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moosers
Published on 02/14/10 at 19:23
The Radial Engineering Tonebone PZ-Pre is an acoustic instrument pre-amplifier with a ton of versatility. I've only used it for acoustic guitar, but it advertises being able to be used with any acoustic instrument and beyond. It has all sorts of 1/4" connections for ins and outs, looping, and even for a tuner output.
UTILIZATION
The Radial Engineering Tonebone PZ-Pre has a whole lot to bring to the table in terms of parameters and options, so it will take a little bit of time to get used to everything going on here. The preamp has parameters for boost, bass, frequency, mid, high, notch, and level one and level two. It has switches for boost, toggling between one and two, and muting. It also has switches for phase, assigning the footswitch, notch Q, and lo-cut. If you seem unsure of how all of this might work, having the manual around might be a good thing.
SOUNDS
As I stated earlier, I've only used the Radial Engineering Tonebone PZ-Pre with an acoustic guitar, so I can only speak about this type of use. However, judging by how great it sounds with acoustic guitar, I don't think that using it with other instruments should pose a problem for anyone, especially considering it is designed to take on all types of instruments. The vast array of parameters and options allow it to be an extremely versatile preamp in terms of the different amounts of tones available. I love having access to two inputs at once, as it would be perfect for a live show where you had two acoustic instruments that needed amplification.
OVERALL OPINION
I've used the Radial Engineering Tonebone PZ-Pre for a live recording session in the studio for an acoustic guitar. We ran it through this before putting it through the console, and going to the console it had an extremely clean tone. The price of the Tonebone PZ-Pre isn't all that expensive, especially if you're going to have this as a main stay in your live rig. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who has two acoustic instruments that they would want to have at the same level, or if you're simply looking for a great acoustic preamp!
UTILIZATION
The Radial Engineering Tonebone PZ-Pre has a whole lot to bring to the table in terms of parameters and options, so it will take a little bit of time to get used to everything going on here. The preamp has parameters for boost, bass, frequency, mid, high, notch, and level one and level two. It has switches for boost, toggling between one and two, and muting. It also has switches for phase, assigning the footswitch, notch Q, and lo-cut. If you seem unsure of how all of this might work, having the manual around might be a good thing.
SOUNDS
As I stated earlier, I've only used the Radial Engineering Tonebone PZ-Pre with an acoustic guitar, so I can only speak about this type of use. However, judging by how great it sounds with acoustic guitar, I don't think that using it with other instruments should pose a problem for anyone, especially considering it is designed to take on all types of instruments. The vast array of parameters and options allow it to be an extremely versatile preamp in terms of the different amounts of tones available. I love having access to two inputs at once, as it would be perfect for a live show where you had two acoustic instruments that needed amplification.
OVERALL OPINION
I've used the Radial Engineering Tonebone PZ-Pre for a live recording session in the studio for an acoustic guitar. We ran it through this before putting it through the console, and going to the console it had an extremely clean tone. The price of the Tonebone PZ-Pre isn't all that expensive, especially if you're going to have this as a main stay in your live rig. I would definitely recommend this for anyone who has two acoustic instruments that they would want to have at the same level, or if you're simply looking for a great acoustic preamp!