Antimaps Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 (edited) I love the Sire V7 Gen 2 but I can't get on with the layout of the preamp (too many knobs, too close together, too easy to turn the wrong one). I'm considering swapping out the preamp for a volume (pull passive) + blend + passive Tone + stacked bass/treble. I was thinking about an Aguilar OBP-2 or a Nordstrand 2B-4c. What do you think? Does it sound like a good idea? Anything I should look out for? Edited March 9, 2020 by Antimaps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 How about John East? Too many knobs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 I love my V7's preamp, so my answer to the question 'what do you think?' would be along the lines of 'that you are clinically insane' But seriously, I would definitely consider a John East unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antimaps Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 13 hours ago, itu said: How about John East? Too many knobs? The John East preamps sound great, seem really versatile and would be high on my list if it weren't for the stacked volume/blend pots, and I don't need the mid eq. 13 hours ago, Rich said: I love my V7's preamp, so my answer to the question 'what do you think?' would be along the lines of 'that you are clinically insane' But seriously, I would definitely consider a John East unit. 🤣 The Sire pres sound great and they're versatile, like the East. But I find them fiddly to use between songs in the middle of a gig on a dark stage etc.... I'm always moving the master volume when I try to roll off the passive tone. and I keep hitting the mid/bass control when I'm using the active/passive switch. I guess it's my fat fingers that are the problem but Anderton's don't sell upgrades for those. 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 (edited) You might find switching the knobs to metal ones makes it less fiddly, I prefer it. I used standard flat top tele knobs on the regular pots and the slim EMG ones for the concentric pots. A simple but great sounding (and still pretty flexible) alternative might be the Sadowsky 4 knob VTC preamp - two band eq with the VTC circuit (with push/pull) which is essentially an overall treble rolloff. Will cost ye though. Edited March 10, 2020 by lemmywinks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 Here's what the Sire looks like with the slim EMG knobs btw, much more space between the lower concentric knobs and the neighbouring regular ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itu Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Antimaps said: 13 hours ago, itu said: The John East preamps sound great, seem really versatile and would be high on my list if it weren't for the stacked volume/blend pots, and I don't need the mid eq. How about the separate knob versions? And every pot is not a must to connect and use, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antimaps Posted March 13, 2020 Author Share Posted March 13, 2020 (edited) On 10/03/2020 at 12:22, lemmywinks said: You might find switching the knobs to metal ones makes it less fiddly, I prefer it. I used standard flat top tele knobs on the regular pots and the slim EMG ones for the concentric pots. I already did that using the cheap and cheerful Harley Benton knobs. I much prefer them to the originals but it’s still not ideal. A 4-knob setup is definitely what I’m looking for so I’ll have a look at the Sadowsky. Edit: The Sadowsky is exactly what I’m looking for! Thanks lemmywinks! Edited March 13, 2020 by Antimaps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antimaps Posted March 13, 2020 Author Share Posted March 13, 2020 On 10/03/2020 at 13:23, itu said: How about the separate knob versions? And every pot is not a must to connect and use, isn't it? I got my hopes up when you told me about those as I’d not found them before. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do a stacked treble/bass so I’d be back to a 5-knob setup. However, the East single knob layout would suit me better than the factory layout. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antimaps Posted March 13, 2020 Author Share Posted March 13, 2020 Thanks for the replies, everyone. They’re a great help. I know there are many options and I’ve more or less whittled it down to the preamps that I think will suit me. At the moment, I’m most interested in whether you know if it’s technically possible to replace the Sire preamp alone and if the Sadowsky, Aguilar or Nordtsrant preamps would match the Sire pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted March 13, 2020 Share Posted March 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Antimaps said: Thanks for the replies, everyone. They’re a great help. I know there are many options and I’ve more or less whittled it down to the preamps that I think will suit me. At the moment, I’m most interested in whether you know if it’s technically possible to replace the Sire preamp alone and if the Sadowsky, Aguilar or Nordtsrant preamps would match the Sire pickups. I would expect they'll be fine, I have Nordstrand pups in my V7 (nowt wrong with the originals, just a set came up cheap on here!) and they work fine with the stock pre so I can't imagine it wouldn't work the other way around. You can just desolder the pickups, jack, grounding and battery wires and the whole bell plate should lift out. There seems to be two versions of their preamp, the earlier one has two boards with a separate blend pot and the newer one is just a single board, I would expect yours is the single board version without all the stray wires hanging around so even easier: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 I have a Nordstrand 2B-4c in my Bass Collection 465. It seems to work perfectly well with either the original pickups or the Delano replacements, so I think it's unlikely that there would be any reason why it didn't get on with the Sire pickups. I never use passive mode. The passive switch is a push/pull pot on the volume control I believe! The sound is always better in active mode, and I can't imagine the audience will notice the difference anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antimaps Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 10 hours ago, pete.young said: I have a Nordstrand 2B-4c in my Bass Collection 465. It seems to work perfectly well with either the original pickups or the Delano replacements, so I think it's unlikely that there would be any reason why it didn't get on with the Sire pickups. I never use passive mode. The passive switch is a push/pull pot on the volume control I believe! The sound is always better in active mode, and I can't imagine the audience will notice the difference anyway. I agree. I hardly ever use passive on this bass. But I did once turn up to a rehearsal with dead batteries and no spare, so it’s good to have it as a backup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antimaps Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 I’m now looking at the Aguilar OBP-1 (Vol + Blend + Stacked Bass/Treble) then adding a Sadowsky VTC (passive tone with push/pull preamp bypass). If it works as well as I hope, I’m going to get a sire P and a fretless and do the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antimaps Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 On 10/03/2020 at 12:32, lemmywinks said: That’s a pretty luxurious case! If I owned that, I would take it to festivals and sleep in it. 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 3 hours ago, Antimaps said: That’s a pretty luxurious case! If I owned that, I would take it to festivals and sleep in it. 😁 😂 It's just a Gator Pro Go Deluxe, they're about £90. Great gigbags though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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