bill_hilt's Reviews

Mesa Boogie Studio Preamp-Wouldn't Have Anything Else

For 18 years I was a freelance touring guitarist Over those years I've gone from one extreme to the other- from using old Fender tube amps, Torres engineering hand-wired, point-to-point wired stuff- all the way across the spectrum to using a Johnson Millennium for a couple years, and even tried an Avid "Eleven"-ugh! The music I'm often hired to play requires that I use a lot of effects and/or to use my guitar as a midi controller for rack-mounted synths, and the idea of running a guitar signal into one or more multi-fx units before it gets to the preamp stage of an amp is counter-intuitive to me. Therefore, an amp having an effects loop is necessary to me. I gravitated to Mesa Boogie amps- great tube amps WITH effects loops. I bought the Studio Preamp primarily because of its excellent-sounding "recording out" circuit, compared to any other I've heard, which enables me to elegantly go into a full-range system, with my Eventide "Eclipse" in its effects loop, into a sub- mixer with rack mount synths, and just tell the stagehands "I need no mics, just 2 DI's" Or, I can carry a Cabinet or 2 of appropriate size to be mic'd if I'm not using synths. I can't imagine using another preamp. I have two, just in case one goes out. And I'm always worrying that 2 isn't enough to last me the rest of my life.