question: Pre War

[$ongWriter]

Question: Do any of you Pre-War owners amplify your guitars. I heard Molly Tuttle play her's live and it sounded amazing. She uses that thing that learns the sound...can't think of what it's called....anyway....what do any of you use in the way of a pick up or pre-amp to get a good sound?

[rpguitar]

Molly has a K&K installed on her pickup-equipped guitars, and runs through a ToneDexter. This is a gadget that you set up by recording acoustically through a nice mic into the unit, and it somehow makes a "tone print" of that sound. Then you run the guitar into the ToneDexter live and the sound is processed using the stored profile.

She actually has a video on YouTube demonstrating how it's done. She says that a plain old SM-57 produces the tone she uses most, which is perhaps odd given that it's a dynamic mic (not a condenser).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBbOpHUatVI

[EverettWilliams]

Do I correctly infer that you’re talking about the “Pre-War” brand rather than actual pre-WW II guitars - because if so, I have no input. If you want to know about amplification preferences for actual pre-war instruments, mine is condenser microphones.

[llew]

I use a K&K Mini in both my D and HD models. I use different preamps but lately have been using a Baggs Session DI.

Just a guess but at this point I'd think unless someone uses "Martin" or "Gibson" or some other builder after the term "Pre*War" (in upper case letters) it's safe to assume it's Pre*War Guitar Company they're referring to.

[mercy]

If you had a pre war or a Pre war brand guitar why would you want to amplify it. Its the sound you are after and nothing amplified sounds like an acoustic guitar exactly, its a semplance which is sometimes very good and sometimes awful.

[rpguitar]

Originally Posted by mercy

If you had a pre war or a Pre war brand guitar why would you want to amplify it. Its the sound you are after and nothing amplified sounds like an acoustic guitar exactly, its a semplance [sic] which is sometimes very good and sometimes awful.

Well Molly Tuttle is a professional touring, gigging, and recording songwriter and bandleader. Her guitars are probably chosen for acoustic sound and playability first and foremost, and she naturally wants to play them live.

So I guess that's why. Makes sense to me.

She played acoustically with only live microphones for years, and you can see many of her YouTube performances proving that. I guess she decided that plugging in was a way to get a more consistent sound from venue to venue.

She has probably played more vintage Martins and other rare/valuable old acoustics than a good subset of us here, and she smokes them all. So I imagine that she considers the Pre*War to be less precious than perhaps some of us do.

[peanutavalon]

I have two pre war mahogany D's...both have factory installed pickups. One has a KK mini and one has a lyric. The lyric sounds incredible. So natural and no need really to EQ other than the TMB controls on my fishman loudbox. The Kk needs a good dI. I use a redeye and i'm completely satisfied with the tone.

[SuperB23]

This question could be applied to any quality brand of guitar including Prewar. I've been very pleased with a K&K Pure Mini straight into the LR Baggs Venue DI then straight into the PA system. I've been complimented on this set up multiple times with various instruments.