Lynyrd Skynyrd in a box? Mace preamp.

[tbonesullivan]

I never really have understood the preamp topology of the MACE, or why when tubes were still plentiful, Marshall, Peavey, MusicMan, and others decided to go into solid state preamps with tube power sections.

Is the "combine" feature of the MACE supposed to be like jumpering a four input Marshall? 

[mrjamiam]

36 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

I never really have understood the preamp topology of the MACE, or why when tubes were still plentiful, Marshall, Peavey, MusicMan, and others decided to go into solid state preamps with tube power sections.

Is the "combine" feature of the MACE supposed to be like jumpering a four input Marshall? 

I'm no authority, and I was a tyke back in the days of these amps, but I sort of generally sort preamp distortion as "fizzy" and power amp distortion as "creamy".  Maybe the idea was to deliver a less- (or un-) distorted preamp signal to the overdriven power section?