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Calling all ACG filter preamp users!

#121
I know on the EQ-01, the HPF seems to overlap the LPF. I can dial it down and get this mid range sound. Go the other way and boost it with the top knob and its incredibly bright. in fact today I was playing around with it and found this killer jazz bass sound. tons of mids and lows with this burpy growly thing going on. You'll find the more you play, the more sounds you'll find.
 
#122
I bought the EQ02 which on sale couple weeks ago, it's just arrived here in Jakarta, Indonesia

I excite to try it out on my bass with pair of barto MK5cbc pups :hyper:

I had read many good things about this remarkable ACG preamp (and bass also) but I never tried any of em.. it's not even available here in Indonesia, so I took the plunge based on all the satisfied customer review only, it shouldn't go wrong, right?
 
#125
So I finally Had the chance to try my EQ02 at band practice last week. I'm still leaning the controls, and I had a pretty decent sound dialed in towards the end of the night, but I definitely understand now when other posters have mentioned having difficulty dialing in different tones on the fly. It did not help that I was playing through a junky old 410 with a blown tweeter though.

I could see this preamp being very useful in a studio environment (and the EQ01/03 even more so), but live it may be too much for me to handle right now. Need more practice at home until the controls become more intuitive.

I have some studio time coming up in a few weeks, and I'll be sure to bring this bass when we are auditioning tones.
 
#126
Yeah NKBassman, it takes time but it will become second nature. I know now how to get what I'm looking for regardless of the amp or venue. Your ear will learn how the filter affects each pup as you open up the filter. The more you play the easier it gets.
 
#130
I'm waiting for some SGD neos to go in my Modulus Q6 TBX with an ACG 2 band (I can't keep track of the non-intuitive numbering system).

I also want to give a shoutout to John and Alan for excellent customer service. My pre started life as the very first version and John just updated it to current specs. They are just first rate.
 
#131
Sorry to re-activate an old thread, but I've gotta ask a quick question and I think a few of you might have insight into this...

I actually had the ACG-02 and it was amazing. The bass stack seemed to do a lot more to shape the tone than the treble, but that was fine with me. Infinite adjustability is definitely something that takes getting used to, but is great for tonal tweakers like me ;)

SO... I'm thinking of trying the ACG-01. It appears that it's basically the same as the 02, but has separate bass stacks for each pickup and a common treb stack.
Has anyone compared these 2 preamps? Is there a drastic difference between them for function or tone?

(And it appears that the 01 is the only pre available from ACG anymore, so that may make this an easy decision)
 
#132
rojo412 said:
SO... I'm thinking of trying the ACG-01. It appears that it's basically the same as the 02, but has separate bass stacks for each pickup and a common treb stack.
Has anyone compared these 2 preamps? Is there a drastic difference between them for function or tone?

(And it appears that the 01 is the only pre available from ACG anymore, so that may make this an easy decision)
Click to expand...

Having a filter for each pickup opens up a whole world of options that are much beyond just one filter. In fact, I would say that it's pretty much required for this kind of EQ. I highly recommend it.
 
#133
Man, I'm jonesin'! In essence, this pre allows one to set the bass level and frequency of each pickup, then tailor the treble globally. Between the sweeps, levels and the pan control, the mids will be configured, too.
In other words, you can make each pickup sound the way you want it, balance them for the tone you like, and pretty much make 1 bass with 2 pickups sound almost infinitely different with the adjustment of the sweeps/levels/pan.

While I appreciate the ease of use of a more basic preamp for live stuff, having a bass with this preamp in the arsenal is definitely fun.
And once you get the hang of it all, you could dial that bass tonally to any genre, sound, room, song, whatever you want.
AH... THE GAS!!!!
 
#134
rojo412 said:
Man, I'm jonesin'! In essence, this pre allows one to set the bass level and frequency of each pickup, then tailor the treble globally. Between the sweeps, levels and the pan control, the mids will be configured, too.
In other words, you can make each pickup sound the way you want it, balance them for the tone you like, and pretty much make 1 bass with 2 pickups sound almost infinitely different with the adjustment of the sweeps/levels/pan.

While I appreciate the ease of use of a more basic preamp for live stuff, having a bass with this preamp in the arsenal is definitely fun.
And once you get the hang of it all, you could dial that bass tonally to any genre, sound, room, song, whatever you want.
AH... THE GAS!!!!
Click to expand...

That's pretty much it. The only filter that goes beyond this is the Alembic Superfilter. It also can change filter type (low- band- and high pass filters) as well as blend in the direct signal with the filtered signal (so you can add bass without losing the high end). However, it's a good deal pricier and doesn't fit in most basses.
 
#135
Old thread, but there we are. I have a litttle exp with the superfilter mentioned above and agree the magic was blending the filters with the unfiltered signal. Even if it were configured on the bass as three volumes, i think it may be worth a try.
 
#136
coyoteboy said:
Old thread, but there we are. I have a litttle exp with the superfilter mentioned above and agree the magic was blending the filters with the unfiltered signal. Even if it were configured on the bass as three volumes, i think it may be worth a try.
Click to expand...

I tried doing this in the bass but it didn't work, for some reason. Getting all the buffering sorted out was a bit beyond me, as blending the direct pickup signal and the buffered preamp output is far from ideal. I used a Bartolini quad buffer, with inputs from each pickup and the preamp output. It's a bit more complicated than it seems at first.
 
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#138
edwinhurwitz said:
I tried doing this in the bass but it didn't work, for some reason. Getting all the buffering sorted out was a bit beyond me, as blending the direct pickup signal and the buffered preamp output is far from ideal. I used a Bartolini quad buffer, with inputs from each pickup and the preamp output. It's a bit more complicated than it seems at first.
Click to expand...

It's probably worth noting that even an Alembic Series II bass doesn't offer all the direct + filtered parallel blending that their SF-2 SuperFilter does. Since the Series II electronics take up nearly half of the real estate in their bass bodies, imagine how large the circuit board for a full SuperFilter that ran on 18V would have to be!
 

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