On board pre-amp ideas

[BillyBass]

I'm about to buy a second Charvel 4 string PJ as a back up (and because I want a lime green bass).  I have put a John East pre amp in my metallic blue Charvel and I think it's brilliant: active/passive push-pull and an independent passive tone knob, parametric mid range and a treble boost.  

 

After having three of these Charvels, I'm pretty sure I will be swapping the pre amp of my new one out.  My first thought was to just get another John east pre amp and have an identical back up (except for the strings) but then I thought I could try something new.

 

I have a Nordstrand pre amp in my fiver and its fine, perhaps a little polite, so I won't get another of those.  Has anyone got any other ideas re pre amps available over here?  The Aguilar OB3 is readily available and seems to be an option if you want a bit of oomph, though I'm not sure I can't get anything the Aguilar offers from the John East?

 

Any ideas or suggestions anyone?

[lidl e]

I put a lusithand NFP preamp in my jazz bass and it really is an amazing piece of kit. Cant find a bad tone. 

 

It replaces the usual tone knob with a LPF. 

 

Im so impressed with it. I bought it in a whim and i thought i made a mistake as im generally passive only, but i absolutely love it.

[BillyBass]

Hi Ely,

 

Thanks for this.  I have seen mentions of filter pre amps here and there but never really paid much attention to them.  John East sells one and I must admit it went very much over my head.  I didn't get it.

 

I've just watched the 'Wetter Bass' you tube tutorial about the Lusithand pre amp and I am intrigued.  The Charvels are PJs but I generally use either or, not a blend of both; in fact, with my band (pick only) I have it just on the split coil P pup at the neck and I boost the low mids.  I add treble for cabinets without tweeters (or dead strings!). Maybe with one of these filter pre amps I could make use of the blend knob a bit more (as long as I can avoid a mid scoop).

 

More research required!

[lidl e]

So i used to own a wal, and the thing i really loved aboutnit was the electronics.  It never occured to me that there were other vendors making the same style which turned out to be a folter based preamp. I suppose i never made the connection.  I figured it was just Wal's thing. 

 

So i deep dove into the idea of getting one. 

 

Went with the lusithand as they had the dropin plate. JTEX makes a cool looking one out of canada.

 

Woth the lusithand, i went with the single NFP for my jazz as the double you need to rout.

 

It dropped in perfectly and the sound is, to me, perfect.

 

As opposed to preamps which basically just boost your tone, i find this preamp actually helps you dial in a smoothness and thickness otherwise unattainable in an active pre.

 

My recent switch to flats also seems to have really taken to this preamp. In 25years of playing i have never turned up the tone knob past 20-30%. I was easily at 80-90% last night punching through and sounding incredible.

 

I honestly can't believe it.

[BillyBass]

7 hours ago, lidl e said:

So i used to own a wal, and the thing i really loved aboutnit was the electronics.  It never occured to me that there were other vendors making the same style which turned out to be a folter based preamp. I suppose i never made the connection.  I figured it was just Wal's thing. 

 

So i deep dove into the idea of getting one. 

 

Went with the lusithand as they had the dropin plate. JTEX makes a cool looking one out of canada.

 

Woth the lusithand, i went with the single NFP for my jazz as the double you need to rout.

 

It dropped in perfectly and the sound is, to me, perfect.

 

As opposed to preamps which basically just boost your tone, i find this preamp actually helps you dial in a smoothness and thickness otherwise unattainable in an active pre.

 

My recent switch to flats also seems to have really taken to this preamp. In 25years of playing i have never turned up the tone knob past 20-30%. I was easily at 80-90% last night punching through and sounding incredible.

 

I honestly can't believe it.

I've just watched a couple of Low End Lobster's videos about the Lusithand pre amp and I'm still not sure how it would make my PJ sound.  You mentioned you usually keep the tone knob to about 20-30%, I'm the opposite; with fingers, the tone knob is always full on, with a pick I will cut it a bit, perhaps 30%.  I imagine that would be too harsh for you.

 

I'm not a fan of flats either, though the Charvel I bought today came with them, Rotosound, I think, and I may keep them on it.

 

With a standard pre amp I understand; if you boost certain frequencies the end result will be predictable.  With this Lusithand, I believe you are cutting the top end, gradually but can also boost the gain along with that, so I couldn't predict the end result without trying it out.

[lidl e]

Come on over. You can rock on mine!

 

There are also outboard ones in a pedal enclosure whi h mught wirk better, or at least to try before you buy.

 

@Passinwind makes a cool looking one 

[Passinwind]

12 minutes ago, lidl e said:

Come on over. You can rock on mine!

 

There are also outboard ones in a pedal enclosure which mught work better, or at least to try before you buy.

 

@Passinwind makes a cool looking one 

 

Thanks for the shout out. I've only ever sold a handful to friends, it's not a commercial thing at all. But someone else has now ported my design to a 125B enclosure format that will be also much simpler to build than my open source ones.

 

These are my latest versions, as you can see feature creep is a real thing:

 

 

 

[lidl e]

40 minutes ago, Passinwind said:

 

Thanks for the shout out. I've only ever sold a handful to friends, it's not a commercial thing at all. But someone else has now ported my design to a 125B enclosure format that will be also much simpler to build than my open source ones.

 

These are my latest versions, as you can see feature creep is a real thing:

 

 

 

Cant have a filter based preamp discussion without passinwind! 

