Dream Guitars: Mama-Bear Acoustic Guitar Preamp

Mama Bear Acoustic Guitar Preamp

"The Mama Bear allows you to use one guitar to sound like a variety of guitar body shapes and tonewoods, even resonators. We've put it through it's paces and we think it will be appreciated by gigging musicians who would like a variety of tones but don't want to carry a van full of guitars. There are a variety of inputs types to match your pickup and 16 target instrument sounds you can blend with your own. The available sounds include Parlor, OM, Dread, GC, Jumbo and Resos in a variety of woods. It won't make you sell your arsenal of guitars, but it may save your shoulder on the way to a gig." - Paul H.

For years, acoustic guitars have relied on pickups for amplification. One problem: Even the best acoustic guitars deliver an oversimplification of true acoustic tone complexity when amplified. Using something called AGE™ technology, Mama Bear takes your guitar into the digital realm, neutralizes the pickup, and then restores the natural body resonance. The result: now the finest acoustic guitars can sound like, well… themselves. Only louder.

Feature	Benefit
16 Position Input Source Selector.	Provides 16 different digital filter choices to neutralize the sound of your pickup so the AGE™ technology can go to work.
16 Position Target Instrument Switch.	AGE™ technology provides 16 amazing guitar sounds emulated from 16 amazing guitars, from parlors to super jumbos. Allows you to dial up the guitar that matches your guitar's body shape, or emulate other shapes.
"Input gain control with red Overload LED."	Avoids overload distortion and allows minimization of noise when different pickups are used.
Bypass switch with LED indicator when in bypass mode.	Hard-wire bypass to allow comparison of processed versus unprocessed sounds. LED alerts user when in bypass mode.
Output level control.	Gain match to next stage for best S/N performance.
Balanced XLR output.	For studio use with balanced-input mixing boards.
Hi-Z input stage.	Works with Piezo pickups, great stand-alone preamp.
Chassis compatible with Equinox and Solstice.	Micro-rack system or two units in full rack mount.
+/- 12 volt supply for analog stages.	Outstanding headroom performance.
Wet/Dry Blend Control.	Allows "In Between" amounts of processing.
Ground lift switch.	For studio use with balanced-input mixing boards.
Phase switch.	Allows reduction of feedback
Mute switch.	For quiet guitar tuning or elimination of live connection noises.

Technical Specifications

Analog Characteristics

Nominal Input Level - -10dBu
• Input Impedance – 4.7M Ohm

• Gain, input to output – 15.5dB, bypassed

• Maximum signal level before input stage clipping – 2.0Vrms

• Nominal Output Level*
- Single ended - 0dBu
- XLR Balanced - 20dBu

• Maximum Output Level before clipping**
- Single ended – 7.2Vrms, bypassed; 3.5Vrms through processor
- Balanced XLR – 1Vrms, bypassed; 0.5Vrms through processor

• Noise, 20 Hz to 20 KHz, bypass mode, referenced to input:
- -109 dBv, input shorted
- -97.5 dBv, input open

Digital Characteristics

Microprocessor – 32 bit, 100MHz, floating point, 600MFLOPS
• Sample Rate – 44.1KHz

• Latency – 3ms

• A/D Conversion
- 24 bit
- 64x oversampling
- S/(N+D): 94dB
- Dynamic Range, S/N: 108dB

• D/A Conversion
- 24 bit
- 128x oversampling
- 24 bit 8 times digital filter
- Ripple: +/-0.005dB, Attenuation: 75dB
- S/(N+D): 94dB
- Differential outputs
- Dynamic Range: 110dB, A weighted

Dimensions

Size
- Width: 8.5” / 216mm
- Depth: 6.25” / 159mm
- Height: 2.72” / 69mm
• Weight
- Unit Weight: 2.7 lbs. / 1.2 kg
- Shipping Weight: 4.5 lbs. / 2.1 kg.

Power Supply

Power Supply – External wall mounted transformer 16 VAC/560mA
Current Draw – 200mA @ power jack