|
|
Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | For those of you who received the recent Musicians Friend catalog, there's a promotion review of the new Takamine with a pre-amp, with a small tube inside. Located where our Ovation OP system is. The writer goes on the say how much warm "tube" tone is a breakthrough in acoustic electric guitars. I know the significance of a tube amp with an electric, but do you think that the tube sound can improve an acoustic, by the "warmer tone". IMHO, I think a good quality acoustic amp. or PA, trumps any pre-amp configurations, for acoustic guitars. The defining sound is produced by the unique sound board, top, of the guitar. Is this just a gimmick?
Tommy |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 386
Location: nyc area | i spent namm 2004 demoing this preamp for takamine... let me say it lives up to its hype...truly amazing, like hearing the guitar miced through a good condenser.. will it make me hang up my O's? of course not, but a true breakthrough in preamp technology.. just my .02 cents |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | The most amazing thing is that they've managed to get a 12AX7 tube to work on 3 volts. While I'm no fan of Takamine guitars their pickups are the second best in the world & the tube preamp really works. It's no gimmick. It's kinda like comparing a real 60's blackface Deluxe Reverb to a POD model. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 2850
Location: Midland, MI | Why didn't you put this up as a poll? :)
While I don't doubt that it colors the tone of the guitar, my opinion is that it's marketroid hype. Maybe I need to take a more critical listen. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | I'm the biggest cynic when it comes to marketing hype, which is why I ignore advertising and trust my ears. I've heard this preamp, Matt demoed it to me at last years NAMM, and I can assure you it's truly amazing. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I agree also. I heard Matt's demo at NAMM and also on the last day, I believe it was Adrian Legg, although maybe Al can refresh my memory, noodling on that preamp for about an hour. Even got into a little discussion that people will probably start swapping the brand tube and such. But in just listening, it was damn impressive. Heard it thtough a couple of amps, and really made a positive difference. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 121
Location: Powder Springs, Ga. | Check out the demos on the http://www.takamine.com/ website under the "cool-tube" section linked off the main page. It's very well done. In fact the entire site is really nice. Maybe Ovation or especially Adamas could do something simular. I hate to say it but Adamas has a terrible website. Talk about lack of information. Looks like Ovation needs a new marketing company.
Jailhouse Live Brown |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Funny thing is, I think all of their websites are done by the same people.
go figure. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 121
Location: Powder Springs, Ga. | It's not that O's and A's it looks bad it's that they are lacking in information, especially the Adamas site. If I wasn't already an Ovation fan and was doing research on what I wanted to purchase it would not have been an Ovation or Adamas if I put much clout in their site. We have to remember that much of the country isn't in big cities with numerous music stores to shop at and many people will be making purchases on guitars they've never had a chance to hear. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | Here's the link to the sound clips:
http://www.takamine.com/?fa=cooldemo
AB |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 4413
| It sounds great but it needs to go into a really good, really clean amp/pa. The tone is completely lost through cheap gear. An O can cope better when you find yourself faced with a pile of *** in a club.
But it is a real improvement. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | I am surprised that no one has come up with a tube DI box specifically for acoustic guitar. There are a number of tube boxes out there but none for acoustic. A well designed tube will enhance most any sound production device.
I would love to try one.
Wayne |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | ART make an inexpensine tube microphone preamp which makes a great DI box for acoustic instruments.
http://www.artproaudio.com/products.asp?id=1&cat=1&type=79
DBX & Behringer make something similar |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2004
Posts: 338
Location: Toronto | What about the Fishman Aura and LR Baggs, BBE etc.. are these not acoustic guitar tubed pre-amps?
I have the ART tube micrphone preamp and it really does add a nice warm overtone to both a mic and an acoustic.
Dano |
|
| |
Acoustic Tube Pre-Amp
