Can i fit 18-volt Aguilar pre in my bass????

[trjazzluva05]

Hey everyone, Im interested in getting a pre-wired 18-volt Aguilar OBP-1 preamp from bestbassgear.com for my Marcus Miller Jazz Bass, and i am wondering who has one and will both batteries fit into the battery cavity??? Also i hear alot of folks say the stock preamp is garbage, yet i have no problem with mine. just want to get the full potential of the bass with a quality preamp. Anyone on TB use on of these in their Jazz or jazz-style basses???

[krovx]

Originally Posted by trjazzluva05

Also i hear alot of folks say the stock preamp is garbage, yet i have no problem with mine. just want to get the full potential of the bass with a quality preamp. Anyone on TB use on of these in their Jazz or jazz-style basses???

I am curious about this as well.

[JazzbassArt]

I'm also curious. The tonal spectrum from my 2004 American Deluxe Jazz, is pretty good. When I listen to clips of other pickups and preamps, I don't hear the $250.00 + difference?

[rogypop]

i have mm jazz bass with stock pre and SD antiquity 2 pups but soon will go for an obp-1 too. stock pre is bad, i keep mine on passive all the time. you can wire it both for 9 or 18 v, both will work. if you want 18V there is plenty of space for second battery in control cavity

[krovx]

Originally Posted by rogypop

i have mm jazz bass with stock pre and SD antiquity 2 pups but soon will go for an obp-1 too. stock pre is bad, i keep mine on passive all the time. you can wire it both for 9 or 18 v, both will work. if you want 18V there is plenty of space for second battery in control cavity

I am wanting to throw some SD II's in mine but to be honest the stock ones are not too bad. I am going to go through and shield everything.

How do you compare the SD II's to the stock pups?

[rogypop]

Originally Posted by krovx

I am wanting to throw some SD II's in mine but to be honest the stock ones are not too bad. I am going to go through and shield everything.

How do you compare the SD II's to the stock pups?

i just love those pups. better string balance, more mid presence, especially low mids, big ballsy low end and smooth highs, which tames a little bit that clankyness of ash-maple-no tone control combo. much better fingerstyle than it used to be and slap is that classic 70´s funk machine

[trjazzluva05]

I figured it would be enough room in the preamp cavity for a second battery, but i just wanted to be sure. Also i dont think the stock preamp on the MM is bad, its just that if you try to use too much of it, it overcolors the sound.(turning both bass and treble up full) I use little to no treble and go half-way on the bass knob. Everything else i tweak on my amp. i actually use a GK MB2-500 and bypass the preamp with my Aguilar Tone Hammer...it sounds great!!! Thats why i want an Aguilar OBP. That with the Marcus Miller is a match made in heaven IMO!!!! Also, I love the stock pickups. They give you a nice thump that you feel in your chest when playing this bass. Ive gone through various Fender and modded Squier jazz basses trying to get this sound. The MM Jazz Bass has it!!!

[krovx]

Originally Posted by rogypop

much better fingerstyle than it used to be and slap is that classic 70´s funk machine

My guess is you are using it predominantly in 'passive mode'? I think you might want to consider switching preamps to something that will give you a true passive mode. The Nordy stuff comes with a passive tone control... might be worth checking out. I just bought an OBP-1 and it looks like it might be an easy install.

[krovx]

Originally Posted by trjazzluva05

I love the stock pickups. They give you a nice thump that you feel in your chest when playing this bass. Ive gone through various Fender and modded Squier jazz basses trying to get this sound. The MM Jazz Bass has it!!!

I have to admit, the stock pups are great. A bit noisy, but I think the cheaper preamp, and horrible grounding are more to blame than the pups. I am going to pay attention to the noise after I install the new Preamp and redo the grounding.

A helpful link you might want to check out:

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.p...Signature_Bass

[rogypop]

Originally Posted by krovx

My guess is you are using it predominantly in 'passive mode'? I think you might want to consider switching preamps to something that will give you a true passive mode. The Nordy stuff comes with a passive tone control... might be worth checking out. I just bought an OBP-1 and it looks like it might be an easy install.

i wasnt using that preamp even with the old pickups, it just sounded like its sucking life out of them even set flat (i have checked mr Thommy Thompsons articles and resoldered it to true bypass when set on passive.) i will add tone control to this bass when i get obp-1. will wire it like vol-vol-tone-bass/treble stacked, you can find scheme on aguilars site.

[RedLeg]

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.p...Signature_Bass

you know, that is a good article to follow and i makes the MM pre sound pretty darn good.
I helped a fellow bassist out with this about 14 months ago.

[trjazzluva05]

Exellent article!!! If i felt confident in doing that myself, i would. I was also thinking about adding a sadowsky preamp being that it has a passive tone control which would "truly" give me two-basses-in-one. Any other preamps that have a passive tone control????

[FunkMetalBass]

Any preamp can have a passive tone control.

There is no reason for a passive tone control to even connect to the preamp module - it runs before the preamp's. It depends on how you're wanting to do it. It's a very simple solder job and if you want to take the time to learn, I can draft up a quick diagram for you.

Otherwise, contact the guys at BestBassGear. If you want a passive tone control and they're wiring the preamp for you already, you could ask them to tack on a 500k pot w/ a .047uF cap.

A passive tone control is just a treble cut anyways, so if you get a boost/cut preamp, you may be satisfied with the preamp's cutting capability already and not need to do any unnecessary extra wiring.

[RedLeg]

when it comes to active with pasive tone control. I really like Brian Barrett's LowEnd Jazz bass preamp. It is 18v (sadowsky is not). you may want to check into the LEJ stuff.

http://www.lowenddistribution.com/lo...es/preamp.html

[krovx]

Originally Posted by RedLeg

http://www.talkbass.com/wiki/index.p...Signature_Bass

you know, that is a good article to follow and i makes the MM pre sound pretty darn good.
I helped a fellow bassist out with this about 14 months ago.

Just spent some time doing the grounding mod. Either I did it incorrectly, or the noise is the same if not worse.

I however did not do step three, with the pickup isolating...is that necessary?

I have the cavity foil'd with the bridge ground soldered to the foil. I have the grounds from both pickups, the ground from the pre, the grounds from each volume pot, and the wire from the jack all connected soldered together covered in electrical tape.
__________________

[RedLeg]

that shielding a lot of the mod's power. we did it verbatim and the bass sounded like a diff'rent animal when using a solo'd pup.

[krovx]

Alright. I am going to work on the pickups tomorrow and see what she does!

[krovx]

Did the pickups and it worked out great!

Having issues installing the OBP-1. Everything was easy until I got to the switch. I have tried a few different things and even followed the wiring guide from Aggie and still getting horrible hum/buzz. Anyone have any suggestions?

[krovx]

Have everything all set. the OBP-1 is a huge improvement over the stock preamp. I would suggest getting the OBP-2 to avoid having to wire an additional 9v.

[krovx]

Here is a quick sample I did to compare the Aggie against the stock preamp.

The first part of the clip is the Aggie, the second half is the stock pre. I think the Aggie sounds more organic and full, and less harsh.

Installing an OBP-1 in a MM Jazz