Bypassing Audere JZ3?

[tranceFusion]

Is there a reasonably easy way to bypass the Audere JZ3 onboard pre-amp? I bought a Sadowsky Outboard and am curious how it will sound on my jazz compared to the Audere.. I don't want to keep unwiring the audere

Wiring it up in place of one of the z-modes would be great..

[cybersnyder]

No idea, but a dead battery, bypass the preamp switch would be very nice. You can do it with the standard version, so I guess it would technically possible. No idea if a switch would fit on the plate and how you would wire it.

[tranceFusion]

ah does it revert to the stock sound if the battery is removed?

[4Mal]

I don't really think this is a possibility.

1. while I've never tried it, I think you'll find that with a dead battery, you are dead period. The battery life being very long, and having the indicator I don't find that an issue at this point.

2. The switch is hard mounted to a circuit board IIRC. The board itself would have to have a spot for the take off to Active / Passive / Bypass in order to wire one in.

3. The 3ZB does offer that as an option and you could probably shoe horn one of those into a J with a little work.

Not sure why the OP wouldn't just leave the EQ flat and z-mode neutral for his test. The hall mark of the Audere is that it is the 'transparent' pre ... so what he'd be giving the Sadowsky is pretty similar to what would be comming off the results of an A/P switch anyway. a little less gain is pretty much all you'll hear.

My first 3ZB was wired Vol/Vol z-mode and an A/P switch - both pickups straight to the jack. Tonally the Passive tone was a shade brighter and the overall signal was hotter. It's not a dramatic difference at all.

[tranceFusion]

I agree that you could describe the audere as being transparent.. it doesn't completely transform the tone into something new.. that said, I don't believe the flat eq tone to be identical to the passive tone.

[Chasarms]

Originally Posted by tranceFusion

I agree that you could describe the audere as being transparent.. it doesn't completely transform the tone into something new.. that said, I don't believe the flat eq tone to be identical to the passive tone.

Probably depends a lot on the pickups themselves, but on my Lakland with single coils, the flat, mid-Z setting offered no audible difference that I could tell from the passive setup.

I have also owned one of those little Sadowsky outboards. It was nice for direct-to-PC recording and made for a super-clean DI for live use, but all in all, it was really a lot like the Audere, mostly transparent. But, inferior as it didn't have the tone controls within reach.

Although, I did love the bass boost on the Sadowsky. It was very effective at adding bass presence without creating mud.

[4Mal]

well what sort of passive tone ? If you mean both pickups straight to the jack - the Audere is a slight shade darker and maybe 6 db quieter.

If you mean passive as though the pickups are running through the 250K vol pots, tone pot & cap - tonally, the Audere is closer to the pickups going straight to the jack. Volume wise, it's about the same.

Unless Dave wants to mod up a pre for you - what you are asking for doesn't exist - at least in JZ3 form.

IMO - you should lay down a reference track using the Audere. Pull it out and wire both pickups straight to a jack. Lay down another reference track. Adjust for volume differences - we're talking tone here - and then do the comparo.

Then install a standard J plate setup. Do the track, do the compare.

What you'll find is that the Audere seems very clear in comparison to the standard plate. Again it's quieter, or less loud than the pickups straight to the jack. Of course with the Audere you get the buffered blend, vol control - even if you don't use the EQ & z-mode...

If you have some kind of recording setup - it's an interesting way to spend a couple of hours.

I mentioned that early 3ZB experience where I had the AP switch put in ? Well, I had that pre re-worked and had Dave add the 3 band EQ (actually in a second module) and had him pull the A/P switch out. I realized after my experiment it was just not necessary. The bass in question was a Fender PJ using and Aero Type-1 PJ set.