Last year Sunnaudio introduced the Rabbithead RH-1, an all-analog integrative preamp and overdrive. Now the California-based company is back with the Nucleus NU-1, a dual boost, clean-to-high-gain analog preamp that promises “harmonically rich saturated sounds” for electric guitars and bass, and can also be used with most passive or active acoustic guitar pickups.
The preamp boasts two channels – Hi, which spans from “rich clean tones to full saturated grind,” and Lo, which starts clear and increases to overdriven breakup. A Hi gain boost puts out up to 60db of gain, while both Hi and Lo channel volume outputs can be set independently and are switchable via a HI/LO footswitch. Both channels also share gain and EQ for streamlined operation.