Best Preamp Shoot out.?

[bubinga5]

Ok I will go with a John East U Retro.  I does everything I need. I'l be honest it's a bit wobbly on the controls. But this thing sounds incredible to be honest. Had a Sonus 2 band before,. Didnt like.  The Glock stuff is wow 

 

 

What your favorite pre.?

Edited June 3, 2018 by bubinga5

[NancyJohnson]

Does your interpretation of Preamp only include on-board electrics? 

As a rule, I prefer passive basses, generally plugging these into any manner of Tech 21 stuff; BDDI, GED2112 or the new kid on the block, the intense dUg. 

[bubinga5]

30 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Does your interpretation of Preamp only include on-board electrics? 

As a rule, I prefer passive basses, generally plugging these into any manner of Tech 21 stuff; BDDI, GED2112 or the new kid on the block, the intense dUg. 

Yes only on board Nancy. This is a onboard preamp favourite.

 

Glock

Noll 

Delano

Pope

East

Sadowsky

Audere

ACG

Bartolini

Fender

GB electronics

Aguilar

Xotic

Alembic

Haz Labs

Creation Audio

Tone Styler

 

I'm sure there are lots more

 

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by bubinga5

[drTStingray]

Musicman (2, 3 or 4 band versions)

[Hellzero]

EBS P2 2 bands (not made anymore, but very transparent and cleverly made with that mid switch).

Aries home made 3 bands (the best chosen frequencies, never aggressive and always musical).

Mike Pope Flexcore 4 bands (transparent and way more versatile than the Fodera 3 bands).

Bazzz Haz Labs Ken Smith / Fodera 3 bands clone (absolutely not transparent, but what a growl).

[Leonard Smalls]

Wouldn't know... I'd be foolish to tear out the Wal electronics and place something inferior in there! 😁

However, I'm getting excellent results with a rackmount BBE pre-amp...

[skidder652003]

I've got a Glock on my Ray 5, TBH I have no idea if its superior to the MM Pre (in a box under the bed) as I've never heard the Ray pre!

Edited June 3, 2018 by skidder652003

[Thunderbird]

I have the emg system in my favourite bass not sure what model it is next up I would go aguilar opb3 

[Cuzzie]

Glock is good

EMG BTC and BTS are great, and their solderless system is pretty cool

[paul_5]

I’ve only ever had East pres in my Jazzes. Stunning sound.

[dave_bass5]

I love the pre amp in the Sire basses.

[NancyJohnson]

10 hours ago, bubinga5 said:

Yes only on board Nancy. This is a onboard preamp favourite.

OK.  I've had a few.  Whatever was on an old Warwick Streamer, The Bongo 5HH and a John East Retro. [edit: I did have an 18v EMG thing on a Precision and I think an old Ibanez Musician had actives, but it was a long time ago.)

I'd say the Bongo was the best by a country mile, so long as you didn't abuse it.  I'd start off with everything flat and just tweak to accommodate who and where I was playing, but by the end of the night after some excessive twiddling, everything would be ramped up full and it would sound horrific.  I'd say the Bongo was the reason I decided to go passive thereafter.  (I even posted a thread here at the time asking whether I could pull the active stuff out somehow; it was kinder to just sell it on.)

Edited June 3, 2018 by NancyJohnson

[Cato]

For me, personally, the Sire has too many variable parameters, it's too fidly and i have to keep looking up what knob does what online.

I mostly use mine in passive mode these days, it's just easier to find a good tone.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Cato

[dave_bass5]

16 minutes ago, Cato said:

For me, personally, the Sire has too many variable parameters, it's too fidly and i have to keep looking up what knob does what online.

I mostly use mine in passive mode these days, it's just easier to find a good tone.

While i too use mine mostly passive, because I find it to be a really nice tone, i find it surprising you have to keep looking up what each knob does. Low, mid with sweep and high seems pretty simple to remember IME.

Each to his/her own though. 

