///////TL;DR//////: Sorry. No TL;DR here.
After reading through a recent thread here, discussing the merits of a DI output on a preamp pedal, I realized that there seems to be lots of different opinions on what is, and is not, a preamp pedal.
I do think that before a valid discussion can happen on the actual topic (in that case if a DI is good or bad on a preamp), there needs to be consensus on what a preamp is and what a preamp is not.
In all of the (bass) pedal family, the term preamp is the most opaque.
A chorus is easily defined, same as a phaser or a compressor. With dirt pedals, it's already a bit harder. While we make a distinction between overdrive, distortion and fuzz, many overdrive pedals sound like a fuzz with very high gain and some fuzz pedals sound like an overdrive with very low gain, and some overdrives border on distortion and some distortions sound just like high gain overdrives - but at the end of the day, we manage. Everyone seems to agree on how each of these pedals sounds in its pure form and it's possible to understand a statement like "this is an overdrive, but it starts sounding like a distortion when you run the gain higher than 3 o'clock".
Looking at what a preamp does outside of bass guitar pedals, it's quite clear what necessarily has to happen: Amplification, but not to speaker level.
The device that drives the thing that makes the air vibrate (speakers, headphones, shakers) is simply called an amp, no "pre" attached.
But got that thing that takes a signal and puts out more of it in the pedal world. It's called a booster.
So there has to be more to it. Or has there?
Where is the term "preamp" coming from when it comes to bass pedals? Here's me, trying my hand at an explanation:
Simple. It's coming from bass amps. Bass amps are not all the same, but what they share is that essentially, they have two "sections", the preamp section and the power amp section (bass amp techs: Please forgive me for the layman's terms). The power amp section usually only does convert the (line level) signal to something so powerful, it drives speakers. Of course, the tube amp fraction pipes up now and cries "but we do drive our amps into saturation and the interaction between power tubes, output transformer and speaker is an integral part of our sound!" .... but for the sake of my argument, they shall be ignored.
It's usually not a good idea to ignore someone used to lugging a 100lbs amp head up and down two flights of stairs twice a week for rehearsals, but I'm trying to get somewhere. So in your modern amp with a solid state power section, all the "tone shaping" and pre amplification happens in the front half of the amp head, and that usually is referred to as the preamp. Some companies even went as far as doing both versions of the thing. A pedal and an amp head, with the same name and (near) identical controls. Off the top of my head, there is the Tone Hammer by Aguilar, the Mesa Subway, The Noble Preamp DI / Noble amp ... just to name a few. But, here is where it gets tricky. If we simply agree that a preamp pedal emulates the front end of an amp, then what does this entail?
The only thing all bass heads' preamp bits have in common is that they take an instrument level signal and amplify it to a level strong enough to drive the power amp. But we have that covered. That's a booster pedal. Some amp heads come fully decked out with graphic EQ, drive capabilities, tuner and compression. Some come as minimal as you can imagine. Gain and master. Some strive to be as transparent as possible, with the EQ at noon there's no audible difference to the dry signal while others impart a strong flavor on your signal no matter what you set the knobs at.
Some amps clip in a very unpleasant way when you set the gain too high, while others sound and feel like they are made for drive.
The same goes for DI capabilities. Amps mostly have a DI out, but it's not a necessary piece of kit.
This is me, trying to define a preamp:
A bass preamp pedal is essentially a booster, with either some means of EQ or a baked in tone.
Optional, but not necessary features include but are not limited to DI out, dirt, compression, tuner.
...but that's not a helpful definition at all.
After reading through a recent thread here, discussing the merits of a DI output on a preamp pedal, I realized that there seems to be lots of different opinions on what is, and is not, a preamp pedal.
I do think that before a valid discussion can happen on the actual topic (in that case if a DI is good or bad on a preamp), there needs to be consensus on what a preamp is and what a preamp is not.
In all of the (bass) pedal family, the term preamp is the most opaque.
A chorus is easily defined, same as a phaser or a compressor. With dirt pedals, it's already a bit harder. While we make a distinction between overdrive, distortion and fuzz, many overdrive pedals sound like a fuzz with very high gain and some fuzz pedals sound like an overdrive with very low gain, and some overdrives border on distortion and some distortions sound just like high gain overdrives - but at the end of the day, we manage. Everyone seems to agree on how each of these pedals sounds in its pure form and it's possible to understand a statement like "this is an overdrive, but it starts sounding like a distortion when you run the gain higher than 3 o'clock".
Looking at what a preamp does outside of bass guitar pedals, it's quite clear what necessarily has to happen: Amplification, but not to speaker level.
The device that drives the thing that makes the air vibrate (speakers, headphones, shakers) is simply called an amp, no "pre" attached.
But got that thing that takes a signal and puts out more of it in the pedal world. It's called a booster.
So there has to be more to it. Or has there?
Where is the term "preamp" coming from when it comes to bass pedals? Here's me, trying my hand at an explanation:
Simple. It's coming from bass amps. Bass amps are not all the same, but what they share is that essentially, they have two "sections", the preamp section and the power amp section (bass amp techs: Please forgive me for the layman's terms). The power amp section usually only does convert the (line level) signal to something so powerful, it drives speakers. Of course, the tube amp fraction pipes up now and cries "but we do drive our amps into saturation and the interaction between power tubes, output transformer and speaker is an integral part of our sound!" .... but for the sake of my argument, they shall be ignored.
It's usually not a good idea to ignore someone used to lugging a 100lbs amp head up and down two flights of stairs twice a week for rehearsals, but I'm trying to get somewhere. So in your modern amp with a solid state power section, all the "tone shaping" and pre amplification happens in the front half of the amp head, and that usually is referred to as the preamp. Some companies even went as far as doing both versions of the thing. A pedal and an amp head, with the same name and (near) identical controls. Off the top of my head, there is the Tone Hammer by Aguilar, the Mesa Subway, The Noble Preamp DI / Noble amp ... just to name a few. But, here is where it gets tricky. If we simply agree that a preamp pedal emulates the front end of an amp, then what does this entail?
The only thing all bass heads' preamp bits have in common is that they take an instrument level signal and amplify it to a level strong enough to drive the power amp. But we have that covered. That's a booster pedal. Some amp heads come fully decked out with graphic EQ, drive capabilities, tuner and compression. Some come as minimal as you can imagine. Gain and master. Some strive to be as transparent as possible, with the EQ at noon there's no audible difference to the dry signal while others impart a strong flavor on your signal no matter what you set the knobs at.
Some amps clip in a very unpleasant way when you set the gain too high, while others sound and feel like they are made for drive.
The same goes for DI capabilities. Amps mostly have a DI out, but it's not a necessary piece of kit.
This is me, trying to define a preamp:
A bass preamp pedal is essentially a booster, with either some means of EQ or a baked in tone.
Optional, but not necessary features include but are not limited to DI out, dirt, compression, tuner.
...but that's not a helpful definition at all.
