well, i did it, i got up the courage to sell my mesa vtwin rackmount preamp. i sure will miss it, but thats not what this thread is about, this thread is about the preamp i plan on replacing it with.

now i'm torn between several preamps and i want opinions.

a marshall jmp-1, i'm willing to spend about $300-$350 on one, but i havent found one this cheap yet.

an ada mp 1, i'm willing to spend about $150 max on a non modded one and then a couple hundred to get it modded, unless i can find one already modded for a fair price.

a bogner/hafler triple giant. i have access to one for $375 plus shipping, but i've only played one once along time ago, and nobody knows a whole lot about these. so i'm not sure if i want to take a blind buy.

and i'm also looking for any engl preamp that is midi controlable seeing how i love them all, i'm willing to spend no more than $400 on one.

so there they are, i'm talking in u.s.a. $ here, and no matter which one i get i'll be replacing the tubes and maybe some modding as well.

any OPINIONS on which one i should take the most intrest in? and does anybody know other sources i could look at online other than ebay for one?

any other preamp suggestions would be nice.

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Who the fuck cares? It's your decision. Are you incapable of making decisions independently?

it's called being curious as to what everybodies opinions of the situation are, and also wondering if anybody has any other preamps to suggest, or if anybody knows any were where i can find some of this shit other than ebay. i already know i'd be happy with anything i listed, thats why i'm torn between them.
are you incapable of reading?

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well said

Well... don't buy the JMP-1 lol.

have you tried it?? it sucks IMO, it sounds digital, but worse then a triaxis, I mean it uses the digital stuff to create the distortion and the tubes to colour the distortion, so basically its not a true tube preamp. I haven't tried the ADA but its the same idea, isn't it?

as for the triple giant, thats a great preamp. and well the engls too but they're prolly hard to get over there or way too expensive, on ebay.de they go for cheap, also the midi ones.... but yeah, shipping, I don't know how much that'll be, it's about 20 bucks inside of europe, so its prolly going to end up near 60 or something. the 530's are a bargain, the newer types you can get for around 400 I reckon (lightly used) but they do have the midi option too and they're 4 channel instead of 2 or 3 like the older engls (530/620)

i love the jmp 1, i've played my buddies alot, he has it teamed up with a simul class 2:95 and omg the sound is brilliant. but alot of that has to do with his poweramp. but i soon plan on getting a simul class poweramp anyways.

as for the ada mp 1, it's kinda the same idea as the jmp 1, but the cool thing about mp 1s is that they were pretty much made to be modded, if i get one i'd be getting a 3tm mod, which makes it use 3 tubes instead of two, and also gives it better overall tone, i'd also get the 3.666 mod which gives it a more usable 5150/recto/jcm 2000 high gain distortion quality.

as for engl, i don't really see alot of engl preamps on ebay or anything, i've played several engl pre's and heads, and i really dig the tone, but the only problem is availablity in the used market.

i'm really interested in this triple giant preamp, but i have less experience with it and it'll cost me about $400 shipped... it uses 7 fucking preamp tubes, holy shit...

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yeah, the triple giant is a beast!

as for the digital preamps, well whatever turns your clock, I've tried a bunch of preamps on one same poweramp and they just fell right through tone wise, try preamps on a relatively cheap poweramp, that way you'll get the best out of your preamp without the poweramp colouring its tone, the mesa simul might sound great with a jmp-1, but a big bunch of its greatness comes from the mesa, I can assure you that. its just the combination that comes out as a good one.

you gotta try for yourself though. if I could pick any on the world I would go for the mesa quad, paired with a colluseum 200 or a strategy 500

def, do you know any store or person that has a used engl preamp for sale that will ship to the u.s.?

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ebay.de

they've got tons around but you gotta be patient, I got mine for just under 180 bucks, 530's (with midi and 3 channels) go for like 240 or less. the newer ones go for under 400 if you're lucky.

you'll have to ask them about sending it abroad though, its prolly gonna cost you like 50 bucks (its 20 all across europe)

and shops, meh, they don't do much used here in europe, and if they do they're rip offs. you could try ebay.de, if you can't understand that site I can get you a link with the preamps on it, its all german you know go to musikinstrumente and gitarren, then search for 'engl' and it should give you a bunch of results.

thanks man, but if i got one from europe, would i need to do anything to get it to work in the u.s.?

