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Aguilar OBP3 mid frequency

gimmeagig

gimmeagig

Feb 25, 2004
2,891
1,198
Coeur D'Alene,Idaho
#1
Hi,
On the OBP3 you can choose to have two different center frequencys.400 and 800hz.On my bass the switch is bypassed and the center frequency is set at 400.
I like the Marcus Miller tone.Is 400 a good choice or should I try the 800 hz setting?
Mostly I don't touch the mid control but considering what sound I'm shooting for, what do you guys recommend,400 or 800, boost or cut?
 
#2
gimmeagig said:
Hi,
On the OBP3 you can choose to have two different center frequencys.400 and 800hz.On my bass the switch is bypassed and the center frequency is set at 400.
I like the Marcus Miller tone.Is 400 a good choice or should I try the 800 hz setting?
Mostly I don't touch the mid control but considering what sound I'm shooting for, what do you guys recommend,400 or 800, boost or cut?
Click to expand...

Hello.... I have an OB-3 in one of my basses. I don't think you really need to mess with the mids for a Marcus tone. A lot of people think that Marcus cuts a lot of mids to get that slap sound... but it's all about the 70's J Bass bridge pickup placement, new roundwound stainless steel strings, a big chunk of ash for a body, and a nice, aggressively voiced cab like an SWR or EBS, etc.

However... if you have a bass with a lot of mids, the cutting a little bit at 800 might help you out. Sometimes, those upper mids can make a slap sound nasally. Just don't use a 'smiley face' EQ.... your sound will disappear into the mix.

Also... I find the treble center frequency of 6.5khz quite high.... Marcus sizzle is more to my ear around 4K. So.. you might want to turn the treble up a bit on your amp versus cranking that OB-3 treble control.

Hope that helps.

Ken
 
#3
for boost, I'd more likely use 400hz to 'thicken' the sound.

A cut at 800hz does more for a slap friendly sound than cutting 400hz.

As KJung said, there's so much more to it than that. Marcus plays a bass with a 2 band preamp and has no problems getting a good slap sound :-)
 
#5
gimmeagig,

Just to let you know, I have recently aquirred an OBP-3 myself for mounting in my RB5 Jazz,
not wanting to add too many controls to an already crowded bass, I was facing the same
choice, hard wire to 400 or 800.

However , after sending an email to a very helpfull Aguilar costumer service I found out that
Aguilar can supply a push-pull potentiometer that can be used to switch the center freq,
I have one on the way now :)

That way you can just switch between 400 and 800 by pulling/pushing the mid freq knob,
no need to drill any holes for additional switches, no visible change and the wiring is available
on aguilaramp.com.
 
#9
actually the Aggie preamp gives u more frequencies than the ones between 400-800.

there is a PDF file on aguilaramp.com. using DPDT Toggle switches and capacitors, it lets you start from 250Hz up to can't remember exactly.

There are 6 or 7 different ways to wire your frequency control.
 
#10
I have the three band in my Dingwall Z1 - I know this sounds crazy, but I can't remember where I have the switch set becuase there is another dingwall switch there that also affects the frequency & I found which combination works the best for me & forgot about which was which.I will tell you this though- The center point of the mid frequency knob is set way to high & I always cut the thing to get my sound.
 
#12
Is there a way to set the Treble frequency as well.I think the OBP 3 is 6.5 K whereas the OBP2 is 4 K .
I 'm not sure for the Marcus sound if the 4 k isn't better.
Also what frequency in the mids is most useable.I guess for the Macus tone I don't need it but for the Jaco tone I might.
 
#13
Ask them if they have a source for the correct pots, then you can make the mid freq sweepable. Then you can find where you like it on the fly. Trying to guess ahead of time is pretty tough.

If you have it at 800Hz (really 1000Hz, but close enough), the only think you'll probably want to do is cut that freq to eliminate finger/fret noise and honky midrange clanging (thanks MikeBass for good advice). At 400 you would likely want to boost to cut through the mix.

So depending on your amp eq, if you can take care of one of those requirements there, hard wire to the other freq on the bass.

Or my fav would be to wire the midrange freq to a pot (also on the obp-3 pdf file) so its continuously adjustable so you can dial it in exactly. Problem is the pots are not readily available for that, unless you don't mind drilling more holes in your pickguard for more knobs. Getting a stacked mid-sweep/mid boost/cut requires a dual ganged linear pot for the midsweep for one knob, and a single pot for the other knob. So you need a triple pot (with 2 sections connected to the same shaft) with the third pot section for boost/cut. Not easy to find.

Randy
 
#14
for the sweepable/variable mid freq knob, u need a blend pot for that.

i am not sure if blend pots come in stacks! if they do, i dont know if they will fit inside my basses. i need a bass that is quite thick to accomodate such huge pot!
 
#15
gimmeagig said:
Is there a way to set the Treble frequency as well.I think the OBP 3 is 6.5 K whereas the OBP2 is 4 K .
I 'm not sure for the Marcus sound if the 4 k isn't better.
Also what frequency in the mids is most useable.I guess for the Macus tone I don't need it but for the Jaco tone I might.
Click to expand...
no, the treble frequency is fixed at 6.5khz. It's also 6.5khz on the obp-2 - I wish they'd revoiced it down to the 4k range also.

For mid frequencies: look at the top of the thread where I posted the difference between which mids to cut/boost depending on the sound you want.
 

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