Preamp with two volume controls?


 

Anyone familiar with a preamp that has 2 volume controls. Currently I use 2 Mcintosh C50 preamps in my system. One is for the 2 MC252 amps and 1 used as a volume control for my 3 SVS subs and an Anthem STR amp. The extreme differences in how bass is recorded in new verses old recordings and the wide range in low frequency mastering in the many styles of music I listen to has led me to look for different ways to rectify these issues. What I am doing works pretty well, but I would love to have a more direct method. Thanks in advance.

jmalen123

As many of the replies so far indicate, the general purpose of equipping a preamp with two volume controls is to negate the requirement for a balance control and not to provide control over two different outputs.

To achieve the latter, assuming the preamp is not purely passive, would require duplication of a large portion of the preamp's circuitry - which would not make commercial or sonic sense.

As regards the original post, the complexity of the speaker arrangement suggests the possibility that there may be frequency response issues that cause some recordings to have too much bass and others not enough.

The Jadis JP 80 MC and some Croft Preamps also have/had independent volume controls - again for balance adjustment purposes rather than to control discrete outputs.

On the high end side, both Lamm (LL 2.1, L2.1) and Jadis (JP 80MC, JPS 2, JP 200MC) have separate volume controls for each channel.  In addition, since both the Jadis and Lamm preamps have tape-out outputs, you could run two outputs for each channel, one with fixed volume for your powered speakers (i.e., subs), one variable running through the volume pots.  The Lamms also have two variable outputs (one XLR, on the L2 series) that go through the volume controls.  Pricey, though.  

The Supratek Cabernet Dual does exactly what you are describing.  I used one for a couple years in my Horn + Sub system for the same reason.  There are two volume controls that control different outputs.  There are two configurations you can select between via a toggle switch on the back. 1) two separate volume controls one each for different outputs A and B or 2) master slave configuration where one volume controls the gain for output B (slave) and the other volume control controls both A and B keeping the proportion of A & B while raising the volume of both.