hey guys, I currently have an Atelier Z bass with 3 pickups ( jazz, Humbucker, jazz) , its a passive bass (model:beta Z 2010) Currently the layout is Vol(neck),vol(bridge),vol(humbucker),tone, switch toggle (to switch between jazz mode and humbucker mode , they dont work together) I'm looking to replace this with a preamp that has bass,treble and mids (with adjustable freq maybe), passive/active switch and volume for each pickup. Do you guys know which preamp that would work in my case? Thanks
Leave everything in place except your tone knob. Replace the tone knob with whatever three-band preamp you like, drilling additional hole(s) as needed.
thanks @ctmullins good idea actually but wouldn't want to drill anymore holes , its kinda an expensive bass so that would leave with bass and treble stacked and no option for passive/active toggle i guess unless i rewire the current switch. its an option i guess.
You could replace one of the existing volume potentiometers with a push / pull for the active / passive or the humbucker / jazz switch.
Gotcha. You could do Stacked volume/volume Volume Stacked treble/bass Mid Active/passive switch Or Stacked volume/volume Volume push/pull active/passive Stacked treble/bass Mid Switch for humbucker
So do you know any ready to buy preamp like this ? Aguilar preferably ? and would it have connections to 3 pickups ? Because usually everything is made for 2 pickups or it doesn’t make a difference ?
I don’t. You’re right, the market is targeted towards two-pickup instruments. Some vendors will custom wire for you. But really, this is a good example of the benefits of learning to solder...
Two places I would contact if you don’t want to do it yourself. I believe bestbassgear does custom harnesses. I would imagine Nordstrand would probably make one for you as well around one of their preamps.
It’s not so much the onboard eq you use. You need a way to avoid drilling into the body. Stacked pots if you don’t want to drill holes in the bass.
Something to be aware of... Stacked pots might require drilling still depends on shaft diameter of existing pots versus stacked ones.
Did you buy that Atelier Z new? I don't think I've seen a fully passive Beta model. If you aren't the first owner, its possible that a previous owner removed the pre-amp that was in there stock. If it is a Beta such as this one, then it should have had an Atelier Z EQ X2 pre-amp. As every Beta I've seen with the JHJ pickup layout has had this control layout with 2 stacks.
Ya akhi, While Qatar is the closest geologically I've ever been to Bahrain, if the two countries are as similar as I've been led to believe (consider the flags of both countries), specialty music shops with that kind of technician are probably pretty rare. You may need to learn how to design and wire what you want on your own; luckily, information is much more available and accessible today. I would start by looking at other 3 pickup basses (Dingwall comes to mind) and see if they would be willing to share information, schematics, or even pre-amp modules or components to help you achieve this goal. Carvin/Kiesel has some very user friendly active bass pre-amps, but you would have to drill to make it work with your bass (or remove and remote out the pots). Ma tahiyatti!
I would contact Audere and see if they can help you. Steve Donor has made some pretty exotic configurations and I recall he was using Audere in some of them. The other option is to use an external stomp box pre from the manufacturer of your choice. I believe they all have one available by now.
Have you considered an external preamp instead? Might save you a bunch of trouble and work, but obviously wouldn't be as accessible for tweaks... Also, one way to save on real estate would be to have a rotary pickup selector switch of some sorts + master volume, instead of independent volume controls. That would simplify things, reduce the number of knobs needed, and load the pickups less (giving you more high end). You'd lose some tweaking ability, but I'm not sure how user friendly that would be with three pickups anyway...
The way most preamps work is they take the sum that would normally go to the output jack and redirect it thru the preamp circuitry. It doesn't matter how many pickups are involved. @ctmullins gave you a couple of options utilizing concentric pots. If you would post the values of the pots in the bass now I'm sure someone could come up with a solution that handles all your needs. Maybe some close pics of your bass' control cavity too.
@izpak @cnltb correction it’s not beta ! Its z-plus /SII . I got because it has 24 frets and sacrificed the preamp . It’s not modified though (yet)
Awesome ! I’m actually doing all setups and everything myself but just wanted to find a drop in kind of thing without overthinking it too much.
I think that rotary pickup selector is used the fender urge II. I have an external preamp but I’m not in love with it . I originally got for my upright , it’s a fishman platinum pro EQ but otherwise onboard preamp comes handy sometimes As long as there an active passive switch