Has anybody here used an Audere preamp with active pickups?
 

I have a bass that has active pickups and an active preamp. I'm debating about replacing the current preamp with an Audere Classic 4-Band, which apparently can be used with active pickups if you wire in a capacitor between pickup hots and the preamp.

Has anybody used this setup? How did it work out?

Bump.

you wont like it, since most preamps are designed to work with the frequencies of passive pups, if you use actives you will overdrive the signal and end with a harsh farting sound. I could be wrong.

I just put an Audere Classic 4-Band in my Yamaha RBX-765A and, based on that experience, I would definitely recommend Audere to anyone FWIW. David, at Audere, has been excellent about answering technical questions. I'd suggest contacting him (sales@audereaudio.com).

The 765A is an active bass with passive pick-ups which, I'm told, is the most common set-up. An active pickup would have power going to the pickup(s) as well as to the pre-amp (I know nothing else about them). Audere uses direct (DC) coupling from pickup to pre-amp input, so a DC blocking capacitor is needed for active pickups - they'll tell you what to use.

I'm curious about active pickups though - what type of bass/pickups do you have?

I've had lots of success using these preamps with passive pickups, but my bass has active pickups. It's a Peavey Millennium Plus J/J and has two active pickups and an active preamp. The preamp is fairly hissy and I've always known Audere's to be very quiet.

I wonder if the DC blocking caps will still allow stereo blending - what do you think?

Are you sure the pickups are active?

They are according to the manual.

This is from the Classic FAQ on the Audere web-site:

"What if I have Active pickups?
Insert a coupling capacitor in between the pickup and the preamp. We supply optional metal film capacitors which can be purchased when you order your preamp and they are available from electronic component suppliers. The capacitor we recommend and offer is 330 nF. This puts a low end frequency limit on the signal of 4.8 Hz."

AFAIK the cap's are just there to block any DC voltage that might be present at the active pickup output. They act as a highpass filter. With the values Audere supplies (330 nF), the signal will be significantly reduced below 4.8 Hz, but that's well below the audio range - open E-string on a 4-banger is about 41 Hz so it's nothing to worry about.

I'm not sure what you mean by "stereo blending" but all of the controls on the pre-amp should work the same as they would for passive pickups.

Seriously, your best bet (IMO) is to send your questions to Audere, tell them the make/model of bass and see what they recommend.

I'm doing two things right now. #1 - waiting on an email response from David Meadows at Audere on this topic. #2 - wondering if it would be at all worth it to swap out preamps, or if I should just leave well enough alone.

I honestly should have left well enough alone five or six basses ago...

I think I need to learn to leave well enough alone.

I'm right there with you. I put some Nordstrand Big Singles in my Lakland 55-01 and now I'm having a hard time trying to eq them. Shoulda left the stock pickups in there.

Swap 'em put for a set of Big Splits. I tried Big Singles and didn't like them, but the Splits were the ticket.

I'd just replace the pickups as well. The electronics is the only weak part of Millenniums, the pickups are just not good. In my opinion, anyway :)