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Quick Hit: Ethos Clean-Fusion Preamp

Despite its compact size, this dual-footswitch box offers superb flexibility and surprisingly tube-like tones.


We’re awash in amps and preamps small enough to squeeze onto a pedalboard. But preamps from Ethos are truly stompbox-sized. They’re built into standard BB enclosures. We checked out the Clean-Fusion Preamp, which offers fine faux-tube tones and vast sonic flexibility.

The preamp has a gain control plus wide-ranging 3-band Pre-EQ. Three additional toggles offer a choice of six dramatically varied tone stack voicings. A soft drive switch provides natural tube-like compression and four additional tone-shaping controls. You can connect to a guitar amp or use a second 1/4" output to play through a PA or record direct. The speaker emulation is excellent.

There’s an extra overdrive channel for Dumble-like tones with molasses-thick saturation. Plus, you can shape tones post-distortion via another 3-band tone control and additional gain and level controls. With all those tone-shaping stages, it can take a while to dial in optimal settings for your gear and style. But after some acclimation, chances are you can concoct quality tones for any guitar.

Test gear: Parts guitar with P-90s, Universal Audio Apollo audio interface.

Ratings

Pros:
Super-compact. Good sounds. Sonically flexible. Well made.

Cons:
With so many tone-shaping stages, getting the perfect tone can take time.

Street:
$379

Ethos Clean-Fusion Preamp
customtonesinc.com

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