Complete list of pre-amp possibilities.

Sathington W. · #1 12-29-2008, 08:07 PM

I'm going to be building my first bass here shortly, and I was wondering what the possibilities are for the "stuffing" (electronics) in a Warmoth Z bass.
If you all would be kind enough to post all the function possibilities you know of (volume, tone, killswitch, mid, treble, bass, etc. etc.)
I know the Jaguar, for example, has a ton of switches & knobs, I just don't know what they do, and what all is out there.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

bongomania · #2 12-29-2008, 08:25 PM

Things to consider:

1) frequency points of EQ controls. Some like the low control to "knee" at 40 Hz, some at 60 Hz. Mids may be anywhere from 200 Hz to 2 KHz. Highs may be anywhere from 2 K to 20 KHz. So experiment with a graphic or parametric EQ to decide what you want, or read up in descriptions of preamps here to see others' impressions of different EQ points.

2) coil tapping; this allows you to select one or both sets of coils in a dual-coil pickup (or more options with a quad-coil pup).

3) series vs. parallel. Read about the differences here in the forum, they are well discussed.

4) phase reverse. It's not used much these days, but you'll see phase reverse on some basses from the '80s. Phase reverse changes the relationship between the waveforms from each pickup.

5) Not a control, but does your preamp need gain boost, or do you prefer unity gain?

6) active/passive control

7) you've got blend, but is it an active or passive blend? (Almost all preamps are active, but that doesn't mean the blend control inside it is active necessarily.)

8) Audere pre's have a "Z mode" control; read about it on their website.

**line6man** · #3 12-29-2008, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bongomania

2) coil tapping; this allows you to select one or both sets of coils in a dual-coil pickup (or more options with a quad-coil pup).

No, your thinking of coil splitting...
Coil tapping is when you have a pickup that has a tap at some point in the winding, and you choose to use the tapped portion instead of the full coil.

Aarix · #4 12-30-2008, 09:33 AM

A few more:

9) Passive Tone Control/Vintage Tone Control (a tone knob is subtly different than treble)

10) 9V vs 18V

11) Shaping switches/Knobs - some pres have different preset eq shapes, mostle for mids: scooped slap, bumped fingerstyle etc.

Sathington W. · #5 12-30-2008, 09:40 AM

Where can I find all these parts? Warmoth has a whole page full of parts, but I can't distinguish one from the other.

millahh · #6 12-30-2008, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sathington W.

Where can I find all these parts? Warmoth has a whole page full of parts, but I can't distinguish one from the other.

Alot of the options aren't a matter of specialized parts (beyond a DPDT switch), they're a matter of wiring configuration. This applies to coil splitting, series/parallel, phase, active/passive control, and even some passive EQ options.

Sathington W. · #7 12-31-2008, 08:27 AM

Oh joy.
I haven't ever wired a bass. Where can I find the diagrams?

Sathington W. · #8 12-31-2008, 08:29 AM

And by the way, on Warmoth they have a whole page of Potentiometers... which are??

**line6man** · #9 12-31-2008, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sathington W.

Oh joy.
I haven't ever wired a bass. Where can I find the diagrams?

There are several places that have schematics available, but first you need to figure out what it is you want, as there are many different ways to wire a bass, depending on what functionality and tone you are after.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sathington W.

And by the way, on Warmoth they have a whole page of Potentiometers... which are??

In a word, knobs.

Pots are the knobs that you turn to change your volume and tone or whatever else you want to adjust.

millahh · #10 12-31-2008, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sathington W.

Oh joy.
I haven't ever wired a bass. Where can I find the diagrams?

If you do a search in this subforum you should find all manner of diagrams & discussions, as well as the effect that each option will have on your sound.

Wiring may sound intimidating, but this kind of stuff is actually fairly simple...it's more of a logic excercise than anything else.

SurrenderMonkey · #11 12-31-2008, 10:33 AM

There's another class of pre-amps called filters.

The ACG pre-amp, or wal pre-amps. From experience, they are well worth a look.

The ACG pre for example, has a low-pass filter, and also a overshoot control, as well as a treble boost in the form of a high-pass filter. It's surpisingly very effective.

http://www.acguitars.co.uk/docs/news/63.pdf