Preamps help to maintain or improve the sound of your pickup, while a DI regulates the signal level and impedance before it goes into your amp or mixer. These features, along with tone shaping, anti-feedback, and other helpful features, make a good preamp/DI an essential part of every player's rig.

Setting the gain on your preamp correctly is an essential step in getting great tone. For preamps with a VU meter like the Venue DI and Session DI, you'll want the VU meter to hit in the Yellow when you're playing hard. For preamps without a VU meter like the Para DI, turn up the Gain until you hear the signal begin to distort when you're playing hard, and then back the Gain down slightly until the distortion is gone.

Many of our circuit designs were originally derived from the audiophile circuitry of the hi-fi audio world. These types of circuits take more work to design, but they are a pivotal part of bringing your studio-grade sound to the stage.