mr dave

can't comment on the kustom amp, looks nice enough though.

as for the preamp situation their purpose is to basically establish your sound and tone independently of the amplifier being used so that you have 'your' sound, wherever you plug in. at that point it shouldn't matter what you plug it into as its sole purpose at that point is to just make whatever comes out of the preamp louder. most of your sound and tone would be controlled at that junction within the line.

the metal zone also tends to be a very harsh distortion pedal (lots of gain). i wouldn't buy a pedal until you have the amp situation under control first. once you know you can get a clear sound from your violin through to the amp then you can start experimenting with pedals as they're all going to respond differently to a violin as opposed to a guitar.

are there any examples out there of the sound and style you're trying to achieve?

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