I understand the point of an amp is to boost the power going to the equipment but everytime I look up what preamps do I just get confused on why they are nessecary and how they affect it differently than an amp. Is it just a separate signal booster in the chain? When would you need one? Why wouldn’t a stronger amp do the same thing or have it built in already?
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Traditionally power amps didn’t have volume controls. They ran at full power all the time. If you wanted to be able to adjust levels, you connected pre amp before power amp. You used pre amp to turn level up/down so it was correct for power amp for the volume you wanted.
Guitarists also like pre amps because they like distortion. They turn the pre amp up so loud that it distorts. Then they amplify the distorted signal loud enough for the venue they are in. This way you can have a distorted signal but it doesn’t need to be loud. Like for practice.
There isn’t much need for a preamp these days. They can be integrated into one amp.
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