I think there was a thread somewhere about people doing this intentionally, but I couldn't find it.
Went to play a private party in the boondocks of NY State, a few hours from anything. Got there, plugged in all my stuff, no sound. I was using a little stompbox F2b knockoff preamp (didn't want to haul my rack out) into a tiny Demeter 800 watt power amp. The wall wart for the preamp didn't work.
Screwed, right?
Took a chance and plugged my custom series II direct into the power amp, turned up the gain a bit - and it sounded amazing! Crystal clear, balanced... I loved it.
i may do more playing like this (probably bring the real F2B just in case, though).
Cool News,
If you use the words "Jimmy direct power" in the search function, the threads that JimmyJ has talked about going direct will pop up.
I would have loved to be there to hear that. (Any gigs in the NW ever? :D )
That's the thread! Thank you.
We're mostly centered around lower new york state. If i ever get a good recording, I'll post something.
little stompbox F2b knockoff preamp?
Here is the link to that page
http://alembicguitars.net/club/messages/393/68886.html?1252542795
I knew a technician who worked with ELP during their tours in the 1970's. If I remember correctly, he said that Greg Lake's 8 string used direct drive for the neck pick up, and the bridge pickup ran through a preamp that filtered out almost all the midrange. That was how he was able to make the incredible sound that could cut through all of Emerson's multi keyboards.
http://www.dextersworkshop.com/shop/preamp-full-tube-high-voltage-guitar-bass-preamp/
Takes a while to get from Bucharest to here. I imagine other people have done similar pedals.
He took the tone stack from the F2B (and probably a lot more), added a gain stage. The tube is running at a pretty good voltage.
Not a bad sound - the overdrive you can get is pretty cool although i run it clean. Not quite as clear as the F2B in my opinion, and the highs don't shimmer the same way.
But it fits in my guitar case - between that and the little Demeter class-d, when i don't want to carry the rack my whole kit weighs 5 lbs.
I've also got one of these, sounds surprisingly good: http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/FETF2B.html
But nothing really compares to the real thing.
I use this one:
http://johnkvintageguitars.homestead.com/FETF2B.html