The API preamp performs incredibly well on electric guitars, especially within heavier genres. It’s unparalleled responsiveness and bold overall sound does an excellent job in capturing and showcasing the aggressive playing in metal and hard rock in a very clear and powerful way. 
In situations where unparalleled punch, detail, and responsiveness are desired regardless of genre, the API preamp delivers stronger than anything else - Period. For hard rock or metal engineers, it’s pretty safe to say your preamp arsenal isn’t complete without at least 4 channels to cover your drums, guitars, and bass.

AMPEX 351 MIC PRE

These mic pres are considered to be a piece of music recording history. First used in the 50's as the input to the tape recording section of the original 351 tape recorder. Back in the day, it would have been the recorders that were used to record Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Sun Studios,etc. It has a bunch of tubes giving it a wide range of tone options to play with. Pictures here

John Hardy M-1 Mic Preamp

In shootout after shootout the John Hardy M-1 is always a top contender and is often the preferred mic pre for acoustic guitar. You can literally smell the wood. The M-1 was first introduced in 1987 - long before everybody and his brother was making a mic pre.  The M-1 is a "clean" mic pre. The Jensen 990 opamp and the Jensen transformer adds just enough "traction" and "grip" to the sound that the result is natural and pleasing to the ears. It just sounds "right".

API 3124+ Preamp

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Neve 1073 Console Module

The 1073 is a Class-A design microphone/line preamplifier with three equaliser bands. The equaliser has a fixed 12kHz high frequency band and switchable low and mid range bands with cut and boost controls. There is also a passive third-order (18 dB/octave) high pass filter. Two switches were also fitted on the module's front panel for equaliser bypass and phase polarity. The 1073 module was designed to be part of the 80 series Neve console. It was never intended for use as a stand alone module. It is now regarded as a "desert island" preamp by many recording engineers, and has been used on a countless number of hit records over the past 30 years from Rock, Rap, Hip-hop, to Classical. The sound is described as very big, fat, and colored. The factor contributing to the larger than life sound is greatly attributed to the design of the transformer which seems to add subharmonics to the signal. The Equalizer section of the 1073 is regarded as very "musical" and practical and has become the favorite choice of many engineers for tracking and mixing.

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