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9 Acoustic Preamp Pedals for Stage or Studio

9 Acoustic Preamp Pedals for Stage or Studio

Wherever you’re looking to plug in your acoustic, these stomps have you covered with a wide range of functionality and sounds.

A good preamp plays an important role in making your acoustic guitar sparkle. Here are options in a wide price range that will keep your 6-string singing.


LR BAGGS Venue DI

This stomp includes a full-isolation DI output, 5-band EQ with adjustable low- and high-mid bands, variable clean boost, and a chromatic tuner all in one acoustic pedal.

$328 street

lrbaggs.com

RADIAL ENGINEERING PZ-Pro

This 2-channel acoustic preamp offers precise tone-shaping and effects control. You can seamlessly integrate dynamic or condenser mics, switch effortlessly between channels, activate a booster and an effects loop, and mute the signal for hassle-free onstage tuning.

$639 street

radialeng.com

ORANGE AMPLIFICATION Acoustic Pedal

With all the know-how of Orange’s acclaimed Acoustic Pre TC preamp and Crush Acoustic 30 amplifier, this do-it-all, compact preamp pedal will help you battle feedback or brighten a dull instrument.

$169 street

orangeamps.com

TRACE ELLIOT Acoustic Transit A

This portable rig includes a 3-band active EQ, chromatic tuner, built-in pre- and post-XLR balanced output, dry output, headphone output, carry bag, plus user-definable boost, chorus, delay, and reverb.

$349

traceelliot.com

TECH 21 Acoustic Fly Rig

Whether for recording or live performance, this unit is jam-packed with useful features: a 100-percent-analog SansAmp, parametric EQ, boost, compressor, tap-tempo delay, independent reverb, tuner, headphone capability, and XLR output.

$249 street

tech21nyc.com

FISHMAN Platinum Pro EQ

This all-analog universal instrument preamp box features a discrete, high-headroom class-A preamp, switchable guitar/bass EQ modes, adjustable volume boost, a balanced XLR DI output, and much more.

$319 street

fishman.com

GRACE DESIGN ALiX

This full-featured acoustic preamp is designed to be portable and rugged but still deliver true studio-quality sound with the same level of performance as the company’s pro audio range on the live stage.

$765 street

GraceDesign.com

BOSS AD-2 Acoustic Preamp

With just three knobs, this stomp will do the trick. Controls include resonance, which processes your acoustic’s natural sounds, ambience or reverb, and a notch filter, plus normal or balanced DI outputs.

$119 street

boss.info

FENDER Acoustic Preverb

Combining three distinct reverb voices with an acoustic preamp, this pedal is a powerhouse. Other features include a notch filter, damping control, and mute switch.

$179 street

fender.com

The Spirit Fall trio: drummer Brian Blade (right) and saxophonist Chris Potter (center) joined Patitucci (left) for a single day at The Bunker. “Those guys are scary. It almost puts pressure on me, how good they are, because they get it really fast,” says Patitucci.

Photo by Sachi Sato

Legendary bassist John Patitucci continues to explore the sound of a chord-less trio that balances melodicism with boundless harmonic freedom—and shares lessons he learned from his mentors Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter.

In 1959, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue and John Coltrane’s Giant Stepstwo of the most influential albums in jazz history—were recorded. It’s somewhat poetic that four-time Grammy-winning jazz bass icon John Patitucci was born that same year. In addition to a storied career as a bandleader, Patitucci cemented his legacy through his lengthy association with two giants of jazz: keyboardist Chick Corea, with whom Patitucci enjoyed a 10-year tenure as an original member of his Elektric and Akoustic bands, and saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s quartet, of which he was a core member for 20 years. Patitucci has also worked with a who’s who of jazz elites like Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie, and Michael Brecker.

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- YouTube

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We know Horsegirl as a band of musicians, but their friendships will always come before the music. From left to right: Nora Cheng, drummer Gigi Reece, and Penelope Lowenstein.

Photo by Ruby Faye

The Chicago-via-New York trio of best friends reinterpret the best bits of college-rock and ’90s indie on their new record, Phonetics On and On.

Horsegirl guitarists Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein are back in their hometown of Chicago during winter break from New York University, where they share an apartment with drummer Gigi Reece. They’re both in the middle of writing papers. Cheng is working on one about Buckminster Fuller for a city planning class, and Lowenstein is untangling Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann’s short story, “Three Paths to the Lake.”

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