Preamp into Preamp??

[AllAboutTone]

I would not do this, but if you do be careful cause a lot of preamps have a strong output.

[Mike Brown]

People run line level signals into pres all the time to change the tone....

If you have line level or DI inputs on the preamps use those... Going into the mic level inputs may just distort horribly even when the gain is all the way down. When plugging into the mic inputs (which I would be wary of doing under any circumstances) do NOT engage phantom power on the second pre... if anything is wired wrong you will be out a good bit of money.

Cheers!

-Mike

[skullsessions]

Originally Posted by lakeshorephatty

Can you hurt a preamp by trying something like DI into preamp A, then into preamp B. then gaining up preamp a to get some fuzzy cool sounds from preamp B?

I'm just wondering if in theory this can cause problems.. I want to try it for a sound i'm after.. Has anyone done this other than the obvious beatles revolution 1 example?

Russell

Just did it Monday.

Bass DI from a Daking into an Avalon 737. Hit it hard and cranked the pre on the Avalon to drive the tubes a bit....a bit of compression and it sounded great.

6 more tracks to do like that tonight, in fact!

[TonyBelmont]

I can think of worse things to do, but I typically would use a compressor or EQ and overdrive that as opposed to another preamp. But, it seems like people are so preamp crazy, they don't even buy analog EQ's or compressors... so....

[Unclenny]

I like to run my vox through my Trident 4T and into a TC Helicon Quinitet....I like the reverb on the Quintet.

I just engage the pad and keep the gain down.

[lakeshorephatty]

Originally Posted by TonyBelmont

I can think of worse things to do, but I typically would use a compressor or EQ and overdrive that as opposed to another preamp. But, it seems like people are so preamp crazy, they don't even buy analog EQ's or compressors... so....

Haha. Tony, its funny you mention that. I'm building a setup but I don't have all the pieces yet, so my order of importance is mics pres conversion then extra stuff like eq's and compressors.

Actually I've found for the projects i'm working on lately very little eq or compression is best, even on drums. Just a few things software can do well, like higher ratio higher threshold to leave the majority intact but catch stray loud notes here and there.

Of course, mastering takes the piss out of the transients anyways, so no need to worry about those getting anywhere.

Russell

[lakeshorephatty]

to put a little closure on this, i contacted wade at chandler since i use his pre's almost exclusively.

He told me that the TG or Germ preamp circuits "cannot be harmed by the likes of mere audio signals".. seriously though without kidding around, there is no way to harm his gear other than hooking up the power supply wrong or throwing them off a tall building.

So i haven't tried this yet but i'm going to.. TG - TG or Germ - Germ or anything else in between.

Russell

[Duardo]

He told me that the TG or Germ preamp circuits "cannot be harmed by the likes of mere audio signals".. seriously though without kidding around, there is no way to harm his gear other than hooking up the power supply wrong or throwing them off a tall building.

I'm not sure about that...my guess is that his preams wouldn't be happy if their outputs were presented with phantom power from a second preamp...that's not a mere audio signal, and is something that would be very easily to accidentally do in a situation like this...so I'd be careful...

[analogtodd]

I gotta say... chaining up preamps makes for some REALLY COOL sounds. I was experimenting with this very thing last night!

UA 610 into MCI 536 to tape vice versa.. tried a Ward Beck into the UA, pretty cool too... You get the balance/noise taken care of and if you are careful on the input, it makes for some SCARY GOOD tone!!! (and thats the most important thing)

(yeah, I just got my outboard preamps punched down into my MCI patchbay... so sue me)