Oddbird Audio

Desktop Pre

The Desktop Pre combines the front-end (aka preamplifier) sections of both the 5F6-A Bassman and the JTM-45 into a single unit. It's designed to be a stand-alone, analog replacement for traditional amplifiers or software amps. It can be placed on your pedalboard, with large gain and volume knobs for adjusting by foot. Or, it can sit on your desktop and be run directly into the XLR (balanced) or TS (unbalanced) input of your audio interface or console. A built-in passive DI box functions like the "Return" from the effects loop in a traditional amplifier. This allows output of both balanced XLR, and unbalanced 1/4" as stereo, mono, or dual-mono (stereo over two TS cables) for some advanced routing possibilities.

Naturally, there's still much more to be done. Adapting this design to some nice PCBs will be crucial in getting it out into the world. It also tends to be a bit harsh when overdriven. The output stage of a guitar amp forms a nice band limiter, which eliminates many of the otherwise shrill high frequencies. Without this, you'll need to use an IR cab simulator, but even a simple EQ pedal can suffice. The natural compression and limiting created by the pentodes and long-tail pair is also a fairly important part of the tone. This can be approximated using a compressor as the last stage in the loop.

Eventaully, I hope to roll these all into one unit, perhaps with a headphone output as well! If this interests you, please let me know.