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[Systematic Chaos]

Back in the early 90s when H&K was just starting to become a thing in Germany/Europe, they released the Access MIDI Tube Preamp….and even back than you had to take some serious amount of Deutsch Marks in your hand to be able to afford one. IIRC the MSRP was north of 3k Marks back then.
Nowadays these machines are pretty rare and only pop up once in a while….I actually didn’t have them on my radar for real until I saw a review on Michael Nielsen‘s YT channel recently (pretty awesome content Mike is putting out there, lots of real nice rack stuff etc)


After watching said vid and doing some more curious googling that thing instantly became (another) white whale of mine. Now just last week one popped up on German eBay for a whopping 250€ and I just had to have it.Period.







Package got delivered yesterday and I only had an hour or so to tinker with it and give it a short spin…that thing sounds ridiculously good. OMFG!!!
And it’s indeed way more than just a preamp given all the connection possibilities. For shits and giggles I’ll hook up an MP-1 in the Preamp Insert expanding it to a 6 channel behemoth. The Mid and Treble Boost feature can be used with the external preamp as well.
It’s got 3 loops. I’ll put a Mesa 5band eq pedal in Loop A (serial loop) and I’ll run a Roland GP-100 (90s rackmount unit) in Loop B and Loop C (parallel loops). Loop B cuts the signal after the return (for all modulation fx) and Loop C cuts the signal after the send (enables spillover of all time based fx).
The fader-like LEDs on the front gives a perfect overview of the settings per patch (almost like looking at amp knob settings.

One more crossed off the bucket list

[Dante]

I've never seen those! I love that parallel FX loop (out mono, in stereo!). That's a control center right there...wait, it makes good noise too?

Sign me up

[Harley Hexxe]

I've never seen those! I love that parallel FX loop (out mono, in stereo!). That's a control center right there...wait, it makes good noise too?

Sign me up

+1

It also bears a strong resemblance to the Mesa Boogie Triaxis

[rnolan]

Hey SC, nice score.  It sounds great and so many patching options. So it's in 2 bits, like a stage control panel which connects back to the preamp via the stage board connector, interesting setup.  Love the "DENOISER" button.  Have you checked out what tubes are in it yet? 

Not that you got one, but the amp was interesting also.  When he switched between Fender and Marshall, particularly with the cleaner/less distorted tones, it was pretty convincing, Marshall sounded quite distinctly Hendix(ish).

[Systematic Chaos]

This one just sold in the US….800$

[Systematic Chaos]

Saturday - Weekend! All garden work done and found some time to tinker with this bad boy some more.
Actually wired and fired it all up and put that old empty SKB 8U Shockmount monster to some good use while doing so...
Pic first:

I intentionally left some space between the units to get some good air circulation in there and this way I can skip the need to put an extra rack fan array in (the Carvin tends to produce some temperature and both preamps have vented top and bottom cover plates).
Signal flow/routing as follows:
Guitar (I might add a Line6 Relay G75 in there later) > Access > Access Preamp Insert Send > MP-1 > MP-1 Out > Access Preamp Insert Return > Access Serial Loop Send > Roland GP-100 In > Roland GP-100 Out > Access Serial Loop Return > Access Out > Carvin Tube100 In (Mono) -> Carvin Tube100 Out A > Mesa Thiele with C90 /// -> Carvin Tube100 Out B > Mesa Halfback 2x12 with V30/C90
I only used the Serial Loop and skipped all that fancy parallel loop b and parallel loop c stuff for the time being.....

O.M.F.G.!!!!!! This thing sings AND rips!!! Both preamps by themselves sound stellar (the MP-1 is S.S./Noise/...and whatnot modded and refurbed in almost all parts of the signal path), but the MP-1 in the Access' Preamp Insert is out of this world. The Insert allows to make use of the Access' onboard Mid-Boost and Treble-Boost...AND you can further use the Access' EQ to shape the tone...how cool ist that?!?!!!!
I'll have to further dive into the Access' MIDI-Mapping since theres some changes programmed that affect all thats connected, but thats something for next week.
And I'll have to wait til both my fam and the neighbours are out so I can turn the poweramp's volume past noon 
But for now....happy camper!!!

[rnolan]

Hey SC, nice .

[Dante]

Looks awesome, probably sounds that way too 

[MarshallJMP]

Looks GREAT !!!!!

[Dante]

look what just popped up on CL - a bit too far for me to drive

[rnolan]

Wow, nice looking gadget