morphed into a Monster Truck. AMS also had this thing on my doorstep in under 24 hours. 5 stars to praise the module, brand, and AMS. Way to go!!Guitar Nerd Bryan

Having been messing around with an acoustic for far too many years I decided to treat myself to an electric, and started the search for an amp. I had a few options but went with the Crush 20RT and haven't regretted it. For its size the sound quality is great, and the eq controls allow you to get a nice range of distinct tones. Having the dirty volume away from the gain dial takes some getting used to, but isn't a deal-breaker, and if you find the rather small switch to swap between clean and dirty channels a bit fiddly, you can pick up a foot switch which connects nicely on the back of the amp. Built in reverb is nice, but if you are big on using reverb I'd imagine you'd want to get a dedicated pedal. Tuner seems hit and miss, and again more accurate results will be obtained via a stand alone product. Both good features to have, especially as a starter amp. Overall, highly recommended!Kevin E.

This is definitely the best sounding practice amp I've ever used. The gain channel has several different levels of gain, all sound great. Anywhere from a slightly crunchy overdrive sound to sizzling distortion. I've never had an amp this size handle metal tones so well. The clean channel handles distortion pedals well and maintains the tone of the amp, and if you wanna add a little something extra, putting an overdrive in front of the dirty channel really pushes the mids through. All very impressive for an 8 inch speaker.
The big downside to this amp… is that its deceptively loud. At bedroom volume, it sounds kinda like a shoebox. but bump the volume knob even just a little bit and the full, rich tone punches you in the face, far too loud for playing in an apartment at 10pm. Kinda defeats the point of buying a small practice amp. The clean channel is even louder than the dirty channel.
I'm not knocking off any stars from my review for this however, because it has a headphone jack that actually imitates the speaker response quite well. So if you wanna play this amp late at night, plug in some headphones or you'll wake up the neighbors.
The only practice amp I've ever liked more was the old marshall valvestate, and those are hard to find these days, so this little amp fills that void well.Noah Nicotine

Now let me first state that Guitar Center is the only place I'd buy this from, to try it out and return it to the store. Guitar Center is the BEST. This little amplifier is the WORST. I bought this specifically for it's cabinet output and the fact that it can run on a 9 volt battery. I own four other mini amplifiers, two of them are pedals and the other two are Blackstar Fly 3 (with the extension cabinet.) Here's the crux of my review: The Blackstar Fly 3 is louder and sounds far better than the Orange Crush Mini, even if that Crush Mini is powering a larger speaker cabinet (a 2×10, in this case.) So yes, two 3" speakers in the Blackstar are louder, and the sound quality is far superior to the Orange Crush Mini driving a 2×10" cabinet. The Crush Mini's 3" speaker is unusable, sounds very tinny and is very low volume. Now, I also have two pedal amps that run on 9 volts, an Electro Harmonix 5mm and a VHT Redline 6. The 5mm is amazing, and the VHT is very good also. So if you want to drive a cabinet with a pedal size amp you can put in your pocket, try the Electro Harmonix 5mm. The VHT Redline is also very good and has the added features of an aux in jack and headphone out jack. An adapter cable to use a battery can be had (I have a few of them.) Avoid the Orange Crush Mini, the Blackstar Fly 3 is far superior.John

It was a great deal, and so far has been a real ear opener onto sonic tapestries hitherto unexplored. The interface seems to be built like a tank (time will tell), was straightforward to set up and the neighbours enjoy the results so much they bang on the wall with enthusiastic glee. Tbh, their timing is a little off, I'm sure it'll improve with practice, but the brutal death metal screams emanating from the other side of the wall are perfect, if a little muffled.. \m/Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I have played through the almost decade old THR10c, which is a fantastic little amp. Through a SM57 in front of it and out to the PA and you can sound great. But I thought that by now, with Yamaha buying Line 6 about 5 years ago, the newest version of this little amp would have some state of the art effects. Wrong! The effects, and the apps that control it are seriously out of date. I mean, the reverb, tremolo and chorus are fine. But they remain exactly as they did ten years ago. No upgrades and nothing fancy. The app is poorly designed and not that easy to use. and there is no way that I have found access the THR10C classic blues models all in one place. So its actually hard to get the classic blues and country sounds that I need all in one place. I went back to my THR10c and sold the new one.Bruce

