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Whats different about AAE preamps? |
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Historically preamps have been clean. In the late 1970s they built fuzz boxes or boosters and they were made using transistors. The boosters were overdriving Marshalls and amps like that, and together with fuzz boxes created a Jimmy Hendrix type of sound. Then we had the master volume modifications leading to the traditional overdrive preamp design such as the JCM800, Messa Boogies etc. |
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What happens if you try to change this? Design a preamp that is primarily designed for a natural clean sound but by using enough gain stages you make it sound like it naturally overloads by accident if you turn up the gain controls... In most preamps simple filtering methods are used to remove what the designer thinks is a bad sound. So when using traditional guitar EQUs there is not much change in the tone. AAE preamps are different because the EQUs cover a much wider range of tone control. This gives a lot more choice and different types of sound, clean or overdriven. |
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| What else is different in the EQU? | |
One of the features of the EQU is the ‘inductor’ for the mid range control. It can sweeten and sharpen the sound, by creating a unique type of coloration. Inductors were used in ‘wah’ pedals and old studio equalizers. |
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What about the reverb? |
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In AAE preamps you can generate more reverberated signal because you can control the amount of signal that is being sent to the reverb spring. This can create grungy, distorted reverbs by overdriving the spring as well. The reverberated return signal can become very powerful and even overtake the dry signal if you like an indie punk/thrashy (highly sustained, screamy, fuzzy) kind of sound. |
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Whats it sound like?...A preamp that can sound clean, dirty or anywhere in between... |
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| The riffs can sound something like the ones in ‘Sister Ray’, Velvet Underground | |
| The guitar riffs of ‘lose yourself’ Eminem | |
| Like the riff on Lil Waynes/Chris Browns’ ‘I can transform ya’ | |
The clean guitar solo in 60’s band the Hollies, ‘Sorry Suzanne’, |
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But with a bit more distortion if required like Keith Richards solo in ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ |
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or more screamy like in the guitar solo in 'Seven Nation Army', White Stripes |
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and more extreme as in Lou Reeds’ 'Metal Machine Music' |
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