Looking for preamps with 'gain stages'

[Dood]

I know there are one or two preamps out on the market that have them but I'm just seeing if there are any I haven't seen.

Just looking at that age old problem of swapping between basses that have different level outputs. Given the I prefer active circuits in my basses (mostly) I'm looking to 'level' all the basses at source rather than faff with switch boxes and other pointless gubbins.

Having a trim pot on board to add boost or maybe cut back a bit (I'd rather not attenuate) will make life a bit easier.

[darkandrew]

I know the MEC preamp in my Warwick SS1 has a trim pot, as do the newer Tone Pumps as used in Spector Euros (but be careful, the older ones don't and are super hot!).

Edited October 8, 2016 by darkandrew

[MoonBassAlpha]

Pretty sure the East preamps have a trim pot, but on mine, still doesn't go as low gain as passive (U-Retro).

[Kiwi]

I would probably go with an East preamp. They sound good and come with internal gain trim and input buffers. If you want more control over the bass and treble then a Noll 3 band parametric will do the job too but you won't be able to fit it to any bass that requires a deep insert input jack unless you enlarge the jack socket hole internally to take the whole 9 pin socket.

[Dood]

Thanks guys!

Will look in to!

Dan

[EBS_freak]

If you add a trim pot post the preamp you can cut the level of the output (e.g. match all your basses to the one with the lowest output) without impacting the loading on the pickups/tone. You're probably looking at 25k trim pot. (tiny little thing)

[Dood]

Could also be a good idea and solution yes!!

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1475961707' post='3150160']
Pretty sure the East preamps have a trim pot, but on mine, still doesn't go as low gain as passive (U-Retro).
[/quote]

i have three easts and they are all trimmed to the lowest setting and are still extremley pokey - the only one i dont have is on the status on the bridge pickup is trimmed higher to boost volume and keep the pickup a reasonable distance from strings because it is so much closer to the bridge than most other basses

that said i have yamaha and sandberg also both active but the output on them is nowhere near as powerful as the easts - ive just compromised and sort of figured out roughly where the volume pot should be and keep my fingers crossed

would a trim pot across the output be literally connected up across the hot and ground?

ta