Double Bass Do I Need A Preamp...?

[LuckRaven]

I have a K&K BassMax pickup & an Ashdown MAG C210T amp...playing mostly rockabilly, cowpunk, and country. Should I invest in one of the K&K (or other) preamps between the pickup and the amp, or does this amp and others like it have enough tweakable features to make the preamp redundant?

I know this should be a no-brainer but I'm not enough of an electrician / technician to answer it for myself.

Any help? Thanks!

-Luck

 

[ToneRanger]

Try it and see. Then borrow a preamp and see if it's much better.
Most amps these days have high enough input impedance to handle piezos, provided you use a quality cable that's not very long. Piezos plugged into my Eden sound the same with or without preamps.

 

[LuckRaven]

Hey, thanks, man...the sound was one issue I was (of course) interested in but I was even more concerned about the impedance issue. Didn't want to crush something in my new amp!

 

[jsbarber]

I think ToneRanger is steering you in the right direction. I went through the same thought process when I put an Underwood pickup on my DB. I knew that I needed a "high impedance" input on the amp, but wasnt' sure exactly what level. I contacted Underwood and they told me the input impedance of the amp should be 1 megaohm or greater. So, if you check your amp manual you should be able to determine the impedances of the inputs on your amp. You might also want to check specifically what the imput impedance requirements are of your pickup.

Jim

 

[LuckRaven]

Thanks, Jim...I got a sheet with the pickup that specifically addresses that, and I'll compare that to the specs of the amp.

I just had no idea I was going to have to brush up on electrical engineering in order to amplify. I'm a 'plug & play' kinda guy...must come from being a Mac user!

 

[MixedMsgr]

Here are the specs for the MAG 15" combo:

Specifications
Power Output (RMS) 307W
Power Requirement 230 / 115V
Speaker Configuration 1 x 15" BlueLine speaker
Frequency Response -3dB at 17Hz and 30KHz
Speaker Outputs Minimum impedance 4 Ohms
High Instrument Input Impedance 3.9MOhms / Input range 150mV - 20V p-p
Low Instrument Input Impedance 10KOhms / Input range 300mV - 40V p-p

The same as the combo you have.