Any good bass pre that can go unity gain?

You've heard the parable about the TV repairman? See, in the old days, TV's were expensive, and you would actually call a repairman to come work on your TV if it was on the fritz.

So this woman's TV was out, and she calls a repairman. He comes in, turns an adjusting screw inside the set, and voila, the TV is fixed. He hands the lady a bill for $50. "What?" the lady exclaimed. "$50 for a one minute job? How can you justify that?"

So the repairman tears up the old bill, and gives her a new bill, which read: "Turning adjustment: $1. Knowing which adjustment to turn: $49. TOTAL : $50"

 

But that isn't really applicable here, as the OP will have precise instructions on what needs to be done, so the job does not involve knowledgeability.

 

If the OP knows how to solder, and has good soldering equipment, hey of course it would save him a lot of money as a DIYer. Of course, if the OP butchers the job and messes the bass's electronics up, then so much for the savings.

But for a shop to do it, the $50 or so would be reasonable. I fix amps on the side, so I've become aware of what the true cost of a repair is. First, I have to determine what trim pot to order, and then I have to order it--that takes time, and I don't keep a stock of various trim pots (I doubt most shops have an extensive selection either). So that little $2 trim pot takes 15 minutes to figure out exactly what to get and order it. Then there's shipping, Mouser doesn't deliver for free. So the pot comes in...but that's not all. I have a decent soldering station, and a desoldering station (priced a desoldering station lately?) Of course, there's other equipment that gets used on this job: a multimeter, and the hot air gun for the heat shrink. Then there's the consumables, like solder, heat shrink, etc. Even things like the light bulb for the light over the repair desk, it wears out from use and needs to be replaced. For an electronics repair biz, all that stuff factors in, and let's not forget the other stuff like oscilloscopes, function generators, and various other testers; even if they aren't used for one particular job, they still must get paid for somewhere. And of course a real shop must pay for utilities, rent on the shop, business licenses, taxes, accounting, etc.

Then lets not forget some intangibles. Suppose a shop adds the trim pot to the bass--then the customer comes back and says "hey the tone knob is scratchy now, must be due to your trim pot mod". So the shop may have to eat the tone knob repair, even though it could be bogus. Or suppose my cat jumps in my lap while I'm fixing something and another part gets messed up, I must eat that myself (nobody's perfect!!)

For many shops, a basic bench fee might be $35 just to cover the cost of business, even if nothing gets repaired or touched.

 

Like I said, you don't need to pay a shop to do this. Find a guy on Craigslist, or a friend, or anyone else you know that can solder, and offer them a six pack of beer. It's easy!

 

Right, but you know how to do it yourself. I wouldn't charge that much, but I am not paying employees, and I work from home so my overhead is alot less. I am just saying that its not unreasonable.

 

Ill hook you up for a 6 pack, but you have to come to me