Marcus Miller Sig: J-Retro, Sadowsky, SansAmp BDDI, or Other?

[malthumb]

Here's the situation.....

I have a Marcus Miller Sig that I think will be a keeper. I usually play it through a SansAmp BDDI directly into the board at my church. I have a few secular old school gigs coming up where I may use it. Then it'll likely be bass-->SansAmp-->Alembic F-1X-->Crown Xs500.

I can get some really nice tone out of the bass as is and BDDI. The ONLY issue with the bass is that the preamp has some hiss in it, especially if I have the treble up or a "scooped" EQ profile on my practice amp. Not objectionable, but noticeable.

Assuming this bass will be a keeper, should I

a) Continue with my current setup (SansAmp BDDI)
b) Consider making the apparently common mod of dropping in a J-Retro ($350 )
c) Consider dropping in a Sadowsky pre? ($???)
d) Consider a different pre-amp option

FWIW - I did already do a search. The one thing that I learned from the search that concerns me is that there does seem to be some criticism of noise with the J-Retro.

What y'all think?

Peace,
James

[IotaNet]

What about an Audere? It would be less expensive than the J-Retro or the Sadowsky and CRAZY flexible.

[chinjazz]

I had great success with an Aguilar OBP-3. It was an awesome upgrade for not much as all. You'll have 2 options, keep it at a 9V output or 18V. I went 9, but if you chose to go 18V, you might want to expand the battery cavity to fit 2 batteries. Good Luck!

[SnakeAnthony]

If you want to get closer to Marcus' tone, I believe his Jazz has Sadowsky electronics. If you don't want to dish out that much cash, go Agulair, as the Sadowsky preamp is rumored to be modeled after that.

[chinjazz]

Originally Posted by SnakeAnthony

If you want to get closer to Marcus' tone, I believe his Jazz has Sadowsky electronics. If you don't want to dish out that much cash, go Agulair, as the Sadowsky preamp is rumored to be modeled after that.

All this is what I heard...

[saxnbass]

I said go with the Sadowsky pre. You can still use the BDDI though.

[Arthur U. Poon]

Originally Posted by SnakeAnthony

If you want to get closer to Marcus' tone, I believe his Jazz has Sadowsky electronics.

FWIW I read that the original preamp Roger Sadowsky installed in Marcus' Jazz was made by Stars Guitars. I wouldn't doubt now Marcus' bass has the Sadowsky preamp.

Malthumb,
I'd give Sadowsky's preamp a whirl. I've read here one of Aguilar's preamps is very similar to Sadowsky's, but how similar, and which model, I don't know.

I can say I really like the Aguilar OBP-3 in my Lull. I briefly owned a Spector NS2J that had the Aguilar OBP-1; I really liked it's sound.

I checked Sadowsky's site. One preamp is priced at $198.00, the VTC is priced at $250.00. - Not a bad price IMO

Best Bass Gear is selling the Aguilar OBP-3 for $130.00, the OBP-1 is going for $98.00.

Just my 2 cents,
- Art

[adrian garcia]

the preamp in Marcus' bass is a two band Bartolini

[John East]

Originally Posted by adrian garcia

the preamp in Marcus' bass is a two band Bartolini

That's my understanding too Adrian, confirmed by Marcus from his website:

I have a pre-amp installed in my Jazz - a Bartollini installed by Roger Sadowsky. Roger also installed a Bad-ass bridge.
The rest of the bass is stock.

My understanding is that it's a Bart TCT.

[narud]

Originally Posted by adrian garcia

the preamp in Marcus' bass is a two band Bartolini

exactly. this needs to be a sticky/put in a faq or something here so we can stop having people post that marcus' bass has sadowsky guts.

[malthumb]

Hmmmmm. It's becoming apparent to me that what little bit of noise I do get is present only when I'm playing through the SansAmp BDDI. Otherwise it is dead quiet. But NONE of my other basses makes any noise when channelled through the BDDI

I do like the tones I'm able to get with the BDDI, so that is a bit discouraging. Would a Sadowsky floor box sound the same as a the installed pre? In other words, would I be better to just replace the BDDI with a Sadowsky unit?

Peace,

James

BTW - I am following the voting and some of the suggestions. Audere does look interesting. I'm a bit concerned that I might have to have the installation done professionally. The J-Retro comes installed on the MM plate, so installation seems to be a lot simpler. The cost of farming out the work would probably equalize my overall cash outlay, but I'll continue to weigh both options.

[Alistair R]

I'd go with an Aggy OBP-1, or Sadowsky pre. Massssive boost avaliable with these pres, absolutley amazing.

2 bands of frequencies is all you need

The Sadowsky outboard is identical to the onboard pre, I'm pretty sure!

[saxnbass]

Originally Posted by Alistair R

The Sadowsky outboard is identical to the onboard pre, I'm pretty sure!

Yes it is. I emailed Roger himsef and asked him about it. He says they are the exact same.

[John East]

Originally Posted by malthumb

Here's the situation.....

FWIW - I did already do a search. The one thing that I learned from the search that concerns me is that there does seem to be some criticism of noise with the J-Retro.

What y'all think?

Peace,
James

To give you some background here, the noise performance of J-Retro range was upgraded a while back. So whether it's a throw-back from earlier times that's being referred to, I'm not sure.

David Meadows (Audere) recently made an electronically measured comparison between, one of my Retros, Aguilar OBP-3 and an Audere.

A Comprehensive and Unbiased Comparison of J-Retro and Audere Drop-in Jazz preamps

His results show that the Retro was very comparable and in fact quieter than the the Audere High Z mode.

Some further info: The Marcus style Retro has EQ curves similar to the old Bart TCT in order to give that dig-in low end and treble presence that Marcus achieves. We originally arrived at that by listening and tweaking the circuit, and only later did I borrow a TCT that was sitting in a luthiers friend's remnants, which confirmed we were on the right track.