What is "THE" pre-amp?

[davec]

Just a general vote,
I'm not looking for the logical, "well it really depends on the bass, your strings, style ect. "

But just what is "the most desirable Pre?

Free free to through out factory pre's as well Wal? MM? ????

For me its the two band Smith pre. Anyone else?

[darkstorm]

I like basslines blackout and emg preamps best.

[Jefenator]

I'm not up on the latest & greatest, but IMHO the Aguilar OBP-1 is really badass.

[mmbongo]

Wal? Mike Pope?

[SGD Lutherie]

There is no best. Just personal preference. They all do more-or-less the same thing, but are voiced differently.

[bassman10096]

Totally subjective - the best I can say is I recently put a U-retro setup into a PJ bass and find it has a very, very wide range of tone adjustments and an enormous number of usable sounds. I would bet combining different pickups with a retro could get you just about any sound you wanted. The only slight knock on this preamp is it's a little bit vulnerable to old neon signs and badly grounded electric service in bars.
I've had good experience with the Aguilar OBP-3. Very manageable adjustments - nice in all three bands.

[brendanbassist]

J-Retro and Audere get a lot of props around here, but I haven't used either.

[lunarpollen]

Whatever Yamaha put in its active BB series in the 1980s. If someone could clone it, I would buy a bunch, for all my basses.

[Munjibunga]

I like the East J-Retro and Aguilar OBP-3. The J-Retro is in my Lakland JO5, and the Aguilar is in my Drozd. Both have great tone and versatility. I imagine the pickups have something to do with it, too.

[FunkMetalBass]

Noll 4-band. The parametric mid 3-band is nice too.

[bgartist]

Glockenklang is my favorite.

[DWBass]

I like Audere and US Bartolini. Affordable, reliable and great sounding!

[m.oreilly]

i prefer the acg filter pre line (have a series one), readily available, filter based goodness, great price.

[randysmojo]

I just put an Audere 3-band in my jazz, and I'm really impressed. Think this is going to be my choice preamp now.

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by davec

Just a general vote,
I'm not looking for the logical, "well it really depends on the bass, your strings, style ect. "

But just what is "the most desirable Pre?

Free free to through out factory pre's as well Wal? MM? ????

For me its the two band Smith pre. Anyone else?

You want "the" most desirable preamp? Well it really depends on the bass, your strings, style etc.

I presume you are talking about pres that go inside the bass...

BUT, given that, my vote goes to John East preamps because he does have them in different styles etc. Jazz, MM, etc. and they are not just what I judge to be the most modern and reliable electronic designs, but ALSO someone (John East, I presume) has actually taken time to listen to them BEFORE they started selling them and has them voiced to FIT the various basses they are for. Pretty impressive in my humble opinion.

Ahem. But be sure to take your wallet if you want one!

I don't vote for Smith. I have a Smith bass and the pre is nice sounding and working, BUT electronic design has several mistakes in it. The worst one was mounting the modular circuit boards ONLY by the pot terminals. Which (of course) caused the (special) pot to snap in two. High school design.

And by FAR the WORST electronics around is the stuff they jam into a GNL L2x00 bass. Full of high school design from start to finish. Even though it's been "upgraded" (original amp has been discontinued) and made smaller (which helps since it's not mounted) most of the bad design remains. Cripes and it's only a "highs booster" anyway!

Two honorable mentions are whatever it is Sam Ash has built inside my Carlo Robelli 8 string (doubled) bass. That cheapo three bander is hands down one of the best sounding preamps I've got, even though the bass is a piece of crap.

The other is the preamp in my Conklin Bill Dickens 7 stringer. It wins the prize for most complex bass circuit on the planet. Electronics is pretty standard construction, but MAN can you tweak your tone! There is a HOST of knobs and switches top side as well as a bunch of trimpots in the cavity. If you are a knobophobe don't even THINK of going near one of these!

[Slowgypsy]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

There is no best. Just personal preference. They all do more-or-less the same thing, but are voiced differently.

+1

That said... Music Man 2 Band Pre Amp.

[cnltb]

On board pres?
None really, but...
I kind of liked the pope when trying it but it had some weird loading thing going one which I really didn't like a bit.
MSD do nice ones( musiciansounddesign)-no such problems and not as many buttons either(which to me is a good thing), but possibly fewer features too...possibly.


At the end it really depends on the instrument and how any given Pre goes with it.

I personally have none in my bass but a really nice out board pre.

[xav_paris]

Originally Posted by davec

Just a general vote,
I'm not looking for the logical, "well it really depends on the bass, your strings, style ect. "

But just what is "the most desirable Pre?

Free free to through out factory pre's as well Wal? MM? ????

For me its the two band Smith pre. Anyone else?

FBass preamp, see there :

www.fbass.com

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Slowgypsy

+1

That said... Music Man 2 Band Pre Amp.

Thats what I have in one of my basses. Well my version of it anyway.

Sounds like this in my Ibanez with my Jazzbucker pickups:

2-band with Jazzbuckers

[TN WOODMAN]

J retro, very versatile, yet pricey. Works great in my fretless with Di Marzio js.

I do want to try a p retro.