The ATC-2 by Hans Stegers from Gitaarservice.nl (http://www.gitaarservice.nl) is a great sounding, transparent preamp that I'm using in my white and black Yamaha Pacifica guitars. Check http://www.gitaarservice.nl/atc-2-preamp.html for more information and contact and order details.
My details:
- Website: http://www.harrymaes.com - For (Skype) lessons check out http://www.harrymaes.com/lessons.html
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harrymaesofficial or http://www.facebook.com/harmamusic
- Twitter: @harmaes
- Mail: har.maes@gmail.com
More information on the ATC-2:
The ATC-2 (Advanced Tone Circuit) is a low power consumption preamp using a 9v battery. The ATC-2 is great IMO because it allows you to use your guitars fully passive (unlike many preamps on the market!) and with a switch or push-push/push-pull potentiometer you can switch your guitar to active mode.
Active mode solves issues with cable capacitance from longer cable runs so you don't lose tone. It also makes your passive volume knob work much better: when rolling down the volume there's hardly any tone loss.
The ATC-2 is also great because with the gain, bass and treble trimpots it allows you to really balance the passive and active guitar signals so there's no difference in tone. You can of course set the preamp to boost the lows or highs but in most cases a transparent boost is desired! You can see the ATC-2 as a second gain stage where activating it results in a boost that adds saturation and more volume/drive. This is especially noticeable with clean and crunch signals, with higher gain settings the ATC-2 adds more saturation but the difference in level/drive won't be as noticeable.
The ATC-2 comes in two forms:
- A small PCB with 3 trimpots for gain, bass and treble that you can install inside the back caveat of your guitar (often it fits inside the caveat that's already there). The battery can be installed between your tremolo springs or a seperate caveat can be routed for it;
- An external box that has a very short cable that goes into your guitar which you can fit onto your guitar strap. It has an on/off switch, an input for your normal guitar cable and a 9v battery compartment. It also gives you access to the gain, bass and treble trimpots.