Preamps?

68 lost souls

Bit of a noob question?

Ive been playing guitar for three years and bass for a few months, just wondering now what exactly is the difference between a preamp and a head. Can u use a preamp as a head dirtectly into a cab or what? What exactly is a preamp?

Im quite embarrased about having to ask these questions, I most sound like such a noob.

Cheers

feylya

Preamp shapes your tone and adds distortion
Poweramp makes it loud and drives the cab.

A Head consists of a preamp and poweramp.

A preamp will not have the power to run a cab so you need a power amp.

Doctor J

A pre-amp is a tone shaper, where you'd find your EQ and what not. You need a power amp to make it loud and drive a cab. Usually heads have both.

OLP

i've been playing bass for over a year and i didnt noe me arse from me elbow about one until a while ago!!! and i'm still a bit dodgy about it AND the only effect i fully know about is over drive

feyla: so if you have a head, you dont need a pre amp or power amp?

Doctor J

A head is a pre-amp and a power amp combined.

OLP

so then why would anyone buy a preamp or power amp? if they had a combo?

Doctor J

Geddy Lee, for example, uses a Sansamp live. It's a pre-amp. He uses in-ear monitors so all the bass he hears is coming from the mixing desk. There is no need for him to have a power amp, he doesn't need volume on stage. The PA provides the amplification for the bass that the crowd will hear.

Folks who use a lot of rack mounted effects and the likes might also choose to run the signal through a pre-amp and then through their various effects and ****e before running that into a power amp and out to cabs.

68 lost souls

Thanks for the quick reply, it all makes sense now.

OLP

i'm still a bit cloudy about it what exactly is a moniter?

oh could ya tell me what a mutron does?

feylya

You can get seperate preamps and power amps to get a specific sound.

Monitors are on stage speakers that let musicians hear themselves while they play.

Never heard of a mutron. Got a link?

OLP

i really dont know alot about it, all i know is cliff burton used one http://www.superpage.com/riffs/desc_mutron.html

i could find that

oh and while i'm asking questions what do you plug a vocal mic into? if you dont have a pa? or do you need a pa?

feylya

Looks like it's just a crazy phaser pedal.

Mics should go to a PA. You can get away with putting them into a keyboard amp or a guitar or bass amp but it really isn't recommended, especially if you'll be turning it up loud.

OLP

right thanks, i really dont know a lot about the technichal side of music

could you give me a link to any sites that explain effects?

feylya

Check out the samples on www.bossus.com

That should give you an idea.

OLP

thanks feyla

OLP

oh, what exactly do mixers do? ie http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_online_catalogue_pa.html

feylya

You have 4 instruments and vocals. You want them all to be heard nice and evenly. Outputs from the instruments and vocals go into a mixer. The output of the mixer goes to the PA. The mixer basically allows you to tweak the levels of the various instruments before the audience hears them.

OLP

thanks, again, i'll probably think of more queastions, so sorry if i bother you.

Eoin Madsen

A mixer is a set of microphone preamps (with variable output levels - see Feylyas post). The purpose of any preamp - microphone or instrument - is to alter the voltage, current and impedance of the signal so that it's suitable for normal use. Basically, boosting the signal to a low workable level. In a microphone path this new voltage and impedence is usually called "line level", but it's essentially the exact same idea in a guitar chain. Guitar level is lower than microphone level, so a guitar preamp would tend to need more amplification to get the signal into an acceptable range. You can then send your signal from one line level device to another. Most if not all modern poweramps - either in a PA rig or for a guitar amp - take line level as an input. The poweramp is designed to amplify from line level to speaker level, which varies depending on the wattage of the system.