Warwick Thumb, serious preamp suggestions.

[The_Orlonater]

I have my beloved Warwick, but it's preamp is merely ok. The treble hisses, and could be more versatile.

I'm serious about changing it. I don't want to drill ANY holes in it, whatsoever. I'm not that good with electronics. I know a few terms and understand what's going on, but there is so much on my mind right now. Anyway, it's the 2 band preamp, it's Vol/Push Pull for Active and Passive, Blend, and stacked Bass Treble.(Treble is the top knob) I love the Thumb sound, but I don't want to change it, and maybe make it slightly more versatile.

If you suggest me a preamp, if you can please post a link where to order it. I'd also like to know it it's knobs would fit my Thumb. I heard some knobs wouldn't fit and so forth on basses that had preamp changes.

I'll spend up to $150 for a preamp..maybe more. But keep suggesting.

[NKUSigEp]

Aguilar OBP-1

[canshaker]

I put Bartollini pups in all my Thumbs.
When I was doing my research on this, my tech said, "Why put a VW engine in a Bentley?" (referring to the stock pups.)
The tone from my Thumbs is awesome now.

[dropbass]

i hate the mecs everything...i went with the active emg's with no pre so its simple like a passive but still active for the qiuet and strong signal...i think avgoodvpassive is still the way to go .."the sound of wood" right???? the agular pre is good though and the audere.... i just dislike the eq boosting myself...

[Kael]

Try an outboard Sadowsky preamp. I use one with my Streamer lx. I just leave the stock preamp set flat or bypass it 95% of the time.

linkage below

https://secure.sadowsky.com/store/in...c38cb8dfb290ac

[The_Orlonater]

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

Aguilar OBP-1

Over the OBP 3, why?
What advantages does it have?
Will the knobs fit the thumb?

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by The_Orlonater

Over the OBP 3, why?
What advantages does it have?
Will the knobs fit the thumb?

Treble is at 4kHz and not 6kHz. Plus (flame me all you want), but I've come to an understanding that midrange controls are useless. Hear me out first...if you're playing live, you need the midrange to cut through but you don't want too much so that you're overpowering the rest of the band. If you're recording, you can dial in the amount of midrange you want on your computer or console. So therefore, a mid boost/cut is obsolete.

But anyways, I don't know what it is but the 4kHz frequency point on the treble just makes everything so smooth and warm but articulate and clear at the same time. At least to my ears...

[The_Orlonater]

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

Treble is at 4kHz and not 6kHz. Plus (flame me all you want), but I've come to an understanding that midrange controls are useless. Hear me out first...if you're playing live, you need the midrange to cut through but you don't want too much so that you're overpowering the rest of the band. If you're recording, you can dial in the amount of midrange you want on your computer or console. So therefore, a mid boost/cut is obsolete.

But anyways, I don't know what it is but the 4kHz frequency point on the treble just makes everything so smooth and warm but articulate and clear at the same time. At least to my ears...

Does it hiss? I kind of like mids, but oh well.

[The_Orlonater]

Bump.

Is there a place where I can order an OBP-3 wired VOL/Blend(stacked), Mid, Treble/Bass (Stacked).

I kind of want midrange, I don't find it obsolete.

[naetog]

you can get the prewired b/t and mid, but get a dual volume. it sounds better than a blend pot IMO. bestbassgear.com

[The_Orlonater]

Originally Posted by naetog

you can get the prewired b/t and mid, but get a dual volume. it sounds better than a blend pot IMO. bestbassgear.com

Cool, Im just curious will my existing Warwick knobs fit with the OBP-3.

[maxbass]

I have a 1989 Thumb.
It still has the stock EMG's , but I removed original 2-way MEC electronics.
Now it's wired just like a Jazz Bass, V-V-passive T, and it sounds awesome.

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by The_Orlonater

Does it hiss? I kind of like mids, but oh well.

No hiss...the higher you go in frequency, the more hiss you'll get.

The mids are still there too. They don't go anywhere, but are more natural sounding than if they're boosted or cut.

[Ach]

If you are playing agressive music, you can try out EMG EXB - Bass expander. This is a unit which scoops mids while adds lows and highs. I never tried it (but tried other emgs' preamps), but found myself scooping mids as the most usefull config, especially for so middy/growly basses as Warwicks are

[m.oreilly]

the acguitars filter pre is as good as it gets, imho. i don't like any of the obp setups i've tried. kael's recommendation is an option you might find very flexible...

[idoru]

Originally Posted by maxbass

I have a 1989 Thumb.
It still has the stock EMG's , but I removed original 2-way MEC electronics.
Now it's wired just like a Jazz Bass, V-V-passive T, and it sounds awesome.

I've seriously been thinking of doing this, but adding a push-pull for series/parallel. I almost always use passive mode anyway, and just drop the preamp in for extreme tonal changes.

c-

[iloveloosey]

Noll preamp - check out my thread...

Noll Preamp - Bulk Order from EU - Interested?

The one I'm to get (2 band parametric) is going in a Streamer Stage 2 with EMGs.

PS NKUSigEp - I agree with not having the mid control