Budget preamp for steel?

Allan Haley · Post by **Allan Haley** » 21 Mar 2021 10:48 am

Hi. I would love to buy a top-quality rig like the Sarno Revelation, but I can't justify the cost. Any recommendations on some decent budget alternatives? I am looking for a simple tube pre that I will be able to use live and for recording. I switch between steel, Telecaster, and electric mandolin. I use reverb and overdrive pedals. Thanks, Al

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 21 Mar 2021 1:00 pm

Older Mesa Boogie Studio pre.....Great sound for both steel and guitar....Todays prices probably under $500.....Jim

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 21 Mar 2021 4:39 pm

Allan, tube preamps are hard to find, especially good ones. I scored 2 different Peavey tube preamps used from Ebay. A rockmaster and another sweeter model that I forgot the name. The sweeter model needed some controls cleaned and tubes. Now it's part of my rack. Under 200 dollars US. Keep looking and you will find something. Just be aware that good units can be pricy.

MIchael Bean · Post by **MIchael Bean** » 24 Mar 2021 5:02 pm

Peavey made a good sounding tube preamp called TG Raxx a while back. I had one that I used for pedal steel. They were versatile with some good EQing.

John Swain · Post by **John Swain** » 24 Mar 2021 5:14 pm

The old blue Tubeworks preamp were good at under $200 !

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 24 Mar 2021 5:51 pm

Michael, that's the other Peavey preamp I have. Works great. I bought a tubeworks black panel and I was not as happy with it. Something was different in the blue panel units.

John Swain · Post by **John Swain** » 25 Mar 2021 4:55 am

The old blue Tubeworks preamp were good at under $200 !

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 25 Mar 2021 7:07 am

John,
I still use one of them in my rack setup.
Along with a Tube Works amp and reverb.

Erv

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 25 Mar 2021 10:49 am

If you're at all handy with a soldering iron, this is a good alternative: https://www.ebay.com/itm/264904599128?c ... 1&mkcid=28

I've built a preamp using the Frog circuit board--I have maybe $150 dollars in it total using good parts. It's pretty much a clone of the Alembic F2B preamp. Works really well for guitar or steel.

Dave

Malcolm McMaster · Post by **Malcolm McMaster** » 29 Mar 2021 4:04 am

If you are on a tight budget, and already have some form of power amp/ speaker cab try the Joyo American Sound pedal style preamp. You can get one for around $35, I use one on one of my rigs, it goes into Jay Ganz Straight Ahead 500 watt D class amp, into Sica neo speaker or direct into board, perfect lightweight grab and go/ fly rig, gives a pretty good sound, have even used it in studio straight into desk for recording. If using my bigger rig, it travels in steel seat as a back up. Great value for money.

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 29 Mar 2021 6:06 am

Malcolm,
How do you like the straight ahead power amp ?.....Does it have plenty of umph ?....Is it noise free ?.....Thanks, Jim

Charlie Hansen · Post by **Charlie Hansen** » 29 Mar 2021 6:35 am

Ive been fooling around with a PreSonus Tube pre. So far it works OK.

Malcolm McMaster · Post by **Malcolm McMaster** » 29 Mar 2021 7:09 am

James, very pleased with Jayâ€™s amp, with lock down have not done many live gigs, but on few I did it performed well, plenty of power and not much noise. I normally use my MB200, and it compared favourably. I built Jayâ€™s into back of my little MB cab, so always got back up, or as you can see in previous pic I can use pedal board set up, for flying gigs, and just connect to a speaker cab or straight to desk. Jay was first class to deal with.

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 29 Mar 2021 10:17 am

Malcolm,
Thanks for the info.....much appreciated....Jim

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 29 Mar 2021 10:37 am

Here's a pretty good one for only $295.

https://www.frenzeltubeamps.com/deluxe-plexi-1-preamp

I think the F or Fender channel is a good old, clean Fender type preamp.

B

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 29 Mar 2021 11:59 am

Brad Sarno wrote:Here's a pretty good one for only $295.

https://www.frenzeltubeamps.com/deluxe-plexi-1-preamp

I think the F or Fender channel is a good old, clean Fender type preamp.

B

In addition to my V8, I have an octal version of Frenzel's preamp. It's very nice.

Dave

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 31 Mar 2021 4:06 am

Brad Sarno wrote:Here's a pretty good one for only $295.

https://www.frenzeltubeamps.com/deluxe-plexi-1-preamp

I think the F or Fender channel is a good old, clean Fender type preamp.

