Artec pre-amps

TribalEagle · #1 01-10-2007, 01:33 PM

So.. can anyone tell me something about Artec preamps?
I knw they are making some for electro acoustic guitars and basses, which are quiet good..
Personal experience, sound samples anything..??

They are pretty cheap (great for my budjet) and fit my jazz bass..

http://www.thomann.de/fi/search_dir....=artec&x=0&y=0

darthplagis · #2 01-10-2007, 04:02 PM

on paper they seem fine but i dunno, i was thinking about one for a bass i have in the pipeline (5 string P MM with MM body or jazz body), just dont wanna pop the £30 for one if its gonna be a pile of poo.

rmrf · #3 03-27-2007, 10:32 AM

Any luck with Artec preamps?

jonny 290 · #4 03-27-2007, 03:12 PM

It seems as though from a search that many are asking the same question, but few are answering.

I don't think they have much market saturation yet. As far as I can tell, the ebay outlet is the only place to get them.

I'm looking at the 3 band with stacked pots for bass/treble and mid/freq. It's not as precise as I want (2 band parametric, bass+treble) but it's close enough and the price is right.

Edit: I've also noticed that Artec offers piezo pickups for 4,5, and 6's. I'm extremely curious to see if I can shoehorn one of those into my bass. Extra knob time!

rmrf · #5 03-27-2007, 03:58 PM

Maybe you already found knobs for SE3P-A preamp (vol/bal/stacked mid/stacked b&t) ?
I found knobs on bestbassgear (unknown fit) and warmoth (too small for Artec pots). Do you know another places?

mcrracer · #6 03-27-2007, 04:19 PM

I have been using Artec preamps and pups for some time now I keep a wide selection on hand. Several of my bass playing friends have had me order them for them. I just installed the SE3P-A pre in my Lakland Skline 44-02 along with a MM and a alnico "J" I would have to go look up the model numbers. I am very happy with the sound and range of available tones I have used most of the other pups and preamps on the market and also have had pickups custom wound for me. These compare very favorable at a much lower price
I dont have any sound clips...I am not that sophisticated on using that function on the computer yet.
AllParts has the correct knobs. I am not in my shop right now. If you want to order them pm me and I will look up the part number for you. I think they have gold,black and chrome in the correct size. If you want any other info pm me.
I am in Chicago, if you are close you are welcome to come by and hear them.

emils · #7 03-27-2007, 05:02 PM

http://www.artecsound.com/basseq.html

sam,a bassist · #8 09-01-2007, 10:42 AM

i'm making my second bass and getting really nice bartolini bc 4 cbc pickups costing together 240 euro. Is the artec gear good enough for such nice PUs? RSVP need to order

rmrf · #9 09-01-2007, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sam,a bassist

i'm making my second bass and getting really nice bartolini bc 4 cbc pickups costing together 240 euro. Is the artec gear good enough for such nice PUs? RSVP need to order

I've found one of stacked pots on SE3P-A (bass/treble) a little bit scratchy. No other complaints so far - very nice, clean and flexible preamp. But I'm using it with stock Brice HXB-406 PU and cannot tell you anything about Bartolinis.

sam,a bassist · #10 09-01-2007, 12:17 PM

cheers well i'm going for the version with 5 single pots instead of the stacked. Does the system add tone or is it clean?

rmrf · #11 09-01-2007, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sam,a bassist

cheers well i'm going for the version with 5 single pots instead of the stacked. Does the system add tone or is it clean?

Clean.

eutgard · #12 09-01-2007, 04:28 PM

Also check out...

http://www.artecsound.com/vtc.html

http://www.artecsound.com/exp.html

http://www.artecsound.com/bcu.html

http://www.artecsound.com/qdd.html

Interesting products.

**Chef** · #13 11-20-2007, 01:27 PM

jmernyk · #14 10-26-2008, 02:46 PM

I have one of these too, run a ground wire to the back of all the pots. That black stuff painted in there does not conduct too well.
Great, cheap preamps. I've installed many pre's in basses and they hold their own!

peakdesign · #15 10-26-2008, 04:42 PM

These are the stock Korean active electronics that come in the Douglas basses from Rondo, and probably the Brices too. For instance the SE2 powers the WEB-846. They are fine. This isn't rocket science, these are simple buffer amps with 2 or 3 band tone controls. The opamps are standard low noise RCA5834s or whatever, the pots are decent quality. There's quite a range of models. All in all very sensible designs at fair cost that still leave a good profit margin at $25 a module. Not much to hear in clips, the pickups and strings contribute much more of the tone than these little circuit boards, there's no hiss or distortion if that's what you're wondering.

People say odd things sometimes that reflect a prejudice against low cost equipment combined with a lack of understanding, like "pretty low output for an active" without taking into account the fact that the design of the EQ gives you a true 15 dB of boost in high or lows and not a reduction of the opposite band, so if the baseline output was much hotter, you'd be pegging the rail of the 9 volt power supply and distorting when you turn up the EQ, especially as the battery voltage drops.

3506string · #16 10-26-2008, 06:05 PM

I have a SE3(18v) on my Brice Z6 w Bartolini pickups(xxm56m). The first thing i noticed about it was that it was really quiet. It is suprisingly transparent although without a active passive switch I cant say how transparent. I use my bass pre for all me eqing and run into a tubepre and poweramp. I would say the frequencies are great for my taste. The bass and mids give you more than enough boost and cut while the treble seems to be more subdued than on other pre's which is great because even if you have it cranked it doesn't get nasty. The bass controls how strong you lower fundamentals are and the mids give you some mix cutting power. The treble gives you all the finger noise, slaps and pops you can need. Overall this pre kills the bartolini 2 band I pulled out of the bass. I will post some sound clips later today.

peakdesign · #17 10-26-2008, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3506string

I have a SE3(18v) on my Brice Z6 w Bartolini pickups(xxm56m).

Did the 18 volt setup come stock, or did you add a battery?

Did you ever check how much current the thing draws? I'm a little puzzled by their claims of 2000-4000 hours operation on the SE2 and SE3, when I was measuring 3.2 mA draw on the SE2. Since we have I believe about 500 mAH capacity on an alkaline 9 volt, that's about 150 hours, not 2000! [head scratch]

. Maybe I'd better measure again. Can you put a meter between your battery pole and the clip and report what you see?

bongomania · #18 10-26-2008, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peakdesign

I'm a little puzzled by their claims of 2000-4000 hours operation... Since we have I believe about 500 mAH capacity on an alkaline 9 volt, that's about 150 hours, not 2000!

Understandable mistake- they are reporting in metric hours, not English.

peakdesign · #19 10-26-2008, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

Understandable mistake- they are reporting in metric hours, not English.

Maybe Chinese work-hours?

3506string · #20 10-27-2008, 12:53 PM

Okay here are some clips the first is just me boosting and cutting highs, mids, and lows and the second is me playing some chords with the mids scooped.
Changing eq
Chords
I added an extra battery for the 18v setup and I will dig up my multimeter sometime this week to measure the current draw.
I used a brice z6 with bartolini pups with artec pre into a tubepre w tungsol into usb lightsnake(notice background noise) recorded with cooledit.