Bart NTMB 4.6 or Aguilar OBP...

[Tubakid09]

Ok, so here is the full story. I got a Warwick rockbass a couple weeks ago, and I love it, but there were some loose knobs and that output jack was loose as well, so I decided to tighten them all. After I tightened everything, I put the plate back on and hooked it up to my amp and my electronics are pretty much dead. I get the basic sound from my pickups, but they go straight to the amp; nothing is affected by the preamp, not even volume. I don't know if I shorted the preamp, or knocked something loose (nothing appears unconnected), but its not working.
So I'm now looking at getting a new preamp as I didn't really like the one in it anyways - I have no mid control and I hate that.

I've looked and I've narrowed it down to the Bartolini NTMB 4.6 (push/pull a/p volume, blend, push/pull mid, stacked treb/bass) and the Aguilar OBP-3TK/PP (not exactly sure of the knob setup on this).
Is anybody currently using either of these? How well do they do their job? I'm thinking the Bart would be better, even though its generally more expensive.
Anyways, any input at all would be appreciated.

[Tubakid09]

bump

[Gabe.]

Ive never used the Bart. But, I have the Aguilar OBP-3 in a slightly different config and I love it. Very powerful can get a smooth jazz tone change a few knobs and have a powerful growl tone. Also pretty good on batteries.

[Rano Bass]

The OBP 3 is much easier to install and IMO sounds better.
I'm sure the Aguilar would sound great with that Warwick.

[Tubakid09]

Do you know how many pots the OBP has? I'm not really wanting to route any new holes in the bass.

[Arthur U. Poon]

Originally Posted by Tubakid09

Do you know how many pots the OBP has? I'm not really wanting to route any new holes in the bass.

The OBP-3 comes in a few different configurations, hopefully this link will help:
www.aguilaramp.com/products_preamps_obp3.htm

I have an 18-volt, version of the OBP-3 in my Lull. It's a 4 knob setup: Volume, volume, mids, and a concentric highs/lows. The neck volume pot has a push/pull for active/passive operation and it's mids knob is a push-pull with two different mid center frequencies: 400Hz and 800Hz. IMO the OBP-3 is a very powerful preamp, with a lot of boost/cut capabilities. Of all the internal preamps I've tried, the OBP-3 is my personal favorite. IMO it's tone set "flat" is great, so I only make slight cut/boost changes to fit the song.

I'm not sure which model of Bartolini preamp that my that Roscoe has, but it's an 18-volt, 3-band model with 4 knobs: Volume, blend, mids, and concentric lows/highs. I don't remember if it has an active/passive push-pull pot, but it does have a push-pull pot for the mids. I don't remember what the two different mid center freqeuncies are, though. I really like the sound of the Bartolini preamp. It has really deep lows, strong low mids and the highs sound ever-so-slightly compressed. My only complaint is that it can be very noisy in some of the clubs that I play at, and I believe that my Roscoe is very well shielded.

Just my 2 cents. -Art

[Tubakid09]

Awesome, thaks for the information

[BuffaloBass]

Have owned both and felt the Aggie was more natural. Dont use a pre anymore, so the natural thing got the best of me