Preamps don't have a passive tone. You are hearing the pickups without the preamp.
There is "a passive tone control", which is in the circuit at all times. I see the confusion, although a preamp (defined as the entire circuit...not just the active part) does have a "tone" that it puts on the sound of the pickups, particularly if it loads them too much or leaves too much capacitance in the circuit when bypassed. The FlexCore is good about letting the pups breathe, though. Point being, if you wired the pups straight to the output jack, it would probably sound different than wired through even passive volume controls.
-mp
I'm looking forward to getting the Pope installed in the Roscoe. I still haven't decided if I'm going to drill another switch hoel to mount the mid switch or just choose my preferred position and leave it in the control cavity. Any users out there have the mid sw. and care to voice an opinion as to it's usefulness?
Thx
Jome77, I don't have the mid switch, but I have tried both frequency settings for all four bands of eq, and I can tell you that mid switch will be useful if you like to change things on the fly and tweak a lot. If you use the same settings all the time though, I wouldn't suggest drilling a hole in my nice expensive bass lol.
Honestly, if it wouldn'l look so ridiculous, I'd have a switch for all four bands of eq, plus an active/passive switch, and two coil tap switches (if my pickups were able to be tapped)...yup.....seven switches.....
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Glasstone Sound Cabs #8 "Redbone" Peavey Cirrus 6w/Pope Flexcore pre
The Pope preamp arrived yesterday. I was a bit surprised that it arrived in pieces, as BBG had stated that Max would configure it and ship it after he assembled it.
No big deal, just a surprise.
Very easy install though. The only glitch would be that I need to get some longer battery leads. They are just barely long enough to reach the battery compartment and I don't have enough excess to allow easy battery installation.
I only got to play the bass through the amp for a few minutes but the my first impression is very good. Very glassy sounding highs, nice smooth mids and nice smooth tight lows. I haven't connected the mid sw. up yet. I want to play it for a while without it and see if I think that I need it. I might also take out the active/passive sw. and just install the mid sw. instead as I've never had a real need for a passive mode before.
I do like the sounds available by tweaking the passive tone control. I guess that will stay if I remove the active/passive sw. I certainly hope so.
I'll add more detail comments after I get a chance to record and play out with it.
I've had a little bit of time to play the Roscoe though an amp with the Pope preamp installed and I am impressed. I believe that I finally found a blend of the best preamps (IMO). It sounds like a Demeter with Bart mids. And it can get close to the aggression of the Aguliar too.
Incredible sounding preamp! The passive tone control works in both the passive and active mode (I did chose to disable the passive mode in favor of a mid switch on the hi mids). The PTC really works great in smoothing out any harshness in the tone. Very nice subtle control.
I may add the passive sw. later but I'm just not sure that I'd use it much and didn't really want to drill another hole.
I've always loved the mids of the Bart and loved the glassy highs of the Demeter but until now I just couldn't find a preamp that merged those 2 characteristics.
And it's very quiet too.
I'll report back on how it does in a live mix this weekend. I think I can predict that though. This preamp has no problem producing incredible mids and we all know that mids produce the cutting magic in a live gig. I really looking forward to gigging it out.
Here's a picture of the control cavity with the Pope Flexcore installed and also a pic of the top with the 3 sets of concentric knobs and single (blend).
And here's a sound clip of the Roscoe with the Pope Preamp installed. So easy to dial in tones with this preamp:
I was hangin' with some friends yesterday and we had a mini Bass Get Together. Just four of us.
Anyway, one guy there asked me if I have ever connected the jumpers on my Flexcore to the computer to customize the frequencies. He had two Fodera 6'ers with him, both with "custom" Mike Pope pre's in them.
Now, we've all heard the term "jumper" in reference to our Flexcore's. Is having the ability to hook the jumpers to a computer and customize our frequencies even an option ??
I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do this even if it is true.
__________________ PEAVEY CIRRUS CLUB #7 GARZ BASS Wish I played like Jimmy Johnson !
"I'm not rad enough to handle a 5 string" - TALL&STOUT
I was hangin' with some friends yesterday and we had a mini Bass Get Together. Just four of us.
Anyway, one guy there asked me if I have ever connected the jumpers on my Flexcore to the computer to customize the frequencies. He had two Fodera 6'ers with him, both with "custom" Mike Pope pre's in them.
Now, we've all heard the term "jumper" in reference to our Flexcore's. Is having the ability to hook the jumpers to a computer and customize our frequencies even an option ??
I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do this even if it is true.
Not that I've heard of.
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How do I do that and on what pot are the plugs located ? This is very cool !!
You put two little black jumpers across the pins of the green connector on the mid board itself. There are 4 pins, and there is only one way to get two jumpers on them.
If you have the dual mids, the blue connector is hi mid, and the green is low mid. Instructions for setting bass and treble jumpers is online.
-mp
You put two little black jumpers across the pins of the green connector on the mid board itself. There are 4 pins, and there is only one way to get two jumpers on them.
If you have the dual mids, the blue connector is hi mid, and the green is low mid. Instructions for setting bass and treble jumpers is online.
