Preamps....valve or otherwise!

Norwegian_Blue

Having tried all the digital options at a compact direct setup, I'm now looking for a preamp to match up with my Two Notes Torpedo Live for a simple amp-like, no frills approach! My ideal at the moment would seem to be a Kingsley Maiden, however with a near 6 month waiting time it's not really viable, unless someone here wants to sell me one! I've been looking into things like the Ethos Clean and Two Notes Le Clean. No overdrive needed, just good warm clean tones. Does anyone have any favourite alternatives I may not have heard of, or have experience with such things? 

Sassafras

Not a preamp as such but the Effectrode Fire Bottle is excellent for 'warm' clean sounds. Adds a lovely richness and depth to your sound.
Also a very good booster.

Norwegian_Blue

Cheers @Sassafras ...was looking at their Blackbird which sounds great, so that might be a good option!

thecolourbox

I've tried a few but with fairly indifferent results due to my lack of playing ability or flair:

Marshall JMP1 - my favourite of the ones I've tried, though I only really liked the jangly clean channel of it, the drive was too marshally (surprisingly!) And the mellow clean was too...erm... Mellow the jangly clean was useful though, either by itself or smacked in the face with drive pedals.

Kingsley Squire (blackface) - I still have this one, it went head to head with a Mesa VTwin pedal (more on that in a minute) and it sounds perfectly adequate for what it does. I use it into an AMT Pangaea impulse response leader thing with a reverb pedal and it sounds alright. Might still sell it if anything more appropriate presents itself but for now it's the Mesa I'm trying to get rid of

Mesa V Twin pedal - again sounds adequate but just not the sound for me, the clean is dull and the drive channels i just can't seem to coax it away from the sounds you'd expect - I play garage rock so mesa sounds apparently aren't compatible. 

JHS Twin Twelve (a Jack White Silvertone in a pedal kind of thing) - this actually works well into the IR loader thing, though I think its meant to be an overdrive pedal first and foremost. Cost less than half the price of the previously mentioned ones as well. Main criticism is that it doesn't have a lot of clean sounds, but I've included it to make the point that you don't necessarily need a valve pedal for this purpose as they are not necessarily as good as they seem...

TheMarlin

Simble Pre Amp by 'Mad Professor'
fantastic pedal. 

Or Nocturne Atomic Brain. 

M