Intersound IVP Preamp

Up for sale is a vintage and rare early "WHITE FACE" Intersound IVP (Instrument Voicing Preamp) from the 70s.

This is a 2 channel preamp with a bass and treble control and a 5 band parametric equalizer. It also has effects sends and returns on it, and can be channel switched with a footswitch as well as a panel switch. The distortion channel is said to have a very good tube distortion emulator.

If you clicked on this listing you are probably one of the few in the know of what this magical unit is capable of.

The Intersound IVP is a rack preamp from the 70s. A purely solid state design, it's notable for its use of transformer saturation in it's "tube" mode. While it found some superstar users in Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia, the amp only truly reached notoriety in the mid 80s. In the hands of Steve Albini, its solid state bite became the signature sound of Big Black, perhaps the most influential noise rock band of the decade (and certainly the most notorious). Despite their dissolution in 1987, the preamp is part of Shellac's sound integrated with a '65 Bassman in an aluminum chassis.

Albini was using them extensively in the studio and live for loud distorted guitar and bass tones. It was basically his signature tone for that and when you plug this bad boy in you will hear that right away when the “tube” side is engaged. Butch Vig is also known to have used IVP’s extensively over the years. Rumor has it the IVP was even used on some Nirvana recordings.

Other companies have tried to mimic this rare circuit but nothing truly compares to the tone and feel of the real deal. These have recently become super rare and highly collectible. Get it before the prices get out of sight!

These photos are of the actual preamp for sale