A question I forgot about on my previous post -- guitarists who use distortion in their signal. Is a guitar preamp required to use in this system, or would they need to use just a standard distortion box?

We've used the system with a guitar in many different ways, direct, guitar->distortion pedal->system, a modeler (PODxt and others), and a mic'ed tube amp (low-watt tube amps work best).

The system faithfully reproduces whatever signal you put into it. The direct signal sounds clean and, well, direct. The other methods all gave me what I wanted to hear. The distribution of your tone into the room is where this system excels.

I hope that helps,
Steve

In our band here (in Framingham) that has been using this new system, two seasoned and veteran guitarists use 2 totally different guitar tone methods with pleasure: The lead guitarist(Tony Sarno) uses a miked low-power amp. He is using his Emory and is also recently taken by the Fender Pro Junior. Tony gets everything from a jazzy clean tone to Angus crunch just by how his Telecaster volume is set and the system responds just like a guitar amp in this setup. Well, it is a guitar amp. Cliff Goodwin plays a lot of rhythm (a rare and lost art), luscious fills and also does blistery leads using a standard collection of Boss pedals and a PODxt as the "amp" front end.

The big difference from the Old Method is that everyone (the guitarist, the other players, the audience) hears the guitar tone, not just the guitarist. With the typical guitar amp, players off to the side hear that "far away tone" (we all know what this is, except maybe the guitarist), listeners unfortunate enough to be in front of the amp get little holes in their foreheads and/or eardrums (from the amp's death ray) and the guitarist (and only the guitarist) gets the magic tone they have spent their life so far to acheive.

This all begs a poignant question of the guitarist: Want to play for yourself only, or for everyone listening?