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Bass Mods Preamps... Anyone use them?

Andy_D

Andy_D

Nov 28, 2009
725
36
Corpus Christi, TX
#1
Looking around on Ebay I found these Preamps made by a company called "Bass Mods"

The prices look outstanding, but I'm wondering how good they are. I did some Googling and found one guy selling a bass with one of these pre-amps who stated that they compare favorably with Bartolini and EMG in quality and sound. Well of course he is trying to sell his bass so naturally he wants to make his ad sound good. are there any TB'ers who have tried one of these? If so how would you rate it? Is it worth the money?

I'm considering purchasing one of these for one of my inexpensive basses and since I was going to replace the pots and caps anyway this would be an affordable mod if these pre's are any good.
 
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#3
Eddie,

Thanks for the response. I'm thinking that I may just go ahead and pull the trigger on on the BEQ-12 with knobs for $70. 3 bands with cut and boost, active/passive mode, and a pick up blend. I have a Chinese counterfeit Rockbass that I was going to change the electronics on anyway because they are noisy. It plays real nice and only cost me $140, so for around $210 I should have a real nice sounding bass. If I like it I might even get one of their drop in plate pre-amps for my VM J. While I might spring for an Aguilar or Audere for my expensive basses this looks to be just what the doctor ordered for my bargain basses.
 
#5
I looked to see if they had anything like mid control on my Ibanez BTB and unfortunately it looks like they do not. At least it is cut and boost and not just boost only like in some inexpensive pre's. The guitarfuel stuff looks pretty nice, but I only noticed one unit for bass and all the pots were soldered onto the PC board. Good for a new build, but probably not so good for retrofits since it is unlike that your bass would have the same hole template.
 
#10
Well I received my new BEQ-12 yesterday. I had planned to install in into a Rockbass Clone that I have but unfortunately the control cavity was too small to accommodate the preamp itself let alone ahe enough room for a battery. I was not in the mood for wood carving so I decided to install it into my Spector ReBop 5. I originally had planned to install and Audere Z-Mode of an OBP-3 in the Spector, but to make a long story short it was a rewarding and worthwhile upgrade.

Installation: was pretty straightforward. It was necessary though to drill a larger hole to accomodate the stacked Bass/Treble pot, and I could not use the included jack so I had to un-solder and re-solder the existing jack. Instructions were straightforward telling you where to solder your pickup and ground leads. Again this preamp is pretty big and even in the Spector's control cavity it was a tight squeeze. I didn't/couldn't use any asheasive/velcro the amp is tightly wedged between the output jack cavity side, and one of the pots and doesn't move. Another mm wide and it would not have fit at all. The wiring from the neck PU was tight in reaching the blend pot I made it reach by turning the pot. If I had chosen a different location for the blend pot the situation would have been the same but reversed for the bridge PU.

Adjustment: The Pre-amp has a gain adjustment to vary the amount of PU signal reaching the pre-amp. This does have an effect on tone and not just volume. I may tweak it some more after I get to know the pre-amp a little better.

Sound: Well definately a huge improvement over the Tone Pump. I now have many more usable sounds and my Spector actually has a nice fat bottom to it that I was not able to obtain before. The lows ring punchy and clear, not muddy. The highs likewise are much crisper, and I can get some nice pleasing slap tones. Mids are there if you want them and I can now cut them out as well. The biggest difference is that the pre-amp has minimized the nasally sound of the EMG-HZ pickups. I think that characteristic must be inherent to HZ's. I don't really like it but it is now much easier to live with as I can now EQ "most" of that sound out of my tone. Maybe a PU upgrade may be in store for the future but for now I'm quite satisfied.

General: All pots except for the volume have center detents and operate smoothly. The pre itself is on the large side so take this into consideration if contemplating a purchase. Overall this seems to be pretty good bang for the buck at around $75 shipped with knobs. I am happy with my purchase.
 
#11
I recently bought and installed the bassmods BEQ2 pr- with 3 controls. I have a squier affinity jazz V that I love to play (great frets super low action) but hated the blandness of the sound it produced. I have never soldered before but I am a quick learner so the install went smoothly. tight fit in the existing cavity but I am contemplating adding an external battery box to free up some space. The sound I now get from my $229 squier and $54 pre is really a thing of beauty. w/o the pre- playing double stops sounded muddy and lifeless, now I can hear the individual tones and I love it. The bass is there if I need, but the clarity in the upper register is what blew me away. Other than this model pre not having the push/pull active /passive vol pot in case of a dead battery I love it. I am ordering another with 4 control to go in my peavey grind 6 bxp that has no bottom end at all. Highly reccommended.
 
#12
I have the 2 band in my fretless 6...the bass came with the pups wired to the jack and no pre. With a pair of Bart G6 soapbars the tone is great!

I also installed the 3 band version in a Ibanez GSR-206 to get rid of that awful bass boost pre that comes in the instument. Dramatic improvement.

While these aren't up to Aguilar quality and tone..they're a hell of a bang for the buck!
 
#15
Does anyone know if I can add a second 9V clip to convert the 9v version to 18v or do I have to buy an 18v version? Are these like some of the mainstream versions which are voltage independent?

I'd like to get one of the 5 control, 9v versions and convert it to 18v. It will save me $20 bucks since I can buy the least expensive version (knobs mostly) and swap in the stock ones so they match.
 
#18
I installed one of the jazz plate 3 band preamp in my jazz bass and it has made a marked improvement. The real power is in the mid control as it seems to overlap and you can get a significant amount of clarity when you boost. Also you get a good slap tone when it is cut. I was impressed so much that I ordered the 18V 3-band for my MTD Kingston Heir. I will install that over the weekend.
 

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