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Stingray aftermarket 2 band pre

blmeier7

blmeier7

May 7, 2006
968
600
Amarillo, TX
#1
Has anyone tried the following aftermarket preamp on a stingray?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160390578219

I've been curious to see what the tonal differences are in a 2 band vs. 3 band EQ, but didn't wan't to spend the money on the East preamp.

Anyways, I already ordered this preamp but wanted to see if anyone on TB has experience with them. They seem to be selling fairly well from this eBay vendor.
 
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#3
If I remember correctly I read of only one or 2 people on TB that tried it, and it sounded good...

I totally forgot about that one when I changed preamps in my stingray. I went with the Duncan 3-band and am very happy with it.
 
#4
It's a good preamp. the guy basically reversed engineered an authentic one. so in essence its almost the same thing. I dont know about those green caps though. they might have to be swapped out. all you need are the 25K, 100K, 1M rev pots, and a battery clip. a kill switch wouldn't hurt either. for $39 its a steal. what I like about the preamp is it doesn't overkill with the highs and mids. a warm tone, lots of bass
 
#6
The preamp arrived a week or so ago. After looking at my stock preamp I have decided to keep it intact and order the three new pots for the 2-band pre rather than try to unsolder from the stock pre. This will make it easy to swap back out if I ever sell the bass or want the 3-band pre back in there. The soldering job on the stock pre looks really clean and tight and I know I couldn't get it back to the factory look with my soldering skills.

I have been looking around on several sites for somebody that has all three pots that I need and I haven't found a vendor yet that carries all three. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I will post a review once I get the 2-band installed with my comparison against the stock 3-band.
 
#10
I ordered a custom John East preamp for my new Kinal bass. It's based on the MMSR (Music Man preamp) that he makes, but he did some customizing to a BTBM to get what I wanted. The MMSR wouldn't work with two pickups, and I am going with a Bartolini J/MM setup like the old Laklands. I also wanted the 2-band version with individual knobs, and he asked if I still wanted the pull for bright option, and I did, so he built a custom pot. Instead of the mid control, I went with a Villex PRTB (Passive Rotary Tone Booster). I wanted it to come before the preamp so that I could run it in both active and passive mode. Because the MMSR is only made for one pickup, John did some custom work to the BTBM circuit so that I could I could use both pickups, but he made the EQ curve identical to the vintage Music Man like his MMSR preamp. He added wires to make the Villex easier to connect. Additionally, he added an active passive toggle switch that was a true bypass instead of passing through his circuit in passive mode. The bass should be done soon, I'm thinking in February. Mike has all of the parts and is shaping the neck at this point. It won't be long. I'll give a thorough review of how it turned out when I get it. :hyper:
 
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#12
Well, the potentiometers arrived in the mail earlier this week and I set the Ray34 up with the 2-band EQ and the new pots last night. There's a problem. I'm not sure what is going on, but something wasn't right. I triple checked my connections against the schematic, but the pots didn't appear to be doing what they were supposed to even though I was getting sound from the bass/amp. After looking at the back of the 2-band EQ board it looks like one of the solder joints (hand soldered) is touching another joint. I'm not sure if this is okay or not. My other thought is that there is a difference between the Stingray and Ray34, and that this aftermarket 2-band may not be compatible with the Ray34...not likely but I'm not 100% sure either. It could also be the pots that I ordered aren't fully compatible with this pre. I would try out the stock pots but they are different ohm ratings than what the schematic calls for.

So, I am going to do some more research on this and try to get this going.
 
#14
Thanks Bongo! Here is a picture of the 2-band pre. There is probably nothing wrong with it, but it would be nice to know for sure. I circled the area in question.

Also, let me know which pots you end up using. That could also be my issue.

The only part of the schematic that wasn't 100% clear were the leads that go to the jack. I could have messed something up there.
 

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