If you are one of the people who can’t be satisfied with one amp, then the solution for you might be here! The Mooer Micro Preamp Live is a preamp pedal that will give tons of sound options from your favorite amps or amps you didn’t even know. It consists of 3 banks of 4 patches each for a total of 12 sounds. Furthermore each patch can have a boost engaged (either pre or post) so it is like having a total of 24 sounds. But what is great about the Preamp Live is its tone capture function. This function lets you get a tone quite similar your amp or preamp. How does this work?
First of all you will need access to an amp or a preamp (you can do plugins or pedals too). You connect the target with the Preamp Live, (It needs to have a Line Out or an FX Loop) find the settings you like, choose the source preamp in the Preamp Live which can be after the same amp or a similar sounding amp, you press capture and play a bit and that’s it. You got the preamp sound of your amp inside the Preamp Live. Next thing, use the editor and save the captured tones to create a library of unlimited number of patches. That’s the concept of tone capture, but what about using the Preamp Live in various situations?
That’s not as easy and simple as you may think but once you get it, you can truly get amazing sound from this unit. One thing you must not forget is that this is a preamp/modeler unit. It won’t play alone, you will either need a power amp and a cab or an IR. Well the Preamp Live has an IR cab sim with built in options and an option of loading an external 3rd Party IR to the unit. So if you choose the 2nd way then you are good to go. Just keep the Master Volume of the Preamp Live at 9-10 o’clock because its signal is really hot, and you got yourself a great sound. Personally I found the built in IRs of the Preamp Live a bit lacking so maybe you’re better of using a 3rd Party IR or even better our FREE Custom IR Pack!
If you want to connect the Preamp Live to a power amp and a cabinet or the FX Loop of an amp then there is one thing you should consider. The FX Loop of your amp may have a volume knob or a -10db setting. Increasing your FX Loop volume and lowering the amp’s power amp volume will give you different results than doing the opposite. Moreover if your amp is a tube amp then the results will be even different. In this case, the more you increase the power amp volume the warmer your sound is, while increasing the FX Loop volume will make your sound more “solid state”. A good combination of the two will give you the best results. If your amp does not have an FX Loop level option, consider modding it. It’s most probable that you would not like your FX Loop level at max and the power amp at a low level, especially with a tube amp with a lot of wattage.
In conclusion, the power amp is going to shape your sound, so you need to choose one that will fit well with the Preamp Live. Also, remember that the Preamp Live has a Presence level for Power Amps that are either a bit muddy or a bit sharp. And that’s what you can do with a preamp and thus the Preamp Live. Combine different preamps with one power amp. So what does a Fender Twin Reverb preamp sound like with a Marshall JCM 800 power amp? Well, you can experiment and see for yourself or just take a look at the presets as explained below.
Check out our Mooer Preamp Live Tone Captures
The category types for the presets of the Mooer Micro Preamp Live are as follows:
Important Notice – All the Presets for the Mooer Micro Preamp Live were captured with the Cab Sim off. If you are going to use the device’s Cab Sim then you should select an IR because the presets might not have an IR selected and thus you will hear no sound coming out of your Preamp Live.