Name: Preamplifier pre-order
Brand: Buckell Instruments
SKU: BI-VUPRE-001
Price: 134.99 GBP
Availability: OutOfStock

Preamplifier pre-order

£134.99

Preamplifier pre-order

£134.99

PLEASE NOTE - This is a preorder for the Preamplifier — I’ll be building these to order, so your pedal won’t be shipped immediately after purchase. Estimated time to shipping is 6-8 weeks.

A versatile preamp and boost that isn’t designed to have tons of gain on tap, but instead to push an amp and bring out a little more character and definition. Alongside the input gain and output volume, there are a couple of tonal shaping options that let you fine-tune the sound to work with your amp and help your guitar sit naturally within a band mix. The VU meter gives you a visual indication of how hard you’re driving the pedal, from a subtle lift through to really working the front end of an amp.

1/4” mono, top mounted jacks
2.1mm, top mounted DC connector
9VDC centre negative power
100mA minimum current draw
True bypass
122mm x 66mm x 39.5mm enclosure size

Input gain - Controls how much your signal is pushed into the preamp. Turn it up for more drive, character and a harder hit into the front end of your amp.

Output level - Sets the overall output volume of the pedal. Use it to balance the boost with your bypassed signal, or push your amp a little harder.

Low cut - A high-pass filter that gently rolls off frequencies below 40Hz - 90Hz (depending on how extreme the input gain is set). This tightens up the low end and making room for the rest of the band.

Hight cut - A simple low-pass filter that gently rolls off frequencies above 3kHz (-6dB/octave) taking the edge off the top end and letting you dial in a smoother, darker sound.

This Buckell Instruments preamp started out as a clone of an old 1970s Boss product that was never explicitly designed for guitar. I traced the circuit from photos I found deep in the internet, then put the whole thing together on a breadboard. It didn’t take long to realise just how good it was at pushing a tube amp on the edge of breakup, or simply being left on as an always-on sweetener.

That led me to delve deeper into the circuit and experiment with subtle changes to make it more versatile for different playing situations, while retaining the character that made me love it in the first place. Along the way, I started noticing how well it worked with all sorts of other instruments too — bass, keys, and even drums and vocals when used as a hardware insert on a DAW.

And, of course, I had to finish it off with a vintage-style VU meter. The backlight also doubles as the bypass indicator, because if there’s an excuse to put a VU meter on something, I’m going to take it. Try telling me VU meters aren’t the coolest thing going.

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