Aclam Guitars The Windmiller Preamp

The Windmiller Preamp is a preamp and boost pedal from Aclam Guitars, the Barcelona-based maker with a habit of digging up obscure but crucial vintage gear and rebuilding it in pedal form. Aclam describes it as a tool for getting a vintage gritty tone, both clean and overdriven, usable to push your amp or overdrive pedals, or to run as an always-on preamp with a light touch of gain¹.

A gritty vintage boost and preamp

Aclam positions the Windmiller as a versatile pedal: an always-on preamp with a distinct color, a booster for solo parts, or a saturation tool². The behavior depends on where you put it in the chain. When the pedal receives the signal directly from the guitar's output jack, it "sees" the high-impedance signal and adds color, driving the amp into saturation. Fed from a buffered pedal instead, it becomes a transparent preamp, essentially a louder version of the bypassed signal².

Guitar World's reviewer, Trevor Curwen, found that with the Gain knob at minimum there is a small level boost and an instant tonal shift when you kick it in, and that turning the Gain up gives a lively, dynamic drive that cleans up naturally with your guitar's volume control³. Aclam's manual adds that at the fully counterclockwise position the pedal gives around 3dB over the bypassed signal, depending on the Lo-Cut and Hi-Cut settings, and that at full Gain it acts as a "clean" preamp with a little asymmetrical clipping⁴.

That last point matters for anyone who has heard an original Grampian: the 60s unit was known for hiss, and Aclam's recreation keeps the sonic character while removing the noise³.

The controls: Gain, Lo-Cut and Hi-Cut

The front panel is simple: three knobs and a bypass footswitch³.

The two tone controls are the practical difference between this and a straight boost. Pedal of the Day's reviewer found the Hi-Cut lets you brighten up darker pickups or remove the highs to tame the brightest of pickups, while the Lo-Cut trims bass so the mids stand out⁵.

There is also an overload indicator lamp, carried over from the original Grampian 636. In the pedal version it serves as a signal-in indicator: the higher the gain and the harder you play, the brighter it glows, so it reacts to your attack⁶⁷.

The Grampian 636 preamp behind it

Aclam's recreation is based on the preamp of an original Grampian Reverberation Unit Type 636, serial number 1138, from the 60s¹⁶. During early development the pedal went by the name "Grampian Overdrive" before becoming the Windmiller, a nod to Townshend's windmill strumming⁸. Its designer is Marc Sospedra of Aclam⁸.

The Windmiller is part of a series of Aclam pedals that replicate classic guitar tones, alongside the Cinnamon Drive and the Dr Robert⁹. Where those pedals chase other players' sounds, the Windmiller is the one aimed squarely at the Townshend rig.

Power, connections and placement

The pedal runs on a 9V DC adaptor that is not supplied, drawing 100mA, with one input jack and one output jack³⁸.

Because the tone coloring depends on the impedance it sees, placement is a real decision. First in the chain, straight after the guitar, you get the Townshend-style color and amp saturation. After a buffer, you get a clean, transparent boost⁴⁸. The manual says the circuit is tailored for guitar, bass and keys alike: "Guitar, bass, keys... you are the limit!"⁶, so bass players and keyboard players can use it too, with the same placement logic deciding how much color it adds.

What reviewers said

Guitar World's Trevor Curwen reviewed the Windmiller and concluded that it could command a place in many disparate rigs as a characterful boost and tone conditioner to enhance the signal, with particular interest for Who obsessives³. Gearnews reported on the pedal at NAMM 2021 as the latest in Aclam's series of tone-replication pedals, noting its Gain, Hi-Cut and Lo-Cut controls for dialing in that Townshend tone within your own rig⁹. Pedal of the Day covered it at release in April 2021 as a recreation of the Grampian 636 preamp Townshend used as a boost⁵¹.

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