Choosing a clean preamp

[kin0]

Hay,
I'm looking for a clean preamp-smothing with more fendery sound that will work good with pedals. The problem is that I can work only with 16V. Do you have any ideas of what can I build?

[phatt]

Hello kin0,,
              You are welcome to try one of mine; The PhAbbTone Ver 3.5
http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=2013.0

There are many other good preamps to be found but if you want that big deep round bass and sparkling treble then this will beat most,,, *Dare I say* even Fender preamps.  8|

Running my circuit at 16 VDC it will be hard to make it distort,, so it certainly qualifies as a *Clean* preamp.
But DO Try it in front of all you favorite stomp boxes (NOT AFTER) and it may change your thinking on how to use distortion.

I have several of these units and I never turn up to a gig without one. :tu:
Cheers, Phil.

[kin0]

Sounds very cool but the problem is that I have to put it before the effects. I'm looking for somthing I can just put in 1 box with the poweramp and simply plug in my pedals or straight from the guitar and it will sound good.

[joecool85]

Sounds very cool but the problem is that I have to put it before the effects. I'm looking for somthing I can just put in 1 box with the poweramp and simply plug in my pedals or straight from the guitar and it will sound good.

You don't have to put the Phabb circuit before a pedal, he just recommends it.

[phatt]

Yep Joe is onto it.  :tu:

You can use this anywhere you like but as with most of my experiments with tone circuits you will be better served with 2 (preferably) different types.
Just pointing out (the not so obvious point) that it can make a big difference as to where and how you implement tone circuitry.

I don't subscribe to the *one smart circuit* does all the tone tricks.

I use a floor preamp (with hot rodded Phabbtone) then into a very basic powered cab which has a basic tone control which is hardly used.
Then before the poweramp stage I run an outboard graphic EQ section through a loop.

This allows me to mix an match for whatever power I need while keeping the same basic sonic signature. 
I know most folks have a *Thing* about having it all in one neat box BUT if an Amp goes down ,,you've lost your sound.

I have 2 or 3 backups.

My main power sections are not really Guitar amps as such just bits of junk that get thrown away.
1/ is an old laney 3 ch combo thing, 40 Watts
2/ is a big massive factory PA rig, has a direct input to bypass all the unneeded mic inputs.
3/ is a 4ch combo thing that was dead but I've rebuilt it .(Now with a MaxiVerb built in,, Wow killer reverbs)

NONE of these Amps will turn heads on there own but a little in depth understanding of what is needed reaps far better results than a lot of Combo Amps I hear in the shops.

Of course many roads lead to the same result and I have no doubt that some Amp rigs can do it all in one cab but rare and when you find one they cost silly money.

I just find dedicated rigs rather limiting for my needs.

I play keyboard and guitar, ad laptop audio and MP3 players sometimes so all my gear has to work with many different input sources. I'm just giving you options to think about.

Try this one for something not too hard to build,, Joe cool loves it. 

http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=1885.0

maybe leave out the diodes for clean. Joe can fill in the details. :tu:
Phil.

[joecool85]

Try this one for something not too hard to build,, Joe cool loves it.  

http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=1885.0

maybe leave out the diodes for clean. Joe can fill in the details. :tu:
Phil.

I do love that circuit, it's such a basic thing but has good tone going for it.  I will say it's not anything crazy high gain and you won't get that much sought after Van Halen tone, aka "brown sound."  It does do a pretty good Clapton though, if only I could play as well as him!

**edit**
This is the part of the thread you need: http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=1885.msg12904#msg12904

[kin0]

I think I'll go with the PhabbTone and maybe will put my poweramp section into a pedal too so it will be a pedal board into a cab. I have a few question about the circuit, first of all what diode to use in D1. Why there is no volume control, how can I add one? Oh and I heard in the demo's that it distorts a little. I got mixed up and I have a 18v instead of 16. Will it distort (btw I have 9v too but I', afraid it just won't work).  Btw is there any layout of this preamp?

