{"id":3172,"date":"2025-05-01T14:15:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T14:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/?p=3172"},"modified":"2025-05-24T16:48:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T16:48:00","slug":"the-rcf-mini-instrument-tube-preamplifier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/?p=3172","title":{"rendered":"The RCF Mini Instrument Tube Preamplifier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"856\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"3182\" src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/guts-1-856x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3182\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/guts-1-856x1024.jpg 856w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/guts-1-251x300.jpg 251w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/guts-1-768x918.jpg 768w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/guts-1-1285x1536.jpg 1285w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/guts-1.jpg 1512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" data-id=\"3181\" src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closest-1-1024x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3181\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closest-1-1024x572.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closest-1-300x168.jpg 300w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closest-1-768x429.jpg 768w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closest-1-1536x858.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closest-1-2048x1144.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"673\" data-id=\"3183\" src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/back-1-1024x673.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3183\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/back-1-1024x673.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/back-1-300x197.jpg 300w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/back-1-768x504.jpg 768w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/back-1-1536x1009.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/back-1-2048x1345.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1216\" data-id=\"3186\" src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closer-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3186\" srcset=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closer-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closer-1-300x143.jpg 300w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closer-1-1024x486.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closer-1-768x365.jpg 768w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closer-1-1536x730.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/closer-1-2048x973.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The RCF instrument preamplifier came from a conversation with a customer about the Alembic preamp. Although it is famous and therefore expensive, the Alembic is simply a note for note copy of a Fender style tube preamp. That is nice in that it gives you what you expect but, unfortunately it isn&#8217;t especially versatile. For instance, the middle control on Fender tone stacks are always marginal&#8211; the scooped sound is part of its intrinsic character. But what would happen if you made that mids control truly effective? It would allow the user to go from a classic clean sound to a nasty vintage blues sound all with one knob! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This preamp is not only small, portable and light, it is also extremely versatile. It will give any instrument a shine or shade as you like with highs, lows and mids tone stack and an output level control. In addition, the output is low impedance so it can drive long cables, another area where the Alembic\/Fender circuit falls short. In all, this is the perfect piece for the studio or stage where a universal instrument preamplifier is needed. It has a great overdrive sound to pair with super clean and everything in between. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Power is 230 VAC and the tubes included are a vintage ECC83 (12AX7) and ECC82 (12AU7).  The sale price for this prototype is \u20ac450 not including shipping to Europe or UK.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Samples made direct, no post compression or eq:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">guitar clean<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/sg_clean.m4a\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">guitar overdrive<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tele_od.m4a\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">bass<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pbass_clean.m4a\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">pick bass<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/yambass_pick.m4a\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">bass overdrive<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/pickbass.m4a\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The RCF instrument preamplifier came from a conversation with a customer about the Alembic preamp. Although it is famous and therefore expensive, the Alembic is simply a note for note copy of a Fender style tube preamp. That is nice in that it gives you what you expect but, unfortunately it isn&#8217;t especially versatile. For &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/?p=3172\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The RCF Mini Instrument Tube Preamplifier&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-for-sale","category-instrument-amplifiers","post_format-post-format-image"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"rerun","author_link":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/author\/rerun"},"featured_img":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/front-1-300x200.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/front-1-scaled.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/?cat=27\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">For Sale<\/a>","<a href=\"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/?cat=5\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Instrument Amplifiers<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">For Sale<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Instrument Amplifiers<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 2025-05-01","modified":"Updated on 2025-05-24"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 2025-05-01 14:15","modified":"Updated on 2025-05-24 16:48"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papHjQ-Pa","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3172"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3219,"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3172\/revisions\/3219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rerun-electronics.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}