What preamp improved your Ibanez?

KingRazor · #1 03-10-2011, 01:06 PM

It's a widely agreed upon opinion on this forum that the reason Ibanez basses sound sub-par is the cheap preamps they use.

If you're an Ibanez owner and have benefited from upgrading your preamp, what kind did you use?

RedLeg · #2 03-10-2011, 01:11 PM

on my 85 roadster II, one of brian barrett's LEJ pre's.
on my 79 roadstar stock all the way.
on my old sr806 (circa 94) stock all the way.
I guess I like ibanez preamps, my 85 was passive at first.

That being said, my navy buddy replaced his BTB pre amp with an aggy obp-3.

KingRazor · #3 03-10-2011, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedLeg

on my 85 roadster II, one of brian barrett's LEJ pre's.
on my 79 roadstar stock all the way.
on my old sr806 (circa 94) stock all the way.
I guess I like ibanez preamps, my 85 was passive at first.

That being said, my navy buddy replaced his BTB pre amp with an aggy obp-3.

Ah, I have no experience with pre-90s Ibanez basses.

The current pre is muddy and lacking in mids. When I boost the mids with the style-sweeper they sound like crap.

RedLeg · #4 03-10-2011, 01:51 PM

you may want to try out an Alembic bass and see if a filter pre is up your alley. I tried an ACG filter pre and I am hooked. If/when I do my warmoth build I will definitely use one of these.

Revmizery · #5 03-10-2011, 01:58 PM

I have 2 BTB's currently with the Audere classic 4 band, it definitely sounded good with the stock pickups.

KingRazor · #6 03-10-2011, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedLeg

you may want to try out an Alembic bass and see if a filter pre is up your alley. I tried an ACG filter pre and I am hooked. If/when I do my warmoth build I will definitely use one of these.

What does it do exactly?

KingRazor · #7 03-10-2011, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revmizery

I have 2 BTB's currently with the Audere classic 4 band, it definitely sounded good with the stock pickups.

Do you know how the Audere compairs to an Aguilar OPB?

RedLeg · #8 03-10-2011, 02:08 PM

ACG EQ-02 Preamp

its a low pass filter with a variable Q. kind of hard to explain. check out link.

Von Felgenhauer · #9 03-10-2011, 02:09 PM

1996 SR1300 changed to emg pickups and aguilar obp-3 pre-amp and it's just lovely

RedLeg · #10 03-10-2011, 02:10 PM

I am not a fan of audere pre's. I had a classic 4 band in my fretless and it was quiet,...too quiet. they're a little wimpy on output. However, I was told that you can ask Dave to up the output level when ordering. YMMV

KingRazor · #11 03-10-2011, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedLeg

ACG EQ-02 Preamp

its a low pass filter with a variable Q. kind of hard to explain. check out link.

That looks awesome. I find filters to be much more useful than shelving EQ.

BassLife77 · #12 03-10-2011, 05:40 PM

I have 3 of them and yanked out all the preamps. I made one passive, second one I made a JFET buffer, third one I made a low pass state variable filter preamp. the passive one I play through an outboard homemade tube preamp. All 3 sound way better compared to those Ibanez preamps

KingRazor · #13 03-10-2011, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassLife77

I have 3 of them and yanked out all the preamps. I made one passive, second one I made a JFET buffer, third one I made a low pass state variable filter preamp. the passive one I play through an outboard homemade tube preamp. All 3 sound way better compared to those Ibanez preamps

If I had the skills and the know-how, I'd do just that.

Actually, I have a fellow TBer helping me put something like that together.

BassLife77 · #14 03-10-2011, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingRazor

If I had the skills and the know-how, I'd do just that.

Actually, I have a fellow TBer helping me put something like that together.

You save a lot of money by being a DIY'er. compared to the John Easts who want $300 for a filter preamp. I built mine for only $10 in parts (including wiring & pots) and I got the opamps as free samples. The great part is you can use any brand or type of parts you want and custom tweak the components to your ears

KingRazor · #15 03-11-2011, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassLife77

You save a lot of money by being a DIY'er. compared to the John Easts who want $300 for a filter preamp. I built mine for only $10 in parts (including wiring & pots) and I got the opamps as free samples. The great part is you can use any brand or type of parts you want and custom tweak the components to your ears

Yeah, too bad I don't know anything about wiring or circuitry.

Sparky Mark · #16 03-11-2011, 03:37 PM

I fitted a Bartolini NTMB 5.2 A/P to my SR500 along with MK4CBC pups and transformed the bass into a high end performer. I was unsure whether it would be a wise investment of £280 on top of the £265 I paid for the bass, but it now blows my £1k+ basses away.

Samsound · #17 03-12-2011, 12:46 AM

The stock 3-band pre in my '06 SR400 sounds great.
Replaced the crappy Style Sweeper in my '08 SR405QM with the Duncan Basslines pre - love it.

philtoler · #18 03-12-2011, 04:47 AM

The pre-amp will be a factor but I suspect the wood choice has a big impact too. A lot of SR500 owners complain of a thin sound. From my own tests I believe that the pickups have little influence. However the wood might - it looks like (viewed from inside the back cavity) Red Mahogany which is one of the hardest woods listed in the Janka scale. Down at the bottom of the Janka scale you find the softest woods that are sometimes reported to give a warmer fuller sounding tone which include Alder, Basswood etc.

hip63 · #19 03-12-2011, 05:00 AM

My SR505 doesn't sound thin at all and the the Bart MK1 with the stock pre sound pretty good.

I love the mahogany body actually and the bass has a warm sound too. I use rotosound rounds on it.

However I'm planning on upgrading to Bart MK5s and a NTMB 5.2 A/P to take it to the next level.

Plus all those new parts will fit all the existing routes and holes without any further modifications to the body, sweet.

Also while on the subject of preamps, Ibanez uses a wide variety of them with a variety of pickups so people may want to specify what kind of eq and pickups they have.

I like the pickups and preamp on my SR505 but there are other preamps Ibanez uses that I certainly don't like.

hip63

Wild_Cat · #20 03-12-2011, 05:33 AM

Well, I just got my SR4005 back from the luthier... And it now houses an Audere 3ZB.

I'll probably spend most of the weekend messing around with it to see how awesome it turns out to be, but what's obvious is that it can only be an improvement: the stock preamp's treble control was dead.