Anasounds Tape Preamp electronic kit

The Anasounds Tape Preamp electronic kit is a DIY components kit for building the Tape Preamp, an analog boost pedal from the French maker Anasounds. Anasounds positions the kit as a way to assemble and customize the effect yourself while learning the basics of electronics¹. The circuit is a JFET preamp inspired by the built-in preamp of a well-known tape echo from the 1970s¹, and the maker says it can be used as a simple colored boost or as an overdrive².

Anasounds describes the sound as "as fat and vibey as the actual preamp from a tape echo", with what the maker calls a huge organic and juicy sound³. The development story goes back further: Anasounds says the design originally started with the transistor preamp from a famous US-made tape echo that existed between 1970 and 1991³.

Where the electronic kit sits in the range

Anasounds sells the Tape Preamp in several forms, and the electronic kit is the middle option: it is the components only, with no enclosure. The kit belongs to the maker's FX Teacher and spare parts kits categories⁴.

Anasounds notes there is always the option of ordering the pedal assembled, or as a kit, so you can build it yourself while learning how it works⁹. The assembled version is listed as an already mounted pedal⁴.

What comes in the kit

The electronic kit is one kit with all the necessary components⁴. Anasounds' assembly documentation for the Tape Preamp kits describes the packaging: inside the enclosure you find a bag 0 containing the PCB with the LED and JFET already soldered, plus 4 bags containing the remaining components¹. That means the two most delicate parts, the LED and the JFET, arrive pre-soldered, and the builder solders the rest.

The kit is listed at 0,1 kg with dimensions of 10 × 10 × 10 cm⁴.

Bypass options

The Tape Preamp is built with true bypass. Anasounds' manual describes two exchangeable footswitch modules in the FX Teacher range: the classic 3PDT true bypass module with a click, or a relay true bypass module². The product page describes the bypass as made with a gold-plated 3PDT footswitch, exchangeable⁹. The full kit includes a true bypass kit with 3PDT³.

For the electronic kit and enclosure kit route, Anasounds says the enclosure can be assembled with different true bypass options, requiring a true bypass kit with 3PDT or relay, a tester, soldering tools, and the Tape Preamp electronic components kit⁷. In other words, a builder starting from the electronic kit chooses the bypass module separately.

Analog JFET circuit

The Tape Preamp is an analog pedal; RockBoard's PedalPedia lists its circuit type as analog⁵. Anasounds calls it a JFET preamp which is designed to color the sound, even on the most subtle settings². The maker contrasts this with a tame clean boost, saying the FX Teacher Tape Preamp gets you the big warm original JFET sound instead³.

For more on the finished pedal, see the Anasounds Tape Preamp page, or the broader preamp pedals and boost pedals categories.

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