Pre Amp?

[dclaassen]

It looks like my gigging bass lineup is going to be a Pedulla MPV5, Spector Spectracore fretless 5, and a newly aquired Peavey Dynabass, which could use an updated preamp. My other thought is to get a preamp pedal, which could be more useful. I would then run the peavey in passive mode. 
 

I really like how handy tone adjustment is with an onboard preamp, but have never used an external one. Any thoughts on pros and cons would be helpful.

[NancyJohnson]

I was firmly in the passive camp until I got my Spector Euro LX; I just found the Darkglass preamp added enough to my setup to brighten things up.  On board circuitry beats all...plus (in most cases), you can turn it off.

 

I've put John East and Darkglass preamps in pretty much everything that was originally passive, but the active circuit in my Spector Euro-X probably edges everything.  This one is a Spector Tone Pump (I think).

 

 

[chris_b]

I replaced the pickup in my passive Precision with a Bartolini. That was a 1000% improvement. I then added the preamp and the improvement was marginal. 

 

I had a cheap Jazz bass which sounded pretty wooden. I put it through a preamp pedal and the sound improved a bit, but was nowhere near what I needed.

 

My advice is to start by replacing the pickups. That might be all you need, and if you also go down the preamp route at a later date you'll get a much better sound.

[dclaassen]

18 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I replaced the pickup in my passive Precision with a Bartolini. That was a 1000% improvement. I then added the preamp and the improvement was marginal. 

 

I had a cheap Jazz bass which sounded pretty wooden. I put it through a preamp pedal and the sound improved a bit, but was nowhere near what I needed.

 

My advice is to start by replacing the pickups. That might be all you need, and if you also go down the preamp route at a later date you'll get a much better sound.

The two fretted basses are both active, but both are ‘80’s tech.

[bremen]

One benefit of a pedal is for recording- the engineer can fiddle and faff while you're busy with both hands. Or you can use it after tracking, now you have both hands free.

[ajkula66]

8 hours ago, dclaassen said:

and a newly aquired Peavey Dynabass, which could use an updated preamp. My other thought is to get a preamp pedal, which could be more useful. I would then run the peavey in passive mode. 
 

 

Which version of Dyna do you have ? If it's the later one with VFL pickups it sounds rather meh passive, IMO. The earlier ones are much livelier.

[dclaassen]

6 hours ago, ajkula66 said:

Which version of Dyna do you have ? If it's the later one with VFL pickups it sounds rather meh passive, IMO. The earlier ones are much livelier.

This one has the super ferrite pickups…definitely not meh

[Terry M.]

You'll get differing views naturally but I once owned a Sadowsky SPB-2 preamp pedal and it was nothing short of sensational live. Gave me severe GAS for an actual Sadowsky bass that did.

Bear in mind it offers no midrange eq and is boost only. Small turns of the knobs go a long long way.

Edited January 27 by Terry M.

[ajkula66]

16 hours ago, dclaassen said:

This one has the super ferrite pickups…definitely not meh

That's the earlier version. Nicer necks as well, IMO.