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 I love this little PreAmp... 
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Post I love this little PreAmp...
Some of you may remember EricTheGray's post about his little PreAmp...

(Below is a link do download a PDF of his original post)

http://www.mediafire.com/?9xmz9bshgl5

I originally created one like it but due to improper shielding mine was quite noisy. Well I have now repaired it with a little 6 inch 1/4" Stereo to RCA cord from radio shack and added an on/off switch.

Thing little thing is very quiet and sounds wonderful (in my opinion). The input impedance is 3 Meg Ohm and for some reason (perhaps because it helps push the signal through the cord) seems to make my notes happen almost before I tap. I know that sounds strange but it is the only way I can think of describing it. I was previously playing plugged straight into my KC550 and I was not conscious of any... I guess they call it latency. But my Stick seems even more responsive and ornate in tone.

I am very pleased and wanted to pass this little idea along. It is an easy project to replicate and as EricTheGray mentioned originally you can get full details at...

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/

All I did was double the circuit with a common power supply and ground. I used a female stereo 1/4" output and took apart the RCA sides of the cable mentioned above and wired it in. I also added a simple on/off switch for convenience and battery life (so I don't ever have to unplug it).

This was was first electrical circuit project and experience with soldier. I watch a couple soldiering tutorial off of YouTube before beginning. I think anyone with a couple of hours, a bit of patience, and a willingness to pay attention to details could put this little jewel together.

Abundant thanks (again) to the infamous EricTheGray,

Curtis

P.S. I may advise using a bigger box than I did. All of my difficulties came largely from packing all those wire, circuitry, and 9 volt battery into the smallest available project box that Radio Shack offers. I admit I would probably do it again, but I bigger box would have made it soooo much easier.


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Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:22 am
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
Wow, thanks Curtis! I really like it too, I'm not sure why it works so well with my Stickup but it just does. I also recovered the original post from web archives and I reproduced it on my blog which is in my sig.

CurtisAbbott wrote:
Some of you may remember EricTheGray's post about his little PreAmp...

(Below is a link do download a PDF of his original post)

http://www.mediafire.com/?9xmz9bshgl5

I originally created one like it but due to improper shielding mine was quite noisy. Well I have now repaired it with a little 6 inch 1/4" Stereo to RCA cord from radio shack and added an on/off switch.

Thing little thing is very quiet and sounds wonderful (in my opinion). The input impedance is 3 Meg Ohm and for some reason (perhaps because it helps push the signal through the cord) seems to make my notes happen almost before I tap. I know that sounds strange but it is the only way I can think of describing it. I was previously playing plugged straight into my KC550 and I was not conscious of any... I guess they call it latency. But my Stick seems even more responsive and ornate in tone.

I struggle to describe it too. The best thing I've come up with is the term "presence". It seems to make the sound more "there" than before. The highs are improved by the 3MOhm input impedance the most but everything seems more dynamic and, well, present.

CurtisAbbott wrote:
I am very pleased and wanted to pass this little idea along. It is an easy project to replicate and as EricTheGray mentioned originally you can get full details at...

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/

I have found many more circuits to try and I have lots of ideas for the next one that I'm going to try. I hope to have a few to bring along to the next seminar that I go to.

CurtisAbbott wrote:
Abundant thanks (again) to the infamous EricTheGray,

Curtis

Ooooo, the truth about me is spreading. Soon my infamy will known throughout the world. HaHaHaHaHAHAHAHAHA

-Eric

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Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:40 am
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
Two questions: Would one of these improve the sound of a PASV4? and would one of you guys make me one if I paid for it?? I can handle a soldering iron, but I don't know nowt about electronics.

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Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:27 am
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
twizzle wrote:
Two questions: Would one of these improve the sound of a PASV4? and would one of you guys make me one if I paid for it?? I can handle a soldering iron, but I don't know nowt about electronics.

The first answer is yes, it does work well with a PASV4. I haven't tried it but it shouldn't make any difference with the ACTV2.

The second answer is not at this time. I'm just too busy and not set up to be a manufacturer that could support a product. What I am planning on doing is making a very detailed online tutorial so you could make it yourself. I would include an accurate parts list that you order from a place like mouser.com. I might even make some screencasts. Would you be willing to try it then? I would also answer email questions. I have already helped several people make the preamp with email troubleshooting. I am planning on making more of these this summer. Since I'm the maker there's no warranty. So, I want to have a couple of working ones lying around at all times.

My next version will have an active blended mono out in addition to the outputs of the two channels. If I can't figure out how to have a silent on/off switch I won't have one. I never turn the preamp off anymore and a 9-volt battery lasts for months. How's this sound?

-Eric

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Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:28 pm
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
I am currently using it with the PASV4 and it seems to sound better but I can't do little side to side tests right now because of a grounding issue that I have solved with a hard wire from the cord to the PASV4. It is sounding so good and is nice and quiet and I don't want to mess it up just for the purpose of comparison.

Twizzle: If you have solder experience this should be very easy for you. It is my first electronic project ever and I did it having never even used a soldering iron before. Save yourself time, shipping, future tweaks and just toss one together yourself.

For a mono version you should be able to just bring both signals from your pickup and simply wire them into the single circuit. For stereo, double the circuit but use a common ground and power supply. Pretty easy stuff, you can definitely handle it.

I put a switch on mine but the way I did it at least like Eric said it is so loud that it can only be used when the amp volume is down, off, or not plugged in yet. I do always use the switch but if I were building it again I would probably leave it out unless Eric comes up with a quiet way of doing it.

I love having my little amp right on the instrument but really don't know if it makes any difference at all as to where in the chain it is connected.

-Curtis


Sun Mar 02, 2008 12:48 pm
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
CurtisAbbott wrote:
I love having my little amp right on the instrument but really don't know if it makes any difference at all as to where in the chain it is connected.


Has to be right up front if you want the benefits of decent input impedance.

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Sun Mar 02, 2008 1:05 pm
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
EricTheGray wrote:
What I am planning on doing is making a very detailed online tutorial so you could make it yourself.....-Eric


Sounds good to me! I'm a hands on, practical guy generally so I'd sure give it a go. Although I do seem to have screwed my strats wiring right now (any experts out there??)

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Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:19 pm
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
digitalkettle wrote:
CurtisAbbott wrote:
I love having my little amp right on the instrument but really don't know if it makes any difference at all as to where in the chain it is connected.


Has to be right up front if you want the benefits of decent input impedance.


Sorry about using such vague language. I meant before or after the main instrument cord which probably doesn't matter enough to even be detectable. So my use of the word chain was a poor word choice considering that is favored language for what goes on after ones instrument cord on it's way to whatever intended final destination.

You are (as I trust you are well aware) absolutely right. The input impedance must be the first thing your instrument "sees" in order for the benefits to be realized.

By the way, ErictheGray pointed out to me in another thread that you can't really use a mono circuit without effecting the sound and that to maintain full sound quality in a mono version would require some sort of "mixer circuit" so please disregard that portion of my last post to this thread.

-Curtis


Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:23 pm
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
twizzle wrote:
Sounds good to me! I'm a hands on, practical guy generally so I'd sure give it a go. Although I do seem to have screwed my strats wiring right now (any experts out there??)


Plenty of reference for this:
http://www.fender.com/support/wiring_di ... _lists.php

;-)

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Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:28 am
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Post Re: I love this little PreAmp...
Thanks DigiK, I have diagrams actually, but there doesn't seem to be one that says 'solder onto this tag and everything will magically work again!'

apologies for the hijack!

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Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:33 am
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