Fostex X-18 input section as guitar preamp?

[karsten_h]

hi out there... yesterday i read an interview with jeff magnum in an old issue of tape-op https://tapeop.com/interviews/11/neutral-milk-hotel/ and wonder if anyone out there knows techincal details about the input section of these fostex X-18 4tracks recorders and what jeff is talking about what made his sound special... probably it is possible to exploit that into a pedal?

[GibsonGM]

It was a thing, yes. Keith Richards discusses doing this on Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man, but the actual presence of the basic tracks in the final recording is a matter of a lot of debate. They overdubbed everything after they fleshed them out, of course.

You could pretty easily replicate the amp section of one of these things, sure. I've heard of others doing it.  What you'll get out of it, now that's another debate, lol.