My violins and violas feature hand-made pickups that make them sound like acoustic instruments when they are plugged into a standard guitar amplifier - no preamp or EQ needed! The timbre of these pickups is adjustable, and is controlled by a Blend knob. A Volume knob is another standard feature, but can be left off if you prefer to use an external volume controller (and to reduce the total weight of the instrument). For an additional $75, I can add a Treble knob that subtly rolls off very high frequencies; this is particularly useful if you must connect directly to a PA system (my pickups may otherwise sound shrill in this situation as they're optimized for guitar amps), or if you will be playing through a wireless transmitter and cannot easily access the EQ controls of your amplifier while performing.