B

Brad. What voltage is this pre being run at? Thx

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 31 Mar 2021 6:30 am

I think my Frenzel preamp runs at about 290-300V at the plates.

Dave

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 31 Mar 2021 9:05 am

David Ball wrote:I think my Frenzel preamp runs at about 290-300V at the plates.

Dave

thats great. how about the filter caps. the F2b is really filtered well like four or five 20mfd caps. the higher voltage and the filtering and the fender pre circuit makes for a great pre signal for steel, bass, standard guitar....anything.

i have several Alembic F2B units. i made my living with those things for a long time. even the promo on them back in the day basically said they were the same as a twin/showman pre.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 31 Mar 2021 1:21 pm

Bill,

I had a great chat with Ron Wickersham of Alembic, the designer of the F2B. It really is such a nice implementation of the raw "normal" channel from a Fender AB763 preamp. He really is into those Allen Bradley carbon comp 1W resistors - he argues they're the single best made electronic component in history, goes on and on about how they were in the Apollo program and every B52 out there, and he uses the nicer sounding orange drops, the mylar/foil types, and like you said, a nice power supply too. Hard to beat that simple purity well executed. Just the two stages of a single tube.

B

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 31 Mar 2021 2:37 pm

Brad Sarno wrote:Bill,

I had a great chat with Ron Wickersham of Alembic, the designer of the F2B. It really is such a nice implementation of the raw "normal" channel from a Fender AB763 preamp. He really is into those Allen Bradley carbon comp 1W resistors - he argues they're the single best made electronic component in history, goes on and on about how they were in the Apollo program and every B52 out there, and he uses the nicer sounding orange drops, the mylar/foil types, and like you said, a nice power supply too. Hard to beat that simple purity well executed. Just the two stages of a single tube.

B

brad. btw in addition to the stack of alembic f2b preamps, i have a couple of your revelation pres.

didnt we talk a bit about the f2b back before you started making the revelation? did i send you a schematic for it? it used to be on a piece of paper glued to the underside of the lid. i had a schematic on a separate sheet of paper. were you able to incorporate any of the vibe of the F2B in your units? its really just leos design with high volts and lots of filtering?

Steve Sycamore · Post by **Steve Sycamore** » 1 Apr 2021 1:30 am

It's not a tube unit but an EBS MicroBass II or III is like a Swiss Army knife for instrumentalists and has great audio quality. You might find a used one for a good price. I use a MicroBass II as a DI device for PSG, electric guitar and electric bass and find the results are on par (nearly) with a Telonics PRE-1000. The Telonics has distinctly better, but more subtle speaker emulation.

https://reverb.com/p/ebs-microbass-ii-2015
https://www.premierguitar.com/ebs-microbass-3-review

Dennis Detweiler · Post by **Dennis Detweiler** » 1 Apr 2021 6:20 am

A quick fix for a preamp: Boss 59 Fender pedal. I use one in front of my Quilter 201 amp to tweak the tone setting. If you run the Level control full on and adjust the gain for needed preamp volume it will be a clean tone. This pedal duplicates the characteristics of the 59 Bassman amp. Presence, Bass, Middle, Treble.

David Ball · Post by **David Ball** » 1 Apr 2021 10:43 am

Bill Hatcher wrote:
David Ball wrote:I think my Frenzel preamp runs at about 290-300V at the plates.

Dave
thats great. how about the filter caps. the F2b is really filtered well like four or five 20mfd caps. the higher voltage and the filtering and the fender pre circuit makes for a great pre signal for steel, bass, standard guitar....anything.

i have several Alembic F2B units. i made my living with those things for a long time. even the promo on them back in the day basically said they were the same as a twin/showman pre.

Mine has 4 20mfd caps. I think it's pretty close to the F2B circuit with an added "Marshall" channel that has different curves on the EQ.

Dave

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 3 Apr 2021 4:06 pm

David Ball wrote:
Bill Hatcher wrote:
David Ball wrote:I think my Frenzel preamp runs at about 290-300V at the plates.

Dave
thats great. how about the filter caps. the F2b is really filtered well like four or five 20mfd caps. the higher voltage and the filtering and the fender pre circuit makes for a great pre signal for steel, bass, standard guitar....anything.

i have several Alembic F2B units. i made my living with those things for a long time. even the promo on them back in the day basically said they were the same as a twin/showman pre.
Mine has 4 20mfd caps. I think it's pretty close to the F2B circuit with an added "Marshall" channel that has different curves on the EQ.

Dave

are the pots attached to the front panel?? no printed circuit board?

i may be talking myself into getting one of these. lol