Grateful Dead Music Forum

Greetings, I'm still researching a suitable, affordable, & worthy front end preamp for my Mac MC30... What suddenly dawned on me was the potential impedance mismatch coming out of let's say the Blackbird SR71 or the Frog Pedals preamp feeding my amp, who's vitals I've dttached... The most obvious path would be to simply go SMS or FYD, but again, price & real estate is precious,, , I am foremost concerned with signal purity, but the boost sections of my present choices might come in handy. I'm not seeking or wanting to sound like Jerry, but I want 'that' direct path...
A million thanks for the million questions...

zozoe wrote: ↑Wed Oct 26, 2022 1:37 pm Greetings, I'm still researching a suitable, affordable, & worthy front end preamp for my Mac MC30... What suddenly dawned on me was the potential impedance mismatch coming out of let's say the Blackbird SR71 or the Frog Pedals preamp feeding my amp, who's vitals I've dttached... The most obvious path would be to simply go SMS or FYD, but again, price & real estate is precious,, , I am foremost concerned with signal purity, but the boost sections of my present choices might come in handy. I'm not seeking or wanting to sound like Jerry, but I want 'that' direct path...
A million thanks for the million questions...

Its not cheap new, but ive found them for about $550 used.
SMS Classic Tube Preamp. Its the bomb, love it and its one of the best investments ive made over my 30 year playing time.

Used Sarno SMS JG Mod on Bay Area CL for $549

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/msg/7552222940.html

I have no affiliation with the seller, just an FYI....

Wish i had not just bought another guitar hahah. Id love to have a 2nd one of these.
Thanks for the heads up.

Has anyone messed with the NON JGB mod one of these ? Just curious. If i bought a 2nd one id almost rather buy the standard version so i would have two different sounding preamps to an extent.

Ive had mine for about 2 years now and it is def one of the best pieces of gear ive ever owned. I carried around Twin Reverbs for 2 decades, was very nice to no longer have to truck those around and save a ton of tubes. Now i carry with me 4 x 12ax7 or 6n2p preamp tubes, thats it. Plus ive found the unit doesnt work the tubes like a Twin does and i dont mean that in a negative way sound wise. My Twins would get so hot that the on and standby switches (made of metal) would be almost be too hot to touch. I had great luck with my Twins for two decades but i couldnt move them anymore and the cost of tubes and making sure i had spare tubes etc was pricey. Also having control of the volume is amazing, with my Twins it was very very hard to keep those remotley tame. They worked great at big outdoor festival shows, but inside was annother story. I love feeling like i have control over the sound instead of being kinda stuck with the limited options the Twin offered. Now im down to just a 2x12 cab thats on casters as the only heavy thing i have to move around anymore.