Update! I ordered one of the 3 band 4 knob preamps. OMG this thing woke up my Ibanez SR 305. Montser tone. The blue knob is a gain trim pot. I would put these in any bass I ever buy! this thing has a TON of flexibility! It was a great purchase.
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Bass Mods Preamps... Anyone use them?
- Thread starter Andy_D
- Start date
they sent me the 18 volt version by mistake, does anyone know if the 18 volt version will also run off of a single 9 volt, would that function exactly as the 9 volt version? waiting to hear back from the seller... it will be tight enough squeezing one battery into my control cavity i think.. what's the upside to 18 volts? my amp already makes me as loud as i ever need, i just want to have some on board eq...
btw, i'm gonna try to squeeze all 4 knobs and the input jack onto one control plate... i got a 3 hole plate a la stacked knob J basses, and i'm gonna drill 2 holes in between the existing ones. there's just enough room it seems, and the pots are really small on the preamp.. i think it can be done. pix to follow if it works out!
...once i get the 18 vs. 9 volts issue settled
btw, i'm gonna try to squeeze all 4 knobs and the input jack onto one control plate... i got a 3 hole plate a la stacked knob J basses, and i'm gonna drill 2 holes in between the existing ones. there's just enough room it seems, and the pots are really small on the preamp.. i think it can be done. pix to follow if it works out!
...once i get the 18 vs. 9 volts issue settled
dfp said:they sent me the 18 volt version by mistake, does anyone know if the 18 volt version will also run off of a single 9 volt, would that function exactly as the 9 volt version? waiting to hear back from the seller... it will be tight enough squeezing one battery into my control cavity i think.. what's the upside to 18 volts? my amp already makes me as loud as i ever need, i just want to have some on board eq...
btw, i'm gonna try to squeeze all 4 knobs and the input jack onto one control plate... i got a 3 hole plate a la stacked knob J basses, and i'm gonna drill 2 holes in between the existing ones. there's just enough room it seems, and the pots are really small on the preamp.. i think it can be done. pix to follow if it works out!
...once i get the 18 vs. 9 volts issue settled
If it's opamp based, you should be fine to just give it a try. The pre in my Ibanez BTB was set up for 18 but I usually run it on 9. The pre in my edb605 only worked on 9 when I got it. I tried it on 18 but it didn't give any output, it didn't hurt anything either. I replaced the opamp in that pre with a more modern replacement and, voilà, works great on 18 volts. The swap was a TLE072 for a TL062 which gave me slightly lower noise but higher current consumption. I power all my inboard preamps from wall warts so experimenting is easier with that setup than having to resolder battery clips.
- Aug 21, 2008
- 10,386
- 252
- 68
- Disclosures
- Owner, SGD Music Products
18 volts is not louder than 9 volts. The idea of running off a higher voltage is so you have a wider voltage swing to work with. 9 volts would equate to +/- 4.5V inside the op amp. 18V gives you a +/- 9V swing.
That means you have more headroom to work with. Headroom is how far your signal can swing until you run out of voltage. At that point the waveform flattens out and you hear clipping.
Most bass pickups will have a hard time clipping a 9 V preamp, but 18V often sounds less compressed. 18 volts also lets you have more boost range on the tone controls.
The other question is whether or not this preamp will work on 9 volts. It probably will.
I notice a difference when boosting bass tone to the upper reaches. I don't actually use this extreme setting much when I play as the output is pretty muddy, especially on the B string but there's some assurance at least that if I need it, it's there.
I don't notice any large compression effect with 9 vs 18 and I doubt there's any engineering in these pre's to allow for a graceful roll-off vs a clip but it's not impossible either.
In all likelihood, the only thing you're paying for in the 18V vs the 9V version is the battery clip.
The battery clips are in series so you can't ignore the extra clip. You have to short out one of the clips and just use the other for the batt. For a reversible mod, get a cheap clip from radio shack or tear one out of something else that no longer needs it. Solder or twist the bare wires together and cover with some electrical tape or heat shrink tubing. Use this modded clip to short out one of the two existing clips (they'll reverse fit into each other) then use the remaining clip for the single 9V battery.
Let us know how it sounds when you're done! I've been curious about these preamps for awhile now.