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ehm, yeah you'de need to change the power chord (its detachable on those preamps though) and replace the fuse on the old types, I think the new ones are switchable. my peavey poweramp is switchable to 110v too (you guys have 110, right?)

yeah 110, that probably wouldnt cost much to switch.

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http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...&category=23300

that might be interesting.

converting the amp wouldn't take more then a fuse adjustment and a power cord change, if you want to be sure about it, just ask your local amp store

that looks pretty cool, but i should be receiving my new(used) triple giant preamp in just a few days.... i'm stoked, i just need to figure out what kind of new tubes i want to install... i've been a sovtek kinda guy for a while, but i'm just curious about other tubes... mesa tubes are decent, not crap, but i wouldnt pick them over sovteks...
but yeah, new bogner preamp for me!

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cool

Mesa tubes are crap, didn't you know?

the latest Electro Harmonix tubes seem to rock, but the 12ax7LPS (sovtek) still wins all tube preamp tests, it has the highest gain levels, if you like US-sounding gain, go for those, I got them too and I love them.

other options are JJ's (tesla's nowadays) and ofcourse the obvious groove tubes and all the chinese shit (which mesa also belongs too)

do you know if your triple giant is the one w/ the blue logo on the front? i just got mine on thursday, paid $325 shipped. total '80s tone, very good for thrash, early metallica, hard rock; not really into heavy metal territory. i really dig the basic overdrive tone and the clean channel is astonishing for a pre such as this. im using mine w/ a mesa strategy 500 and the tone really cuts through. there are some drawbacks though; the sharp channel is almost useless, imo, as there is WAY too much treble and no way to dial it out. works great for leads, horrible for rythym, though i did manage to get some good scooped tones out of it. up to a certain point the gain will start to buzz out; itll no longer saturate and start to get this overlaying fizz (about 7 on the borwn channel and 4 on the sharp). this sucker is definitely getting modded. it came w/ EH tubes in it and im gonna try some gt mullard copies in the brown channel as soon as i can. youll be happy w/ your pruchase.

mine is black, on the front it says(in blue)TRIPLE GIANT if thats what you ment.
it also says"hafler musical products designed by bogner"

i'm looking for a more "powerful" tube distortion tone rather than a harsh/griany o.d. that you can't hear the notes through. so i'm pretty confident in the triple giant, but if i end up not liking it, i'll either mod it or sell it and buy something else.

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thats exactly what i meant, thats the same kind that ive got.

on higher gain settings you can forget about using open chords, note-to-note definition just aint there and i find that on the brown channel that there is a severe lack of definition for the high e.

the distortion isnt as harsh as the jmp-crap, but youre not gonna get complete full-on tube saturation that you would from a boogie, soldano or a real bogner, but itll be better than the v-twin; no transistors here.

im gonna give it at least a couple weeks before i make any real judgement. at the price i paid, i cant complain; its a solid piece of gear. keep in mind that all of these opinions were formed using the triple giant through a mesa/boogie strategy 500. your mileage may vary.

if you end up not liking the triple giant, take a look into the voodoo amps modded mp-1. theyre about the price of what you paid for the hafler and trace does some awesome work. hes also got a really good mod for the triple giant.

Sweet, a strategy, killer power amps.

we don't have those triple giant things over here, our market it fludded with german stuff, which ain't half bad cuz we can get it for cheap.

(is that even english?) hah it sounded cool anyway

bastard. id love to be able to get a diezel or framus at the prices that you cats have over there. $4000+ for a diezel just aint happening.

i'm pretty sure bogner is german, but i don't know about hafler...

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reinhold bogner himself is german, but his amps are made, and always have been AFAIK, in california. hafler is american, they used to be owned by rockford (fosgate) until digitech bought them.

exactly.

eh, they stopped making the triple giants years ago anyways..... they're pretty rare around here too.

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