Vintage Transformer preamp 63 (read details below)

Please don’t buy at the moment :( I’d be so stoked if you did. But I’ve been in the hospital fighting for my life for a long while. If you buy something I can’t ship it right now. I do everything myself including testing packing and shipping. Nobody else can do it for me. I noticed Canada post is back off strike- so I had to speak up. Keep creating for me out there. I’m stuck here for some days to come. I didn’t put it on Vacation mode as that locks messages that I want people to get. Send me some good vibes out there. I hope you are around when I get out of this damn Hospital 🍀

This is a clone of the Greer Soma 63. A transformer based preamp - it will saturate just like an amp because it basically IS ONE ) This is a special one. No diode based tube screamer variant here.

The SOMA ’63 is a true vintage preamp, based on the tone and feel of vintage Fender brown-face amplifiers from California (60s) This pedal simulates the entire preamp, phase inverter, power section, and even the feel of the vintage 10 inch Utah speakers that were in those famous Fender brown amps. It’s spot on.

The tone stack is designed to provide a wide and dynamic range of tonal options to the user. The Presence control works with the tone stack, and is designed to be a wide range control, effecting the overall sound of the entire circuit.

The SOMA ’63 features a steel core transformer in the audio signal path. The transformer lends to the overall tone shaping of the circuit, and when the gain is pushed hard, especially with higher output pickups, the small steel core transformer will saturate, just like a vintage amplifier. The SOMA ’63 can be used as a tone-shaping preamp, or as an overdrive pedal. You can get anywhere from glassy vintage fender all the way to cranked Brown face amp. It’s truly is unique, and one of my favourites. I use it with my Vox as an always on. I set it to edge of breakup. I have it dialled in to give me some punch and chime. But when I really dig in, it responds just like an amp. The transformer saturates and gives you that gnarly overdriven Blackface/Brownface grit. Amazing.

There are a wide variety of tones available in the SOMA ’63, so spend some time with it, and find the tones that jive with you! It’s something truly unique.

There is so much to explore in this baby. The signal fully saturates the transformer anywhere above 12 o’clock with my lowish output pickups. 12 o’clock is around blasting Fender brown-face amp, and around where the overdrive really begins. So anything above will get you into some real gain. It’s a really cool fuzzy overdrive, but still clear at the same time. Check out some videos etc. Setting it below 12 o’clock gets you a duplicate sound to the old brown-face Fenders. I just love amp in a box pedals!

The SOMA ‘63 runs off of a standard, negative center pin 9 volt power supply, and can be ran off of up to 18 volts. At 9 volts, the SOMA ‘63 will have more grit and texture. At 18 volts, you can expect higher headroom, a bit stiffer response, and less overall grit.

I can’t speak to the original amp this schematic was pulled from, as I don’t own one. But I have played that style of amp before and it nails the sound of the old Fender brown face type amp. It does this via replacing tubes with jfets (which operate similar to tubes) and adding an actual transformer to get that true saturated amp sound. Crank it and it will Sag just like a real amp.

The tone stack is very interactive, and works like an old vintage amp. So for more treble turning up the presence and bass down a little adds more high end than the treble knob alone. It’s not hard to get used to.

I’ve been using one of these as an always on (gain at around 2:00) for a couple weeks through a Vox and love the body it gives to my low output pickups. For me beyond 12:00 starts to really saturate the transformer and overdrive the preamp. It’s an awesome fuzzy overdrive, and can be a power house when gain is cranked. You really feel the amp sag at this point. This is when I start cranking out the Neil Young tunes haha. Today I was playing it with treble and bass off completely and the middle presence knob dimed along with the gain. It was such a killer almost harmonic purcolator sound. It just tore through me. So awesome!

What can I say. it’s a fantastic amp in a box of the famous Fender “brown face” era amps!

It’s a fantastic addition to my “amp in a box” collection of pedals. It’s defiantly one of my favourite!!

Built right here in Ontario by my meticulous hand, using the finest parts only. I take great care in building my pedals. I have to admit that the LED isn’t perfectly in the middle this time though. It’s not pre drilled for me etc. so every once in a while, you will see evidence of an actual human that made it haha. I’ll always let you know if anything is slightly off (very rare). it’s a tiny bit left(as seen in the pics). I stand behind my pedals, so I had to let you know. I I’m a one man band so I am my biggest critic. So you know you are getting the best quality possible.

Thank you for looking!
Erik