What preamp for a sandberg California vm4

[Radchenko]

Hello, 

What's a good option please? Active/passive. Is 4knobs,but also can be 3 knobs option, I have a pickguard with no holes yet. Maybe better, I like simple and good quality. 

Aguilar, John East..? 

Thank you. 

[Mudpup]

I think mine has a Glockenlang in it..

[Radchenko]

Thanks, 

And what is a good upgrade? 

[itu]

Real active mixer (that I think East is) has no load effect on pickups, while you turn the pots (they are not related to the signal route the same way). My opinion is that it has the best quality soundwise. Price is around £200.

If you are after an active tone circuitry, there are simple pots after the pickups and then the active tone capsule. This way the pots put load to the pickups and affect the sound. These are very common and there are lots of options from a relatively good £20 Artec. I do not think that the quality changes that much if you pay £100 more for a similar design. There are still those Vol or Bal pots that cost £2 each and their quality is, well, mediocre.

Which do you think you and your quality instrument deserves? How much that bass of yours cost?

[ikay]

What don't you like about the stock preamp in the VM4? Knowing that might help with suggestions for a replacement.

[HazBeen]

It is a Glock pre (slightly tweaked) as standard, nothing not to like. If you want less transparant I would suggest Noll TCM (come in many versions). Aggie I would advise against, East indeed makes great (but expensive) pres.

[Hellzero]

If you don't like the transparency of the original Glockenklang preamp, put a Bartolini preamp instead or, even if @HazBeen doesn't recommend it, an Aguilar will certainly suit your taste (too much of everything). That said, the bass was designed to be used with the stock pickups and preamp... 

[HazBeen]

3 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

If you don't like the transparency of the original Glockenklang preamp, put a Bartolini preamp instead or, even if @HazBeen doesn't recommend it, an Aguilar will certainly suit your taste (too much of everything). That said, the bass was designed to be used with the stock pickups and preamp... 

Exactly, too much of everything

Barts pres are certainly a decent match too, but for me nothing beats the Nolls, not overly transparent, infinite configuration options and not too much (especially bass).

[Radchenko]

Only searching for other options, simple, 3 knobs (one stacked). I like clear sound is not a problem. Passive/active is good but maybe is better only active preamp? 

Possibly you are right and the sandberg is the perfect combination but is good read about your opinions 🙂

Thank you very much. 

[Radchenko]

Hello, 

 

I find this option : 2b/3b 

I really like nordstrand pickups, I don't know nothing about the their preamps

 https://nordstrandaudio.com/products/2-band-preamps?variant=41172016980

Thanks. 

[itu]

I may repeat myself, but that Nordstrand has passive blend (pan, balance) and volume. This is no different to an Artec or Glockenklang or Darkglass or Aguilar et al. that offer only active tone control. Sound differences are related to opamp (battery life varies from 200 to 1000 hours) and frequency choices. Not that they are bad, but not completely active.

There seem to be just few companies that have active blend: EMG (their fully active sets), East (that can be switched to fully active OR passive) and Noll (see the Mixpot).

[Hellzero]

Audere has full active path too. And the now impossible to find EBS-P2 (they stopped the production last year) that was stock fitted on all Leduc active basses and Neuser active basses.

[Radchenko]

Hello, 

Thanks for all your replies. 

This nordstrand have blend, is for active and pasive mode or only passive?.

https://www.bestbassgear.com/nordstrand-2b-4b.htm

[itu]

As you can see it from the diagram: https://www.bestbassgear.com/wiring-diagrams/2B-4b_epoxy.pdf   the system is active tone control only. The signal route is:

pickups - blend - volume (with the bypass switch) - active tone control - output

This is the most common way to do it. With the switch you can bypass the active tone control and the system is like any other passive system with just volume and blend.

[ikay]

I think the only preamp that will give you everything you need is the John EAst UNI-PRE:

http://www.east-uk.com/pdf/uni-pre-features.pdf

This gives you active/passive switching (the active path has an active blend and passive path has a passive blend) and the bass, mid and treble controls all have adjustable frequency centres so you can tweak to your taste.

 

 

Edited February 26, 2019 by ikay

[Radchenko]

Hello, 

Thank you very much. I'm going to my luthier to see his opinion about the actual preamp and think if it's a good idea change it or not. Thanks. 

[Radchenko]

From Nordstrand said to me about the 2b 4b preamp:

 

Hi Miguel,

The 2B-4b will work great for that, our preamp has a trim pot to match output levels between active and passive modes. Volume and blend work in passive mode as well.