Aftermarket On-board Preamps of the Volume/blend/2-band variety?

[JoshuaTSP]

What are some decent in-bass preamps for two soapbars, and the control configuration stated above?

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

Aguilar and Seymour Duncan,check out the web sites.
I just installed a Aguilar BBP-3 and It sounds great and just ordered a Seymour Duncan 3 band for my other bass to try out the slap switch option.

[JoshuaTSP]

Are most preamps like this around the OBP-3's $156 price tag? And are they all similar to the "little black box" dimensions?

(Double Stack - 2 Pickup -3 knob / 1 switch Configuration
Vol/Vol Stack Pots-Mid-Treble/Bass Stack Pots, Mid sel switch - $156)

[Jaco D]

I have the Agui OBP-3 and an Audere in a five and four stringer, respectively. The sound is more than decent - it's indecently top notch. More often than not, these systems are configurable, whether it be at the user level (OBP-3 and SD) or at the manufacturer level (Audere). I think the price you quoted is more or less ballpark for these items.

[JoshuaTSP]

I was checking out the Audere preamps because I just ordered a preamp for my Jazz. I noticed that their on-board preamps are more rectangular. I'll have to make sure I have room in the control cavity.

The bass preamp I'm looking to upgrade is a Phillips Bulldog 5.
It sounds pretty good dialed in, but has a honky midrange, and zingy high end.
I'd like to have a tweakable midrange, along with the high, and low controls. I'm also happy with the master/blend setup, but wouldn't be against dual volumes.

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

I paid a little less for the Pre wired Seymour Duncan than the non pre wired Aguilar but I personly wouldnt bother putting a 2 band EQ in as the mid cut and boost are the main reason that Im upgrading.If you dont have a soldering iron and a little bit of electrical common sense I would recommend getting the prewired option if it is possible.
My Cheap Ibanez SRX-400 came with a single tone knob and I put the Aguilar 3 band in that one,but my Schector neck through allready has the 2 band and sounds pretty good for pop and slap so Im hoping that the Seymour Duncan 3 band will allow me to get the mids were I want them +for finger and -slap style playing.

[JoshuaTSP]

Exactly my thoughts!

I also don't want to have to drill any holes or route anything out.

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

That was my other reason for getting the Seymour Duncan is that it come with a stacked Bass/Treble,mid and a stacked volume push pull for the mid slap switch,I think that is the confiquration.
However the confiquration is it was 3 knobs plus the existing blend and I dont want to do any drilling on my Schector.
Now the cheap Ibanez has a front plate and I dont care about the original value of that bass much.
I couldnt get 3 knobs with the Aguilar it was either 4 knobs plus the blend or 3 knobs,blend and a mid switch.

Originally Posted by JoshuaTSP

Exactly my thoughts!

I also don't want to have to drill any holes or route anything out.

[Hoover]

In one sense the ACG EQ-02 preamp is of the "Volume/blend/2-band variety", but because it's a filter-based tone control it behaves completely differently from any of the others mentioned in this thread so far.

But it is one of the most awesomely versatile onboard tone controls I've ever had the pleasure to work with. And if you've got 3 holes it requires no additional drilling!

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

This is what I ordered for the Schector.The Seymour Duncan comes complete with the knobs,blend and volume pots but I cant tell you how it sounds compared to the Aguilar until I get it installed.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...lenotsupported
more info and picture
http://www.catalinaguitars.com/catal...roducts_id=112

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

I did read the great reviews on that one but its hard to justify putting that much money into a $150 bass.

Originally Posted by Hoover

In one sense the ACG EQ-02 preamp is of the "Volume/blend/2-band variety", but because it's a filter-based tone control it behaves completely differently from any of the others mentioned in this thread so far.

But it is one of the most awesomely versatile onboard tone controls I've ever had the pleasure to work with. And if you've got 3 holes it requires no additional drilling!

[JoshuaTSP]

Originally Posted by Hoover

In one sense the ACG EQ-02 preamp is of the "Volume/blend/2-band variety", but because it's a filter-based tone control it behaves completely differently from any of the others mentioned in this thread so far.

But it is one of the most awesomely versatile onboard tone controls I've ever had the pleasure to work with. And if you've got 3 holes it requires no additional drilling!

How is it different?

I have 4 holes right now......

Originally Posted by FuzzBoxVoodoo

This is what I ordered.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...lenotsupported

Whoa! That's huge?

The stock preamp in the Bulldog is a small black box. It looks like a Jellyfish.

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

Here is a distant picture of the 2 basses,notice the cheap miss matched knobs and the home made knob plate/pick gaurd that I made from my wifes old high school record player cover.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by JoshuaTSP

How is it different?

I have 4 holes right now......

Don't worry about the 4 holes, they make a version that adds a passive tone control in between the pickups and the active filters. So your 4 knobs (iirc) are:
1) Volume + Blend (stacked)
2) Low Pass Filter Cutoff + Resonance/Gain (stacked)
3) Hi Pass Filter Cutoff + Resonance/Gain (stacked)
4) Passive Tone

It's different in that the filters are infinite-cut hi- and lo-pass filters, versus the more commonly used Peaking/Dipping and/or Shelving filters. Also, the two filters' outputs are summed in parallel rather than passing through one another in series.

In layman's terms this means you can get lots of really radically extreme or subtly refined tones with very few knob twists. But since it's a different paradigm than most tone controls it takes a bit more forethought to get the desired results. Some folks say it has a steeper learning curve than a traditional 2- or 3-band EQ; I had one installed on my Modulus about two months ago and by the middle of the first set the first time I used it I'd figured out how to get it to do what I wanted it to do

...though the beauty is I'm still discovering all these things I didn't know I wanted it to do that it can.

[FuzzBoxVoodoo]

Well I got the Seymour Duncan 3 band EQ/Preamp in the mail Monday and put it in the Schector Elite with the EMG-HZ that night and Im very happy with the sound and the effect of the slap switch.
The SD preamp is a little bigger than the Aguilar and this was a little bit harder of a installation because the pots mount from the back into the body instead of on the removable pick gaurd.
Having the Mid pot and the slap switch option just made this a much more versatile bass.
My only complaint to SD would be to provide a allen wrench for the knobs,I have 3 full Snap On tool boxes between my buisness and my Job and it took me 30 minutes of digging around and I finally found one that would fit in my sons R/C car tool box.