 

[Cato]

44 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

While i too use mine mostly passive, because I find it to be a really nice tone, i find it surprising you have to keep looking up what each knob does. Low, mid with sweep and high seems pretty simple to remember IME.

Each to his/her own though. 

 

Thats 3 out of the 7 knobs you've accounted for.

I know what the controls are supposed to do in theory, I just lose track of exactly which one is doing what.

Then i just switch the bass to passive and it ceases to be a distraction.

Edited June 3, 2018 by Cato

[Hellzero]

6 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I’ve not had the pleasure, but if there anywhere near the 3 band, they get my vote 😀

They do ! 😊

[bubinga5]

4 hours ago, Cato said:

Thats 3 out of the 7 knobs you've accounted for.

I know what the controls are supposed to do in theory, I just lose track of exactly which one is doing what.

Then i just switch the bass to passive and it ceases to be a distraction.

Why not just get a passive jazz.?

[Saved]

I like more the pasdive basses.

One tone and this mostly full closed.

One on-board preamp i would like to try is the passinwind.

I have only one active bass,vig cobra.

Artec preamp 3-band,replaced it without reason with artec 3-band+parametric mid.

Sound nice.

For me the best is to dial the tone from the preamp of the amp and not on-board

[Cato]

14 minutes ago, bubinga5 said:

Why not just get a passive jazz.?

I've got one.

The Sire is my only fretless though.

To be honest I haven't spent as much time with it as I should have, hence the unfamiliarity with the controls.

[Woodinblack]

I like the glock in my ibanez prestige. Although it doesn't sound much different to the original, except the original treble didn't work, so I guess it does work differently!

The artec that I put in the iceman is good, the ones in the ibanezes otherwise are good.

 

Frankly, I can't say there are any preamps in any of my basses that I actually notice!

[Rich]

6 hours ago, Cato said:

Thats 3 out of the 7 knobs you've accounted for.

Four actually (mid with sweep is two knobs on its own). Seven might be a lot of knobs but it's pretty straightforward -- compared to a Wal or ACG filter setup, the Sire preamp is simplicity itself. It's my joint favourite, along with Jon Shuker's 3-band eq.

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by Rich

[dave_bass5]

8 hours ago, Cato said:

Thats 3 out of the 7 knobs you've accounted for.

I know what the controls are supposed to do in theory, I just lose track of exactly which one is doing what.

Then i just switch the bass to passive and it ceases to be a distraction.

Hmmm, ive only got 6 knobs on mine. 3 for active only and the other 3 work in both modes. Are you counting the duel knobs as 2? if so that's 8.

I must admit i only use the mid/sweep knob in active mode when i use the preamp,  and that one is easy to remember as its a dual knob.

Way more easy than the P-Retro i had for a while.

I'd be happy with a passive Sire, i like the new and feel of the bass. Active is just a plus really.

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by dave_bass5

[Cato]

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Hmmm, ive only got 6 knobs on mine. 3 for active only and the other 3 work in both modes. Are you counting the duel knobs as 2? if so that's 8.

I'm counting stacked controls as two knobs.

Are you counting the active/passive switch as a knob? 

Because that's the only way I can count eight knobs on the Sire.

(This is the kind of conversation you just don't get anywhere else).

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by Cato

[ead]

Of the ones that I have tried, maybe 3 or 4 on the list, I do like the ACG filter amps for fretless basses and probably the East items for more traditional 3-band preamps.

[thepurpleblob]

I'm probably sounding a bit curmudgeonly here but I've yet to find a pre-amp (and I've had a reasonable selection of these here) that does anything useful above and beyond just setting it flat or having a passive bass. 

I generally play through a SansAmp RBI which, granted, has a sound of its own but for tweaking out the room characteristics the knobs on that do the job. Having said all that, I've never really subscribed to the "my sound" thing. Sounding like a bass will do fine 😀

I had an ACG for a while and, while I loved the bass, the EQ was completely beyond me. There didn't seem to be an obvious 'turn the damn thing off' position. That's mostly why it went. 

Edited June 4, 2018 by thepurpleblob