I've just had EMG's installed on my SR 1300 and they don't wire up to the stock preamp. I need a preamp that I can use the midsweep/contour knob on my bass. It's wired now to have two volume and tone controls for each pickup and I hate it. I wish I could get the OBP-3, but it only had a mid toggle switch. It's not sweepable.. What are my options here? I have vol, bass, treb, mid sweep/contour, pup pan. I need a preamp I can use all these pots with! Also, if there is any 18V conversion kits I can install in the process, that'd be a plus. Thank you kindly for all your ideas.

There are two preamps that I can think of. The best is the U Retro it offers bass, treble and sweepable mids. All of the controls are on 3 stacked knobs: volume/pan, bass/treble, mid-level/mid frequency.

The second option is the Bartolini 3-band eq which offers a 3-position switch to select the mid frequency.

I replaced my pickups of my SR895 with bartolinis and the electronics with MEC. I removed the original preamp and put it in a different case so I would have the Bass-Treble- Parametric Mid as a seperate preamp. I find this not to ber very useful because the sound quality of the preamp is so bad. Ocassionally I put it back into my bass but then remove it almost immediaely.

My personal feeling to complicated on-board pre-amps is they offer many opportunities to mess up my sound on the fly. I rather have a simple pre-amp on the bass and have the parameteric in my preamp in the amplifier.
This also forces me to concentrate on my weak spot - my playing - since I am not sidetracked by fine-tuning my sound on the fly.

Just a thought, do you think you can live with sweepable mids on the amplifier?

I think I could live with it. I'm used to my old tone.. And the new one sucks with the two volume two tone control setup. It's like everything is turned up all the way.. I'd rather be sending a flat signal to the amp. Ya know? I don't actually know what I'm talking about.. Keep this in mind... ;)

Hey Yarnboy,
To let you know the Aguilar 3 band can be set up to have a sweepable mid. It is not tuff at all. Check out the Aguilar site for installation instructions for the OBP-3. There you will see the option for the sweepable mid.

Hope this helps

Decisions decisions! I could keep it in the family and run the BQC.. Seems like the easy choice.. Would it really be worth all the effort to install the OBP-3? I'm only going by reviews, I've not actually played a bass before and after an install. I love this forum! These are exactly the kind of replies I had hoped for. Thanks alot!

I forgot to ask, is it possible to have a custom "flat spot" (the correct term slips my mind, it's 4:31 AM) on the pots? I'd like one on the volume pot and the base mid pot.. This would allow me to break my "knob dash" habit that I have when ever I play anything longer than a quarter note. ;)

Yeah, your easiest option given your requirements would seem to be the EMG system with mid sweep.

Or you could go for the Bartolini HR 5.2 harness, which is the NTMB preamp wired in a five knob config (mv,blend,bass,treble,mid). Mid frequency changes via push/pull on mid switch, so you don't have a sweep but a change between (IIRC) 250hz and 500hz.

Personally, I love the U-Retro. It's prewired, and configuration only needs 3 pots and two micro-switches which are already all wired up. For someone who is not good with electronics (such as myself), it's very easy to install - just connect the pup wires. It is also easy to add additional pup switching in front of U-Retro, as I did with my DP Custom:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/attachment.php?postid=1226005

Originally posted by Brooks
Personally, I love the U-Retro. It's prewired, and configuration only needs 3 pots and two micro-switches which are already all wired up.
Yes, but the original poster said he needs a five knob configuration.

Yeah, I know, though I am sure he means that the bass is drilled for 5 pots - actual pots will come with the preamp. In standard config, U-Retro has 3 pots plus 2 switches = 5. So without drilling or having to cover up the existing holes, he could install it.

Quote from the original post, I added numbers in brackets:

"I have vol(1), bass(2), treb(3), mid sweep/contour(4), pup pan(5). I need a preamp I can use all these pots with!"

Originally posted by Brooks
Quote from the original post, I added numbers in brackets:

"I have vol(1), bass(2), treb(3), mid sweep/contour(4), pup pan(5). I need a preamp I can use all these pots with!"

So the U/JRetro still can't be used for this. Don't get me wrong, it's a fine preamp, but there's no easy way to make the 2 switches fit into the pot holes. The holes needed for the mini switches are substantially smaller than those needed for the pots.

I should have said treb/bass, they are stacked. I have two stacked and two not stacked. Four pots total.. Sorry about the confusion! I think I'm going to go with BQC for simplicities sake and run 18V. I shall post the results! Meaning samples.. ;)

This thread is giving me GAS.

I also have an old Ibanez with that knob configuration. I retired it to "Bedroom only" duty when I got my Ray 5, but now I'm wondering........

It has EMG's pu's stock, but I honesly believe the preamp is letting it down. Suddenly It seems I can find out for sure by getting a EMG QBC.........

I think you meant BQC ;) What Ibanez came stock with EMG's?

Originally posted by yarnboy
I think you meant BQC ;) What Ibanez came stock with EMG's? Sorry, I meant BQC:)

Old Ibanez basses had EMG's as stock. I didn't even know this until recently. According to .This Thread (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97077&highlight=Ibanez+EMG) , the better Ibanez Basses had them for a while but they have since switched to in-house Ibanez units.