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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“The point is, while they both apply a gain boost to the signal, they do it for different reasons. Primarily the preamp is there to create a line level signal, but it can also add gain creatively to alter the base sound that the power amp will have to work with. Preamps can also generate distortion.”-[source](https://higherhz.com/preamp-vs-power-amp-difference/)
What this means to me is the pre-amp is one of the first things to effect the sound. It brings lower sounds, such as bass, to “line level” (comparable volume to the rest of the sounds) while a regular amplifier is one of the last things in sound line that amplifies the entirety of the line level.
TLDR- pre amp brings lower sounds to line level with the rest of the sounds
Power amp amplifies all the sounds in general.
Without preamping lower sounds can come out distorted or the whole thing just won’t sound entirely right.
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