preamp / tone control options

[Colledge]

long story short, i have this bass.


i made it last year as my A-level product design coursework (got my A)
the original idea was to have a little big muff onboard + p-bass tone controls, hence the 5 controls and big upper cavity, i got all the bits to fit, but it turned out that the wiring wasn't going to be as simple as i originally thought, so i ended up with 3 dummy knobs and just the p-bass controls.

while in storage for assessment, the volume pot got broken. I could easily get another 250k pot, but the whole thing is a mess anyway and i'd like something with some more knobs so i'm not just wasting all of the control cavity.

what do you guys recommend? it doesn't have to fill all 5 holes, and i don't really have any preference for passive/ active, 2/3 band eq etc.

ps. feel free to ask me about the bass, i'm chuffed to bits with it, plays really well (not very comfortable seated though) for something made in a badly equipped school tech room with a student budget.

Edited September 11, 2010 by Colledge

[Ou7shined]

I wonder if you still get those Artec pre's on ebay?
They are pretty cheap (sub £30) and some say they do a good job. You get 2 or 3 band EQs.

If you want something a bit more up market, OPB-3.

[stingrayPete1977]

Cool looking bass dude! There are people on here that have paid crazy money for worse looking basses that that one.I suppose a 3 band J east preamp for a music man could be good,Ask mcnash he has recently fitted one to his Ray and it has a bypass thats meant to get it to a 2 band sound or fairly close too.

[Colledge]

thanks for the pointers.
i'm thinking the [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ARTEC-SE2A-se2-a-BASS-GUITAR-EQUALIZER-ELECTRONICS-EQ-/360232144782?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item53df824f8e#ht_3897wt_829"]artec[/url] pre will work.
seeing as the pickup pan pot will be redundant because of only having the single pickup, i'm thinking also sometime in the future i could add a peizo transducer into the upper cavity.

[the_skezz]

Can't offer any help, but may I say that that is one damn sexy bass you've made there?

Edited September 13, 2010 by the_skezz

[Colledge]

thanks, its a shame iver never been able to use it in anger because of the dodgy electronics.... that and my inability to play fretless well yet.
[url="http://www.artecsound.com/pickups/index.html"]This[/url] 3 band eq with parametric mids seems perfect but i can't seem to source one anywhere.

[Ou7shined]

You should email the guy in the ebay link to see if he can source you one.

The link to the Artec site isn't going to the pre you are thinking of but I presume it is the same one I got (never got around to using it and sold it on here) which actually came directly from the far east - Singapore I think - which was the only place you could get them at the time.

[Colledge]

oops yeah, bad link, the one i meant was the se3p.
i'll give mr. ebay a message and see what he says, cheers.

[Colledge]

found one on the bay, happy days. i'd buy it right now but ive been a plonker and lost both of my halifax cards so the cards are blocked at the moment.


...couldnt have happened at a worse time, a week before freshers and i also need petrol, and then this.