My initial thinking is that a good quality transistor with unity gain using (2) 9V batteries (18V) for headroom would make an ideal line splitter for a guitar. Am i on the right track here? I want to achieve lowest coloration of sound and lowest S/N. I would think the transister solution would be better than an op-amp solution? Those with audio experience, what transister would you recommend for the job? Perhaps there is a circuit diagram available?

Thank you.

 

A splitter? You mean the output must feed many amplifiers?
An emitter-follower transistor can feed a few high input impedance amplifiers and will have some distortion.
A good opamp can feed many amplifiers and has very low distortion.

 

What about vacuum tubes?

 

A TL071, TL072 or TL074 has 0.003% THD, with noise in the nanovolts.

You could take a TL074, connect them all as unity gain buffers, use one of them as an input to drive the other three. You'd double your THD to 0.006%, but that's likely tolerable - and each of the three outputs would be independent of the other; free to respond to their individual load. You wouldn't load your input signal, either.

If you need less noise, look at an LT1007.

 

Exactly what equipment is intended to be fed by the electric guitar ?

If one of them is a 'normal' amplifier; it would be better to use its preamplified output to feed a second.

Miguel

 

The split signal will feed (2) line inputs, one will be the side chain in for a noise gate, the other into a guitar/amp modeler effects processor. If op-amps is the way to go, i guess the MXR KFK-1 EQ pedal i am using now (has two outputs) is good enough. I may inquire with the manufacturer and ask how i can jump/bypass the EQ stage and just have input --> volume --> output. For some reason, i thought a simple transister would provide superior performance over an op-amp.