-mp
Thanks Mike ! I experimented and moved both hi mid and low mid connectors down to the lower level. It didn't sound any better, so I moved the connector back up to the top connector. I am guessing I did it wrong, though since it sounded worse than the connector being on the top level connectors .
Also, I had the preamp installed professionally, but I am still getting a 60 cycle hum when the treble and/or mids are turned up. Is this a ground issue ? Everything looks grounded and the cavity has that copper foil stuff.
Thanks - Mike
__________________ PEAVEY CIRRUS CLUB #7 GARZ BASS Wish I played like Jimmy Johnson !
"I'm not rad enough to handle a 5 string" - TALL&STOUT
Are you sure it's 60 cycle hum and not buzz? Is it a side mounted jack? If so, the side jack needs a ground wire run from the shielding inside the cavity, to the body of the jack. The output jack and pots/circuit all need to be on the same electrical plane. This is COMMON. I've had lots of people saying, "when I touch the controls I get a buzz or hum...." yada yada and in almost every case, it has been a bass with a side jack that wasn't grounded correctly. I'm betting on that for starters.
You're confusing jumper wires (which are wire harnesses) with jumpers. Jumpers are the little tiny black plastic things that short out the pins of the dual row connectors. Look at your EQ board right by the blue trim pot. There are probably two jumpers placed on the two middle positions of that. Or check the online instructions. The jumpers are place onto the green connectors of the midrange boards in place of a midrange switch. Two jumpers...there is only one way to put two on there. Each FlexCore comes with some extra jumpers in the package....in the bag the cables and hardware in it.
Are you sure it's 60 cycle hum and not buzz? Is it a side mounted jack? If so, the side jack needs a ground wire run from the shielding inside the cavity, to the body of the jack. The output jack and pots/circuit all need to be on the same electrical plane. This is COMMON. I've had lots of people saying, "when I touch the controls I get a buzz or hum...." yada yada and in almost every case, it has been a bass with a side jack that wasn't grounded correctly. I'm betting on that for starters.
You are correct. Side input and buzz. I will check the ground.
__________________ PEAVEY CIRRUS CLUB #7 GARZ BASS Wish I played like Jimmy Johnson !
"I'm not rad enough to handle a 5 string" - TALL&STOUT
You're confusing jumper wires (which are wire harnesses) with jumpers. Jumpers are the little tiny black plastic things that short out the pins of the dual row connectors. Look at your EQ board right by the blue trim pot. There are probably two jumpers placed on the two middle positions of that. Or check the online instructions. The jumpers are place onto the green connectors of the midrange boards in place of a midrange switch. Two jumpers...there is only one way to put two on there. Each FlexCore comes with some extra jumpers in the package....in the bag the cables and hardware in it.
I was looking at the online instructions and the bass itself in my hands with the rear cover removed.
I did find the small black jumpers you're talking about. I emailed the builder of my bass and he still has the box with the extra jumpers in it, too. I will pick it up next week. Thanks Mike.
__________________ PEAVEY CIRRUS CLUB #7 GARZ BASS Wish I played like Jimmy Johnson !
"I'm not rad enough to handle a 5 string" - TALL&STOUT
Are you sure it's 60 cycle hum and not buzz? Is it a side mounted jack? If so, the side jack needs a ground wire run from the shielding inside the cavity, to the body of the jack. The output jack and pots/circuit all need to be on the same electrical plane. This is COMMON. I've had lots of people saying, "when I touch the controls I get a buzz or hum...." yada yada and in almost every case, it has been a bass with a side jack that wasn't grounded correctly. I'm betting on that for starters.
Thanks Mike.
I am no tech by any means, but I do know how to solder from my tenure at Furman Sound in the 1980's, and I do know what the ground part of the input jack is.
I soldered a ground wire from the jack to the copper foil and it seemed to have fixed the problem !! There is still some hiss when I turn the mid and/or treble up all the way, but I would never have it at 100% anyway.
Thanks again ! This is why I love TalkBass - Have a question about the Mike Pope preamp and Mike Pope answers the question !! What more could you ask for ?
- Mike
__________________ PEAVEY CIRRUS CLUB #7 GARZ BASS Wish I played like Jimmy Johnson !
"I'm not rad enough to handle a 5 string" - TALL&STOUT
Thanks Mike.
I am no tech by any means, but I do know how to solder from my tenure at Furman Sound in the 1980's, and I do know what the ground part of the input jack is.
I soldered a ground wire from the jack to the copper foil and it seemed to have fixed the problem !! There is still some hiss when I turn the mid and/or treble up all the way, but I would never have it at 100% anyway.
Thanks again ! This is why I love TalkBass - Have a question about the Mike Pope preamp and Mike Pope answers the question !! What more could you ask for ?
- Mike
I installed the jumpers on the lo mid connector this afternoon. I'll give it a try this weekend. I believe that since my ears are use to the freq's of the Bart 2-way mid sw. (250Hz/800Hz) I'll prefer the lower lo mid setting of 330Hz. I have the mid switch on the hi mid's so I can chose either 1KHz or 1.8KHz there.
There is probably a tool made to make the installation of the jumpers easier (especially with the pot module installed) but I finally used a piece of very small AWG wire to pry into the top of the jumper and guide it into the connector and onto the pin's.
PEAVEY CIRRUS CLUB #7 
