Zvex Super Hard On or Zvex SHO is the perfect preamp pedal. The "Crackle Okay" volume knob is a negative-feedback control styled after classic 60's recording console inputs. (They crackled when adjusted too.) Most vintage guitars suffer from steadily deteriorating magnets in their pickups, since permanent magnets aren't really forever.

The Super Hard-On's input impedance is so high (>5 Meg) that it refuses any current flow from your pickup... maintaining the most magnetic field around each string, so you can hear exactly what your pickup sounded like the day it came off the winder. The output level can exceed 8 volts peak, and when it finally distorts, the wave is shaped like triode overload, not fuzz.