good preamp & monitor or dedicated acoustic amp?

galloc

Does anyone use (or have tried) a good 2-channel preamp (k&K quantum, dtar solstice, radial something-or-other are the ones I found) paired with a good monitor like an fbt verve 8ma? It seems like this may achieve really good results. The whole amp research thing is making my head spin a little bit. One good thing about amps is they're all-in-one, whereas the above setup has 2 parts to carry around. The advantage of the above rig could be volume and tone per pound of gear. I've heard those fbt verves can crank out some sound; the 8ma is only around 20lbs.

constantine

I think you will benefit from a preamp with any amp that you use. I use the radial tonebone PZ-Pre, its amazing. I had used the LR baggs para DI before and that was a very good preamp too. The Radial has insane controls for dealing with any "room". I also used the fishman, and I thought it was "ok".