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Audere Preamp Thread

hyoshim

hyoshim

May 5, 2004
780
54
Los Angeles
#1
Well, I just finished installing Audere preamp on my lakland JO4:hyper:. It actually lived up to all the hypes and praises on the board. I prefer mid Z setting the best with favoring the bridge pickup and tiny bit of bass and mid boost. :cool:
 
#2
So what's the deal on the AUDERE? Everything I've read says they're great, but they don't do much, which is confusing...

Was there a preamp on your lakland?
Did you check out any other preamps before "making the move"?

I've played with quite a few Bartolini preamps, Music Man and have been impressed with EMG preamps.... So, how does AUDERE compare?

Thanks!
 
#3
The Audere was designed for the flat EQ to reflect the passive tone of the bass with the tone all the way up. Then you have your chosen volume/blend or volume/volume, which ever you prefer. Then you have a Z-switch, when engaged it sounds like a bass or treble boost. You have a battery indicating LED, which comes on temporarily when you plug in a lead. This gives an indication of the strength of the battery. Then you have your chosen EQ, 2, 3 or 4 band I think.

The EQ is what I really like about the Audere. I generally find parametric EQ has too many options and thus a tad confusing even though I know what it does and is best left on an amp. A 3-band EQ, however, gives a great host of tonal options. The EQ is useable over the whole range. I find my bass is generally trebley enough and I usually leave the treble flat. My tonal palette is achieved with the blend, mids and bass EQ. IMHO this gives me everything I need and is very easy/quick to use.

If I play chords the blend is close to full on bridge and maybe a tiny bit of mids cut. If I play melodic bass I like a bit of bass boost and a touch more neck PU. If I want a fatness for grooving in the lower register I tend to go 50-70% bridge PU and give a bit of bass and mids boost. If I want grit I just boost the mids.

I have a Cliff Bordwell custom bass with walnut body and wenge/maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. This gives quite a neutral and articulate tone and is perfectly matched with the Audere.

Davo
 
#4
LowBSix said:
So what's the deal on the AUDERE? Everything I've read says they're great, but they don't do much, which is confusing...
Click to expand...

Another perspective, all of my basses are value basses, but the issues, IMO, are the same. I had other basses that came with a pre. But the pre itself had a different sound (I use the term "pushed") even with the eq set flat. I wanted to put a pre in my SX SJB-57 (Jazz clone) to get more flexibility but initially, I wanted an off switch so as not to lose the passive tone.

Instead, I tried an audere JZ3, from reviews here and HC. In the middle Z position, with the tone set flat, it sounds like passive like it did before the pre, no "pushed" sound! The mid eq knob is very useful in itself, most of my eq is done using it. The Z switch in the low Z position gives a natural sounding deeper low end, I don't want to say bass "boost" because, it still sounds passive. The hi Z position is more trebly and if you like to slap and pop (I'm still working on my s/p skills), you'll love this, IMO!

In summary, I got what I wanted, passive sound + EQ, and MORE, 2 more basses at the flick of a switch. I love it! :hyper:
 
#6
Lakland JO came with passive tone control which I liked. However, being passive and not having very powerful amp, I needed some more volume but without fundamentally changing the tone of my bass. Then, I read about how Audere retains the sound of my pickup (Lindsay Fralin) while providing very usable active EQ controls. So, I jumped in and now I can also say the same as what others have been saying,"It is insanley great preamp!"
 
#9
Don't forget to mention the buffered blend. Each pickup is isolated from the rest of the circuit by it's own buffer amp. This allows it to have a blend function that really works like it should - you can get all the subtle differences available when mixing pickups. You can go smoothly from 100% bridge to 100% neck getting every variation in between - so much better and more useful than typical passive blend circuits, which act like little more than a neck/both/bridge switch.
 
#10
I have a KSD 705. I changed out the stock amp and pickups with the Audere and Lindy Fralin jazz pickups. The tone is too dark for me. I just changed out the Fralins with some Fender SCN. The tone is much brighter...however I now have to deal with Fender's pickup quality, or lack there of.

The SCN neck pickup is wacked. All I want is a MM type sound with this bass. At this point I'm thinking of just taking it to the shop so I can get it sounding like I want.

I wonder how much work and time it's going to take to get Fender to send me another neck pickup.:hmm:
 

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