I know I was playing devil's advocate for the tube amp, and I think there are good reasons for/against. But just for the record, I am PERFECTLY happy with my K&K passive + Fire-Eye pedal pre-amp.
For some reason beyond my understanding, when I plug into ANYTHING through that preamp, I don't really need to EQ. It just sounds...like 80% mic'd. And no boominess or piezo quack. (The designer says it has something to do with the high headroom of the circuit allowing the piezo to operate unloaded). But other preamps I usually have to finagle with the entire frequency range just to get something halfway decent.
The Fire Eye is such a simple, compact design. It has a treble cut/boost knob, but that's it on the EQ, and it's not corrective so much as for coloration.
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