Anyone ever replace the stock electronics with another preamp? I know you may be thinking I'm nuts for considering such a thing on such a flexible bass tonally as is, but I like to think there may be some options. I really don't like the parallel mode sounds, so losing that option wouldn't hurt (I have my Sterling for that :D ). Also, I never really use the treble boost either. Plus, this bass has always had a buzz to it until I touch the strings, and I have made sure the ground and shielding is appropriate.

I have considered the Semour Duncan 2 band preamp with that "Slap switch" or my Bart NTBT in my Corvette.

Its either a mod or getting ready to trade it for one of those new 2 pickup Sterlings coming out soon.


Thanks for any info!!

Scott

Anyone ever replace the stock electronics with another preamp? I know you may be thinking I'm nuts for considering such a thing on such a flexible bass tonally as is, but I like to think there may be some options. I really don't like the parallel mode sounds, so losing that option wouldn't hurt (I have my Sterling for that :D ). Also, I never really use the treble boost either. Plus, this bass has always had a buzz to it until I touch the strings, and I have made sure the ground and shielding is appropriate.

I have considered the Semour Duncan 2 band preamp with that "Slap switch" or my Bart NTBT in my Corvette.

Its either a mod or getting ready to trade it for one of those new 2 pickup Sterlings coming out soon.


Thanks for any info!!

Scott

FWIW:

Never had the bass but had the pups. They were decent but nothing exceptional for me and I let them go. I really only was going to let go of one of them cuase they're a hard find let alone in excellent condition w/full leads. But the guy was going to build a custom around them and talked me out of the pair. I really didn't play them anyway so at least someone was putting them to use.

The problem with any bass with atypical pups (where the majority of the tone of the bass itself comes from in my experience) is a pup swap is not an option. Your amp preamp is much higher quality than anything you're going to get onboard so if you can't get what your looking for out of it, the probability of pulling it off onboard is slim. Your much more likely to get that from changing the amp/preamp. I'd be looking at something along the lines of a Sans DI before onboard pre. Installing caps or changing cap values will likely have much more pronounced affect than an onboard preamp in terms of alering tone - be a lot cheaper and easier to mess with.

You mentioned 3 things you don't like about the tone/bass and nothing you liked. If you like the bass itself, those are large routings and you could probably drop in other pups and fashion surrounds or pickgaurd to cover. If the bass itself does nothing for you, not much poiint in keeping it no matter what bass it is.

I once used a set of L-2000 pickups with a pre-EB Sabre preamp, and I liked the sound better than the L-2000 I had at the time.

FWIW:Your amp preamp is much higher quality than anything you're going to get onboard so if you can't get what your looking for out of it, the probability of pulling it off onboard is slim.

Overall I'm on board, but this statement doesn't really hold up, at least in my experience. A high quality onboard unit like a East, Aguilar, Sadowsky, Pope, and even the out-of-fashion Bart NTMB is similar/better in quality to the preamp section of similar level amplifiers, not to mention that they are performing different roles. An onboard preamp has a different gain structure in comparison to a rack or integrated preamp. An onboard preamp has different constraints if it is to run on 9/18v from onboard cells, drive the downstream line, and accept the varied dynamic range of the pickups. A set of quiet Barts might make half the signal level of the G&L MFD pickups.

I see a lot of resistance to swapping out L2000/L2500 preamps, but it is mainly because G&L purists don't like the idea. I'd look for a preamp that can handle the hot output from the MFDs, can be configured with the tone controls that you want, and has the tone control operation (boost, boost/cut, cut only...) that you want. Some preamps have level controls on the inputs to help you tailor the response to the pickup. That might come in handy.

[QUOTE=fretlessrock]QUOTE]

FWIW:

actually the component aspect is second hand knowledge from Dharmabass and others but what really matters is the affect on tone such pre's have. No Sads, Popes, Retro's and others cause I'd come to my conclusion before I'd picked any of those up. But I've had the Aggies, Barts, EMG's, and an NE-1 outboard and there was nothing they did that salvaged a set of pups for me - including the L-2000's. My amp doesn't have parametric so the NE-1 was different in that respect from the amp but I didn't see anything different from the others at all. In fact, tonewise, the pups consistently sounded better without them cause they seemed to filter tone and rawness out of the pups - altough they also filteredsome noise where it existed.

I started out with a wall of basses all with different onboard pres, then pulled them and ran them as outboards so I could use any pre with any pups and do some comparisons between - or skip the pre's altogether. After a few months I sent them all packing and haven't messed with them since except when they come with a set of pups and I'll run them before I move them on to make sure they work. Apparently they are undeniably of use for long cable runs - but I don't need that.

Actually I found the NTMB to be as good or better than the others. The only outdated thing I can see about it is it's size/2 piece makeup - which can be a factor in eliminating it immediately for smaller control bays. Tone and function there's nothing lacking.

What matters in the end is tone and we all have to draw our conclusion for our applications. I can see it going either way but the only way of knowing that is to do it yourself - others experience is only useful in calculating appropriate change of directon. All feedback is good in my book but that's my experience.

I have an active G&L L1500 that I almost always play in passive mode. The active mode is much too noisy and clanky for my taste. Compared to the MM SR5 I owned previously, the G&L preamp is a very distant 2nd place.

The whole G&L preamp operation remains alien to me. I've never gotten used to it because the tone control operation is just plain weird. The Sterling/SR5 controls work MUCH better for me, plus it is dead quiet. Having a Sterling or John East preamp in my L1500 would be killer.

Thanks guys! I was just thumpin' on it last weekend and I do like the punchy tone it has as is. Something funky goin' on, though. I put a new jack and 2 new pots in since they were getting bad and a new battery and played it after a while and the battery was dead as dead. The bass just sat in the case, unplugged of course. Obviously the perk to the bass is the ability to play with a dead battery on passive mode.

Hmmm....I may just keep her as is for now.

Thanks for your insights!!

When you replaced the jack and pots you may have shorted the ground together. The output jack is a 3-conductor jack (stereo) that uses the ring and sleeve to make/break the ground connection. When no plug is inserted you get an open connection and the power is disconnected.