[phatt]

Hi Kin0,
           First up, if you heard any audio clips of my gear it was distorted because of other circuits NOT the PhAbbTone.
It is almost impossible to get distortion from the tone circuit,, unless your input voltage swing is ridiculously big !!

D1 can be 1N4001 or similar,, it is just there to protect the circuit from a battery that is reverse connected.
It is up to the builder to work out how they wish to use it.

I'm only a hobby geek and it's beyond my scope to organize for every possible use and hence circuit design to cover every possible use.

Homework for U ,, don't be lazy otherwise you will learn little. :trouble

The simplest way is to use strip board and link all the nodes with fine solid wire and run stranded wires out to the pots but if you wish to embark on a complete amp build then there are better ways.

Re Volume control.
Add a 25/50k pot on the output or just use the gain/trim pot as a level control.
(A lot of pro Amp circuits use the gain pots as volume control,, the idea is not new)

It might seem clever to just build what is on the net but you won't learn much by just copying something,,, tis far better if you work out how to bread board test it, set it up for your needs otherwise it may turn out to be the long way around.

For those who wish to learn;;;;

BREAD BOARD TEST EVERYTHING,,, BEfore you commit to a build as it's highly likely you will get there faster than just building something that may work for some bloke on the other side of the planet but may prove to be nothing like you expect. :grr

Sadly Guitar electronics is so Vastly complex that it is impossible to please everyone's tonal desires.

What will be tone nirvana to one will be S**T to another. (Catch my drift)

If you build it into a preamp where there is no possibility of battery reversal then the diode is not needed.

The circuit will work from 9 VDC all the way up to the limit of the opamps used.

The higher the voltage the more clean headroom you will attain. (9 volt is fine  if used as a pedal, directly after a passive guitar PU, no big signal swing)

You can run this from a bipolar supply,, i.e. 15-0-15 VDC just change the bias supply to suit.

If you wish to use it as the front end of the main amp then insert a buffer stage before the tone. (not really needed but most folks refuse to believe it works without something in front.

Quite obviously they don't test it before they complain about my lack of active input.

Only time you will get stuck with passive input is when using a totally passive peizo PU.
(Rare but possible) So yep there is that one limitation.

The original idea was a simple passive stand alone tone circuit *That actually worked* with minimal active parts, clearly Aimed at pedal builders with limited skills.

As it turned out it was one of the best circuits I have ever dreamed up.

I thought I was rather clever until I read about some old valve gear that used passive input on an audio mixer circuit,, Damn it!! All been done before me.

Phil.

[J M Fahey]

AMEN to  "breadboard before definitive building" .
Now, why do I say that?
Because I got  :duh so many times, that's why.

[kin0]

Another question. If I put the Phatt preamp before most of my pedal can I connect them straight to any poweramp afterwards or does it have to at the end of the chain so it could go into a poweramp.

[phatt]

Another question. If I put the Phatt preamp before most of my pedal can I connect them straight to any poweramp afterwards or does it have to at the end of the chain so it could go into a poweramp.

Well that depends on how big the signal from pedals and how sensitive the power Amp.

Bread boards can sort all these things,,,, winky / hint / clue 8|

I've worn out 3 of these things in the last 20 years or so,,, dreamed up and tested countless circuits but in all that time I've Only made 3 or 4 circuits that I consider a success story worth mentioning.

BB's make light work of the average stomp box circuit and allows one to test the claims in a matter of a few hours rather than wasting copper solder and a weeks work only to find you just built some hazardous waste land fill.

The pic is one of my early Tone circuit attempts,, don't copy this follow the schematic found on this site.

Phil.

[kin0]

I was just thinking about the line out of my pedal board. I thought using always the this preamp in the power amp of the amp that I'll get at gigs (usually the places I play in provide amps). If it won't work with most power amps I think I'll just put it in one box with my power amp-this will make things easier but will make my tone to change because of the amp (I have a 5-10watt chipamp which can take the signal straight from my guitar)

[phatt]

(I have a 5-10watt chipamp which can take the signal straight from my guitar)

Just insert the tone circuit between the above two and you're done,, too easy. :tu:
Phil.