I bought his GSR206 last month, and Im loving the Bass Mods pre! It works and sounds amazing just was a bit small for the cavity so I had to wrap it in some styrofoam, no big deal! Definitely great bang for the buck
I replaced the stock pre in a jazz dlx V with one of this preamps and it was a huge improvement. This preamp sounded way better than i ever imagined.
i'm taking Rob's advice after all, just can't stand waiting... so i did the Radio Shack spare battery clip soldered together thing for the one 9 volt jack i'm not gonna use. maybe someday in some other bass i'll wanna try it in 18 volt mode.. anywho...
but i did get my 3 hole jazz control plate drilled for 5 holes, and have all the pots secured. waiting for some black Jazz bass style knobs.. the concentric ones are the big trick, they need to be drilled out a bit for the posts on the bass/treble pot. tricky work, really hard to keep the holes centered (for me at least). i ruined my first attempt..
but my father in law is gonna help me on his lathe on the next ones... so...
also, i will absolutely have to route my Jazz bass's control cavity to be as big as possible under the control plate... trying to shove the pre and the battery and the wires in there under 4 knobs and a input jack... will probably even have to chisel out a little battery nook at the bottom of the cavity, sorta at an angle. whatever it takes to avoid the battery box on the back option.
but i did get my 3 hole jazz control plate drilled for 5 holes, and have all the pots secured. waiting for some black Jazz bass style knobs.. the concentric ones are the big trick, they need to be drilled out a bit for the posts on the bass/treble pot. tricky work, really hard to keep the holes centered (for me at least). i ruined my first attempt..
but my father in law is gonna help me on his lathe on the next ones... so... also, i will absolutely have to route my Jazz bass's control cavity to be as big as possible under the control plate... trying to shove the pre and the battery and the wires in there under 4 knobs and a input jack... will probably even have to chisel out a little battery nook at the bottom of the cavity, sorta at an angle. whatever it takes to avoid the battery box on the back option.
- Aug 5, 2005
- 7,243
- 92
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: J.C. Basses
i'm taking Rob's advice after all, just can't stand waiting... so i did the Radio Shack spare battery clip soldered together thing for the one 9 volt jack i'm not gonna use. maybe someday in some other bass i'll wanna try it in 18 volt mode.. anywho...
but i did get my 3 hole jazz control plate drilled for 5 holes, and have all the pots secured. waiting for some black Jazz bass style knobs.. the concentric ones are the big trick, they need to be drilled out a bit for the posts on the bass/treble pot. tricky work, really hard to keep the holes centered (for me at least). i ruined my first attempt..
also, i will absolutely have to route my Jazz bass's control cavity to be as big as possible under the control plate... trying to shove the pre and the battery and the wires in there under 4 knobs and a input jack... will probably even have to chisel out a little battery nook at the bottom of the cavity, sorta at an angle. whatever it takes to avoid the battery box on the back option.
Why not route under the pickguard? There's plenty of room under there, and if you're going to go through the pain of unscrewing stuff to get to your battery anyway, does the pickguard make that much of a difference?
i'm sans pickguard on this bass currently, b/c by some freak stroke of luck, Squier chooses not to route from the cavity to the neck p/u on the Jazz V, so you can actually pull off the no pickguard thing... mine is a natural refin. that some previous owner did. also, i put some old USA Fender V pickups in this bass, and the neck p/u cover was having a hard time fitting thru the Squier's pickguard.....
finally got my 3 band bassmods preamp installed in my Squier Affinity Jazz V... quite a bit of work to get it all in the cavity... had to route the cavity as wide as possible, and even undercut some for it all to fit... phew!
nice sounding preamp! even set flat, i think my bass sounds better and more even.. B string seems to mix better with the other strings.. maybe imagining that, but certainly not disappointed so far...
the eq is really sweet, nice to have on board. the mid control sounds to me like it's more in the "high mid" realm, which is fine w/ me, i prefer to leave my low mids alone most of the time anyway. the treble and bass controls sound pretty true to what i would expect. i have experienced other on board preamps where the treble seems to be dialed into such a high frequency that it was obnoxious at any level... this one is nice, though. only played a couple sets on it so far.. but very pleased from first impressions. cheers!
nice sounding preamp! even set flat, i think my bass sounds better and more even.. B string seems to mix better with the other strings.. maybe imagining that, but certainly not disappointed so far...
the eq is really sweet, nice to have on board. the mid control sounds to me like it's more in the "high mid" realm, which is fine w/ me, i prefer to leave my low mids alone most of the time anyway. the treble and bass controls sound pretty true to what i would expect. i have experienced other on board preamps where the treble seems to be dialed into such a high frequency that it was obnoxious at any level... this one is nice, though. only played a couple sets on it so far.. but very pleased from first impressions. cheers!
NicJimBass
Flossin'? I thought your name was Munson!
Just installed a BEQ-12 into an Ibanez SRX I have. It is paired with an EMG 35P and 35J, and both the pickups and pre are running at 18v. I am really impressed with the pre... nice and warm if you want it, or can be incredibly bright with some tweaks. If I need another pre in the future, I know what I'll be getting!
Hey,
a huge favor, please -
can someone measure and post the dimensions of the beq12 preamp module (length/width, height)?
I want to get one, but not sure if it will fit. asked the seller on ebay, no reply.
thanks!
a huge favor, please -
can someone measure and post the dimensions of the beq12 preamp module (length/width, height)?
I want to get one, but not sure if it will fit. asked the seller on ebay, no reply.
thanks!
Black Devil Car Bass Cover - YouTube this is my franken bass with a 2 band bassmods preamp (vol,blend,stacked treble bass)
