[PaulJay]

Hey, Is anyone familiar with this rack mounted preamp? I can't find any demos on you tube and just wanted to know if they are any good. I can pick one up for real cheap until I can afford an SMS. Thanks Paul

[JonnyBoy]

Never used a "preamp" rack unit but I always loved my RT2100 that had his tube stack driver channel and clean channel plus reverb tank. I loved it for many years. But I still love my SMS better. I think I have said that exact thing before... TJ? If you like crunchy tones and a real SS like clean tone, you might like it. It is a good preamp and I am sure Jerry can live in it somewhere, but it is constructed to get dirty... They are know to have very scratchy pots that are very annoying too. I think it is like having a hot rodded tube driver connected to a SS amp in other words. Kinda geared towards ZZ top and the like if you are normally pushing it. You would have to use low settings to keep it clean and you may not like that...

[Tennessee Jedi]

Hey, Is anyone familiar with this rack mounted preamp? I can't find any demos on you tube and just wanted to know if they are any good. I can pick one up for real cheap until I can afford an SMS. Thanks Paul

We must be separated at birth..... I just asked JB yesterday about them !
And for the same reason - to tide me over until I get the SMS !
Grateful Minds Think Alike ?

[PaulJay]

I agree, also I'm getting too lazy to lug around my Deluxe Reverb. Thanks JB for clearing things up, I was hoping it could give me a clean fender sound. T.J. are you still thinking of getting one? Thanks guys.

[Tennessee Jedi]

I agree, also I'm getting too lazy to lug around my Deluxe Reverb. Thanks JB for clearing things up, I was hoping it could give me a clean fender sound. T.J. are you still thinking of getting one? Thanks guys.

Nope ..... Saving up for the SMS .... just gonna wait it out

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

The Butler "tube" preamp is actually, for the most part, a transistor (op-amp) preamp with a couple of tube stages to help with the tone. They're ok, but they have a lot of staging (lots of components the signal passes thru) and a strong solid state tone character. They don't have the pure, immediate, tubey sound of an actual Jerry/Fender type tube preamp. Really not a bad sounding preamp if you find one cheap, but you won't be happy if you're chasing a good Jerry tone. I like BK Butler's designs, but I was always a bit bothered by the deceptive name "real tube". It's true that it has real tubes in t here, but most of the signal path is NOT tube, and the tubes are run at very starved voltages. BK's preamps and pedals do a real nice overdrive though. David Gilmour has been using them for a long time as boosters and distortion pedals, Eric Johnson, and others too. The starved voltage thing really does seem to work well for distortion. And I like BK Butler's Mosvalve power amps quite a bit.


Brad

[PaulJay]

Thanks Brad for that info. I was tempted to get it because its only around the $100 range. But i'll just put that in the cookie jar for the SMS. I think I'm going to mate it with a Rocktron V-100 0r V-300. ,Paul

[SarnoMusicSolutions]

For a hundred bucks, it's probably worth grabbing up. They're kinda cool.

B

[strumminsix]

For a hundred bucks, it's probably worth grabbing up. They're kinda cool.

B

+1 I actually think they have a nice rock sound. Not Jerry, but it could make for a nice rack with 2 diff pre-amp choices! OOH! OOH! run em thru a GCX and be able to swap between!!!

[ndrewoods]

For a hundred bucks, it's probably worth grabbing up. They're kinda cool.

B

+1 I actually think they have a nice guitar music/rock sound. Not Jerry, but it could make for a nice rack with 2 diff pre-amp choices! OOH! OOH! run em thru a GCX and be able to swap between!!!

It is worth it for a hundred bucks. It has a fairly good sound but the SMS still is better at making great guitar music. Personally though I would save up for one SMS.