Aguilar OPB-1 Vs. Mike Pope Flexcore Preamp For Precision Bass

[PolkaHero]

Right now I have my choices of preamps for my Fender Precision Special narrowed down. I can go with either an Aguilar OPB-1 with a Volume, Bass, Treble, passive/active toggle switch or a Mike Pope Flexcore with a Volume, Midrange, stacked Bass/Treble, passive/active toggle switch. The Aguilar is over $100 cheaper plus I like Sadowsky preamps (which this is very similar to) so I'm leaning towards it, but are there any fans of the Mike Pope preamps out there that think it would be that much better than the Aguilar? The treble frequency of the Pope pre seems high at either 6 or 10 kHz vs. 4 kHz of the Aggie. Bass frequencies are similar at 40 Hz for the Aggie and either 46 or 90 Hz for the Pope.

 

[ctmullins]

I think the Aguilar OBP-1 is well-suited to instruments with a lot of midrange content, which often comes from having a single pickup somewhere in the middle of the body, like the Precision. It's great for a muscular rock tone! The only question is, will you ever want to reduce treble instead of boosting it? 'Cause the OBP-1 won't do that.

 

[PolkaHero]

Bestbassgear.com is going to make me a modified Aguilar OBP-1 with a passive tone control that will work in both passive and active mode. Essentially similar to the Sadowsky preamp without the blend control. I think this is going to be a great, flexible preamp!

 

[ctmullins]

Good deal! I have an OBP-1 that I'm gonna configure that way too. Let me know how you like it!

 

[Hopkins]

An OBP-1 with a passive tone control is an extremely useful and versatile preamp