dial in your sound in seconds not minutes, I look at it and then I want to play my best, those amp lights man, wow, dim the lights you will see. No instructions needed. if you need to move some Air for clubs shows or band practice this is not the one for you. What it does is creates a killer vibe for personal guitar growth, very organic and the tones? Man, you have got to play through it to believe it. It will cover any genre and crash most all the competition in the personal practice amp catagory. its about quality tones at lower DBI, it's not a marshal and it doesn't want to be. You can boot this sting up 3 at night and sound like your at an arena in your bedroom without waking up the neighbors and your flat-mates. No getting up or leaning over the amp to adjust setting like a marshal. No LCD's to mess with with or crummy menu diving. Traditional Bluetooth audio is pretty decent for using the amp speaker for guitar youtube vids and playing along instrumental tracks. Someone else said terrible sound, what??? you have got to be kidding me, id call that person an amateur guitarist. the biggest stars have these in the studio, tour buss and green room, hotel room. amazing for writing sounds, its the sound you have always wanted without going deaf sounds good anywhere. saves your hearing from the ringing. if you want to expand this sound on stage get the 30 which has proper outs for studio and stage, and re-amp it. leave it on a partially cleanish tone for your genre, then output to normal amp setup, the smiles will come. Of course many are still going to need their volume pedals but in a lot of situations, if you know how to gain control and then crank it for a lead/ chorus, (id drive it out to the mains / monitors for ramp) but it sounds amazing as you turn it up, the character truly changes, for the better. it's pretty wild. its pretty good about feedback. iv heard people hook these up on tour or use them in the greenroom preshow, it's that good. stick with the new models that are lighter and sound better. these are industry standard personal practice amps. again, if you are gigging you will need some sound reinforcement, but I would find a way myself, it's just not that hard to figure out. it's never fed back at me once and I'm jamming right infant of the cab on me desk. no surprise loud feedback sounds like other amps. small, light goes anywhere. probably need that case if you travel a lot. metal, country, hard rock, pop, blues jazz, hip hop, it nails it. the 30 could drive your current big amp. whatever magic is going on with the sound, full gain w guitar at full gain, is something that has to be heard not seen.J

Upgraded from the original cream colored THR10 after finding out that all three of the original THR10 amps (boutique, classic, and high gain) were consolidated in one amp and that the speakers underwent an upgrade (10W->20W). Sonically, the tones in this amp are superior to those of the original THR10, which makes practicing and playing very satisfying and inspiring. Note: Boutique and high gain amps can only be accessed through the desktop or mobile THR remote app. This isn't the case with the larger THR30 amp. All amp models can be access through the unit. The remote app also allows the user to change cabinets to further tweak tone. Here is why I rated this product 4 stars. * Mobile THR remote app crashes all the time. I've been using the remote app on my laptop exclusively. Yamaha rep informed me that this tends to be the case with iPhone users. Doesn't seem like they plan on fixing this anytime soon. * Setting the unit up as an audio interface was not clear at all. The original THR amps required downloading the yamaha steinberg usb driver and selecting this as your driver in your DAW. After configuring your MIDI and audio source in the DAW, you would then get sound. Well, that's not how it works on this amp. I reached out to yamaha after repeatedly getting errors from my DAW about the yamaha steinberg usb driver. Long story short, tech service couldn't figure out the issue and told me to request an exchange for a new unit at GC. After hooking up the new replacement, I got the same error. Turns out you have to download the ASIO THR10ii/30 driver on yamaha's site, not the most current yamaha steinberg usb driver. Select this driver in your DAW. Then you have to go into the app's settings and check the box for "record dry." Now you can configure your MIDI and audio source. I'm baffled about how yamaha's own techs did not know that the steinberg usb driver is not compatible with the THR10ii/30 amp.Ben G.

So far so good. A little hot with active pickups, def functionally. Appreciate the aux in to feed music or backing track while practicing and very portable. Worth the price.matta2z76

Had my reservations about buying this, a cheap headphone amp, as I have had others in the past and the o/d or distortion always sound awful. Don't get me wrong it isn't replacing my Marshall amp, but for a really portable and handy headphone amp it is great. I can use this, and move, whilst the kids are in bed, no more having to be 2 mtrs from my big amp….. As a practice and experimenting tool I love this!gastall1978

It's better than expected, though the design might not compatible with some guitar models. It requires an AAA battery. Works pretty well with any headphone. It also has an AUX port so that you can plug and play any songs you like and jam along. Thumbs up from me!wamin0

This is a remarkable little amplifier. The positive reviews are all justified. Very diminutive, even senior management, who tends to frown when black boxes arrive, approves. And it produces a variety of great tones in remarkable amounts bearing in mind its small size. Perhaps not for the O2, but great in our lounge and enough muscle for a small venue before it gets a bit chesty. Very happy.biga268

I use it for practice. Although it has a bass setting you can program via the phone kit, the speaker is not as good as a basic bass amp like a fender rumble. The default presets sound the best, and if you need a different sound, it's probably best to use pedals on the clean setting. The effects aren't as good as I hoped for. The chorus effect is nice; but delay, reverb, and spring could be loads better. It gets the job done and I wasn't needing the other effects to be there at all so a good purchase for me, but if you need all the features to be awesome, look elsewhere.Waukegan

Purchased this along with the Squire Bullet Tele. Worked beautifully. All effects. Everything. Then nothing. No power. Nada. Probably why it's discounted $40 when you buy the Tele. Avoid.Joe