 

When i first started looking, you answered all my questions.

[Passinwind]

4 minutes ago, lidl e said:

Cant have a filter based preamp discussion without passinwind! 

 

When i first started looking, you answered all my questions.

Oddly enough, at least half of the ones I have sold didn't even go to bass guitar players. With a few minor tweaks they also work really well for acoustic guitar, mandolin, and upright bass, FWIW.

 

Glad to hear you found a solution that works for you!

[BillyBass]

I had a chat with John East this morning, enquiring about his filter pre amp.  He basically told me that if I didn't get it, it probably wouldn't be for me.  In his experience, people buying them to try them out are not normally happy with the results.  If, however, you really know that this is the sort of thing you are after, as you seem to be Ely, then it can be perfect.

 

So I just ordered another one of his standard frequency altering pre amps.

 

But thanks for the input.

[la bam]

On 23/02/2023 at 08:06, BillyBass said:

I'm about to buy a second Charvel 4 string PJ as a back up (and because I want a lime green bass).  I have put a John East pre amp in my metallic blue Charvel and I think it's brilliant: active/passive push-pull and an independent passive tone knob, parametric mid range and a treble boost.  

 

After having three of these Charvels, I'm pretty sure I will be swapping the pre amp of my new one out.  My first thought was to just get another John east pre amp and have an identical back up (except for the strings) but then I thought I could try something new.

 

I have a Nordstrand pre amp in my fiver and its fine, perhaps a little polite, so I won't get another of those.  Has anyone got any other ideas re pre amps available over here?  The Aguilar OB3 is readily available and seems to be an option if you want a bit of oomph, though I'm not sure I can't get anything the Aguilar offers from the John East?

 

Any ideas or suggestions anyone?

 

Hi, I have a charvel pj too and I'm looking for a preamp. Which one did you use? Thanks.

[BillyBass]

On 25/03/2023 at 17:31, la bam said:

 

Hi, I have a charvel pj too and I'm looking for a preamp. Which one did you use? Thanks.

I used this:

https://www.east-uk.com/product/uni-pre-5-knob/?v=79cba1185463

 

Be aware, it isn't quite plug and play.  I had to drill out the 5th knob hole, slightly, to allow the active/passive push-pull pot to fit.  Also, the bass treble knob has a long pcb thing fitted to it rather than being loose, connected by wires.  The problem with that is the Charvels have shallow sections in the cavity where the knobs go; this then rises a few mm about a cm or so past where the knobs fit.  Unfortunately, the John East bass/treble pcb thing is too long and though it fits in the cavity with room to spare, it doesn't fit into the shallow section around the knob hole.  Consequently, I had to remove a few mm of wood inside the cavity where the bass/treble bit would fit.

 

So I would say the John East stuff does require you to have a few tools handy...or get a luthier to do it I suppose.

 

I like the John East pre amp as it has semi parametric mids and a proper passive side with a passive tone knob.  You pay for that though, they aren't cheap.

 

I had a Nordstrand pre amp fitted to my Charvel fiver but I prefer the John East

Edited March 28, 2023 by BillyBass

[BillyBass]

4 hours ago, la bam said:

 

Hi, I have a charvel pj too and I'm looking for a preamp. Which one did you use? Thanks.

Oh and....pictures please😃

[la bam]

On 25/03/2023 at 21:34, BillyBass said:

Oh and....pictures please😃

 

 

[BillyBass]

37 minutes ago, la bam said:

 

 

Phwoar!😘

[la bam]

I think I'm going to go for the john east uni 5. I love the idea of it having pretty much everything:

 

Passive/active.

Passive tone.

Bass (adjustable band)

Treble (adjustable band)

Mids (parametric).

Flat or shape option.

 

 

[la bam]

13 minutes ago, la bam said:

I think I'm going to go for the john east uni 5. I love the idea of it having pretty much everything:

 

Passive/active.

Passive tone.

Pickup blend.

Bass (adjustable band)

Treble (adjustable band)

Mids (parametric).

Flat or shape option.

 

 

 

[BillyBass]

Expensive, but the most versatile pre amp available to us over here in the UK, as far as I know.

 

Before you shield it, just loosely fit the pre amp in the appropriate places and you'll see what I mean about having to drill out the last hole a bit and the need to remove a bit of wood for the bass/treble pcb thing.

 

If you are used to this, apologies  in advance for teaching granny to suck eggs but...drill from the outside in.  There will often be an 'exit wound' when drilling and that is best on the inside of the cavity and not on your shiny metallic blue finish.  I only needed to drill it out a tiny fraction mind.

 

Then, after removing a few mm of wood in the cavity for the bass/treble thing, shield it.  

 

I jumped straight in, shielded it all, put the pups back in and then thought the pre amp would be a quick job but then had to chop away a bit I had just shielded!  

 

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by BillyBass

[TheGreek]

Cream pickup covers!! Cream pickup covers!! 

 

Do you know how much trouble I had tracking down some Cream pickup covers!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!

 

[Owen]

On 23/02/2023 at 08:06, BillyBass said:

I'm about to buy a second Charvel 4 string PJ as a back up (and because I want a lime green bass).  

Billy vocalises what many of us feel.

For the record, I have an East Uni which is great, but have a Sadowsky in something else which is also great!