Thinkin of a preamp swap? Opinions

[gt96g]

I recently picked up an lg-3005 used but may as well have been new as it was dead mint when I got it. anyway I got the bass and visually and playability wise it is spectacular but tonally it is a little bottom heavy in my opinion and I think that may be due to the audere preamp it came with. most of the roscoes i played before this either had aggie pres or barts. Both of wich were more to my liking, I have a spare aggie pre laying around and am thinking of making the swap. Do you guys think this would be a viable solution.

[JOME77]

Let us know what the body and neck woods are. That certainly makes a difference.

I've only had one Roscoe (solid maple body/cocobolo finger board) with the Audere and it wasn't bottom heavy at all. It had nice balanced lows, mids and highs. I loved the Audere in that bass. Great tone shaping capability.

The Aggie OBP-3 is a great pre but I'm not sure that it would sound significantly different in the lowend. IMO it's a a more aggressive sounding pre than the Audere. The Audere is more polite sounding.

[gt96g]

it's a spanish cedar body, with a cocobolo fretboard and maple neck, and maybe thats the issue i tend to like a more aggressive sound and perhapse it's the fact the preamp is alittle to transparent for me.

[JOME77]

The Spanish cedar will definitely have a warmer sound than the ash or maple. It's not as focused sounding as the ash or even the maple but I love it's warmth and somewhat acoustic tone. While the Roscoe finger board is thinner than some, IMO it still can help focus the tone a bit and the cocobolo should add a bit of snap to your sound.
What's kind of top is on the bass? It can certainly contribute to the over all sound too.

Based on what you're saying though, you may prefer the sound of the Aggie pre over the Bart pre. The Aggie is a bit more open sounding and has a bit tighter lows. The highs are not as compressed on the Aggie either. You could use the toggle from the Audere for the mid selection in lieu of the push pull pot.

You also may want to consider changing out the Bart std. Roscoe p/u's for some Bart CB's. They are more open sounding and not nearly as compressed sounding as the std. Roscoe Bart p/u's.

I'm having a Roscoe currently made that has very similar woods as your bass (Spanish cedar body/burl maple top, cocobolo finger board, Audere pre and Bart CB p/u's. I can provide you more feed back on that combo in a couple of months.
Hopefully that recipe will work for me!

[CrashClint]

I put a Glockenklang/Roscoe 3 band preamp in a bass for smpugh, his bass had a maple top, spanish cedar body, spalted purple heart fingerboard, Roscoe/Bart pickups. The bottom tightened nicely with a nice mid and nice highs. If the Audere doesn't work and you do not want the beastly mids of the Aggie, go with the Glock.

[VroomVroom]

I really enjoy threads like this - I generally grasp the tonal qualities of (most) wood combination, but I'm really a rook when it comes the various electronic possibilities. Gard was kind enough to clue me in a bit earlier today, and information like what was posted above really adds to it. Thanks!

Okay, that tangent aside...not to ask a dumb question, but any chance you can solve some of the woofiness by eq'ing out some lows or lower-mids? I guess, for me, I'd want to explore all my options before performing surgery. And for what it's worth, I'm kinda-sorta in the same boat. I'm searching for a cutting slap tone with my Roscoe, but I'm not sure I'd like to alter the entire sound in the hunt for something that I use rather minimally.

[JOME77]

Originally Posted by VroomVroom

Okay, that tangent aside...not to ask a dumb question, but any chance you can solve some of the woofiness by eq'ing out some lows or lower-mids? I guess, for me, I'd want to explore all my options before performing surgery. And for what it's worth, I'm kinda-sorta in the same boat. I'm searching for a cutting slap tone with my Roscoe, but I'm not sure I'd like to alter the entire sound in the hunt for something that I use rather minimally.

Vroom,
Sure! You can EQ some of the woofiness out of you tone. IMO though, most of what you hear is the sum of your instrument woods and p/u's. A good pre typically is transparent and neutral and translates the natural tone of your instrument.

Since it's not realistic to change the woods of your bass, I'd say that if you don't find your tone after experimenting with the EQ, try some different p/u's. The std. Roscoe Bart's contribute to the woofiness that your describing. The Bart CB's or Nords can certainly address that.
I also here some good things about the Delano p/u's. I thing that Shiveringbass installed some of those and really likes them.

Here's a great Thread that discusses the Delano p/u's and also the Glock pre that Clint mentioned earlier.

Roscoe + Glockenklang + Delano soundclips !

I'd still like to hear a Glock in a Roscoe. From what Clint says, the Glock might also help your problem.

[gt96g]

I basically just finished removeing the audere Im gonna do the aggie pre as I have a feeling that will give the bass the growl I am looking for. So if anyone wants the audere its availible