Well you know how some people are when it comes to amplifiers on stage for church worship services. They don't want them because they think everyone will start cranking up and jockeying for sound. So I bought this direct box. Its amazing! You will like it a lot. I plug my acoustic guitar straight in and then send it to the house speakers. We have a Presonus 32.4.1 AI mixer in the new building. My favorite thing about this is the eq settings. I can dial in a sweet tone, my settings are bass at 2oclock, mids at 2 o'clock and presence and highs at 1 o'clock. Gain at 12 and volume at 3. This box is really all you need. I don't like tinny trebly sounding acoustic guitars. The bass and mids are wonderful for balancing out some highs and giving the guitar a "fullness". This box sounds very realistic. It is a very good representation of how the guitar sounds unplugged. I have a B Band pickup under the saddle so i have never had any frequency issues. I don't use the notch. I also use a TC electronic arena reverb pedal. Make sure you send the acoustic into the Para DI first and then to the reverb pedal or else it don't sound good. You can do this by getting an effects send return 1/4" cable and using the FX jack on the DI. Nice feature!! I will say i think this box sounded better on the old analog mixing board at our church, but I'm sure we can tweak it to the Presonus. Our church just moved from a 14,000 sq ft building into a 30,000 sq. ft. new building and new sound system so the room is playing into effect also. You need to keep this in mind. The old room had 12 ft. tile ceilings. The new building has 40 ft. ceilings. I think it sounds good coming out the house but it still sounds a bit digital in my headphones. Especially the b and e strings. That has more to do with the digital mixer though i think.guitarguy1981

If you've ever faced the problems of booming (or too thin) bass, acoustic feedback, "quacking," nasal sounding treble, or clicking picks, you will welcome this marvelous box. On my very first gig with the Baggs, I told the sound man to set the board flat and let me handle the EQ. With just a little experimentation and adjustment, I was able to boost the bass to the point where it was full but not booming, eliminate quacking and feedback, and balance the sound on my Taylor GS7 across the musical spectrum from low to high. When the sound man called down from the booth that he could hear my picks clicking on the strings, a few tweaks of the mid-high and presence knobs dialed that right out, without sacrificing volume or clarity on the treble strings. Admittedly, it's a bit tricky to master the somewhat complex settings on this sophisticated device, and the minimal instructions provided by Baggs don't help as much as one would wish. But there are some helpful videos on YouTube, and with a little experimentation you can get this box under control. I love the sound that it lets me get out of my guitar, and can't imagine that your experience would be any different. It's also extremely rugged — built like a tank, in fact — and should stand up to a lot of on-stage use. I can't imagine ever plugging in without it.marconelli

The best DI for acoustic guitar I've ever used. I bought one of these little gems at a local music store for almost ten years ago and it's like brand new. Quiet. Clean. I have a Tascam DP24 and there is ZERO hum or hiss in the signal. Onstage, I darned well won't use anything else for my Guild J series. The control over feedback in a live setting is incredible. I can notch out any hint of feedback with just a tiny alteration of the sweep knob. If my strings are a little old, I can dial in some crispness. The control in the lower mid to low high end is most sensitive–and very impressive. Most DI's give you a flat signal all across the spectrum which is okay for bass guitar or keys, but somehow this little guy gives me a certain springiness in the mid's, about 800 Hz to around 1.5 KHz. I frickin' love it. It turn my acoustic into a lead instrument that doesn't get lost in the mix.Michelle

I am using the Orange Acoustic Preamp Pedal to boost and shape the signal from a piezo pickup on my double bass. The notch and Q controls on the parametric plus the XLR phase inverter have greatly reduced my feedback problems at higher volumes.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This is one of the BEST bass DI/Pre-amp boxes out there. I have used one for years for guitar and the bass enhancement is indispensable for making your bass sound fantastic!radadanya

The preamp was phasing in and out, the sound was very harsh, the sound engineers ended up disconnecting it and did their own EQ to produce an excellent sound from the k&k pure preamp. An unfortunate experience, I shall be returning it for another, maybe it's just a faulty preamp?Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

pure pre amp was just what i needed to get the best out of my pure pickup and dreadnaught guitar it also improves on the sigma preamp on the 00015 e i bought from andertons a perfect matchReviewed by Andertons Music Co.

I purchased the Preamp for use with my Cello and couldn't be happier. The preamp gives the boost I needed for my own sound system and gives me greater control when I'm connected to other's systems.mtbrend

Seems as well built as the other options I've seen. Better tonal range than Vox and better than having to buy 2 or three devices. First impressions were not that good but as I've used it a bit more I can see me getting more used to it. I probably expected to much and was basing my hopes on the FLY amps. I think the effects are too limited to be worthwhile and would prefer Blackstar to focus on better amp tone. Still, I'm happy with it and for the type of device this is I know of nothing that sounds better. If I lost it I would probably look at the latest options but as it stands this is still the one I would buy. I think all of this type of device are over priced when you consider what a small amp costs but for portable practice in a small space it can't be beaten. This Blackstar amplug is in my opinion the best VFM option available.Paul S.

Amazing bit of kit for the price! Clean, over drive and distortion channels in a small box the amps to headphones perfectly! Can’t really comment on the effects as not really tried them out! But if you need a tiny portable amp that connects to your headphone for practice i would throughly recommend! Just noticed it even has aux in so I can listen to my Fender tutors without having to have 2 different sets of headphones on the go!!! Total novice managed to get it working in 3 minutes without reading the instructions!Mike