Filter Preamps - anyone compared ACG, Lusithand, Passinwind, Underhill?

[kesslari]

I'm curious if anyone has directly compared filter-based preamps and what you've found.
I know @Deano Destructo has an Underhill and mentioned "some experience with ACG", but I'm curious if anyone has spent a lot of time with more than one of the above and what your findings were (ideally with some samples!)

 

[Passinwind]

27033236[/URL], member: 106156"]I'm curious if anyone has directly compared filter-based preamps and what you've found.
I know @Deano Destructo has an Underhill and mentioned "some experience with ACG", but I'm curious if anyone has spent a lot of time with more than one of the above and what your findings were (ideally with some samples!)

I can pretty much guarantee that no one but myself has tried my current version in a bass install yet, and mine seems to have morphed more into a DIY pedal thing now, which is fine by me.

As far as comparisons of formats, both of my designs are primarily meant to act more like a B-M-T preamp with swept treble frequency as far as control feel and intuitive tone shaping behavior. And they can be bypassed and you just have a stock passive bass at that point, if that’s what you want. No per-pickup filters, no overt Wal or Alembic clone-ishness, just kind of its own thing. And to my mind it’s actually better for other instruments than bass too, FWIW.

Sound samples? Yeah, on it whenever I can con my longtime drummer into doing some recording.

 

[mellowgerman]

Sorry I'm a little late to this discussion, but I'd highly recommend not forgetting about JTEX Distillers! They're my favorite and I have a set of them in both my 1970 Guild Starfire and my 1962 Gibson EB0.
JTEX is a one-man shop in Canada and you can get his preamps via Ebay. He's also a friendly/accessible/helpful guy, so don't hesitate to reach out to him if you have questions specific to your project idea. I have had basses with ACG EQ-01 and EQ-02 preamps, I own an Alembic, and I've played around with trying Alembic filters in other basses. The JTEX Distiller, in my experience is essentially identical in function to an Alembic filter with the 3 position resonance/Q switch, plus the battery life is better and it's compatible with just about any kind of pickup (as far as I know).

My filter fleet:

 

[mellowgerman]

Here's a link in case anyone's interested: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Also, I should note, I am not any kind of paid-by or affiliated-to JTEX... just came upon his preamps along the way in my search and am stoked that I did. A friend of mine has a set in his vintage Starfire bass, along with a set of Alembic pickups and it's a wonderful combination as well.

 

[bassvirtuoso]

Where'd you get those knobs that are on the EB?

Sorry I'm a little late to this discussion, but I'd highly recommend not forgetting about JTEX Distillers! They're my favorite and I have a set of them in both my 1970 Guild Starfire and my 1962 Gibson EB0.
JTEX is a one-man shop in Canada and you can get his preamps via Ebay. He's also a friendly/accessible/helpful guy, so don't hesitate to reach out to him if you have questions specific to your project idea. I have had basses with ACG EQ-01 and EQ-02 preamps, I own an Alembic, and I've played around with trying Alembic filters in other basses. The JTEX Distiller, in my experience is essentially identical in function to an Alembic filter with the 3 position resonance/Q switch, plus the battery life is better and it's compatible with just about any kind of pickup (as far as I know).

My filter fleet:

View attachment 4902542

 

[mellowgerman]

Where'd you get those knobs that are on the EB?

The big ones were from a guitar swap meet, attached to ancient potentiometers, probably dating back to the 50s or something along those lines. The stacked control is just a normal small jazz bass knob on top of the EMG bottom knob that came with the stacked concentric 25k pots

 

[sunbeast]

I have an ACG in a bass (and previously had one in an external box), have a Lusithand in an external box, and have used both an Alembic and Boogieman filters. I have a J-Tex on hand that I need to put in something as well.

I find the ACG/East filters quite smooth and relatively polite (even with the Q peak maxed out), while the Lusithand is capable of a more aggressive and possibly slightly dirty sound that I also found in the Alembic filter I had. The ACG filters don’t open up as high as the Lusithand or Alembic filter (at least to my ears in direct comparison), though the included high-pass board allows you to get as much treble as you want (though just without that sharp Q peak that the filter allows as it seems more of an adjustable shelving filter). Based on descriptions I suspect the J-Tex will be great and potentially even more versatile than the Lusithand unit, and on EBay they are also the cheapest option I’m aware of short of building your own version of @Passinwind ’s design. I actually quite like all of these options, and particularly dig the ACG in a fretless bass I have it in where it really shines, while the Lusithand in an external box allows me to use it with any instrument which has been great (I’ve even run the fretless with ACG into the Lusithand with nice results!).

 

[mikezimmerman]

I'm curious if you can use these in a "one filter per pickup" setup like one would have in a Wal?

Here's a link in case anyone's interested: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Also, I should note, I am not any kind of paid-by or affiliated-to JTEX... just came upon his preamps along the way in my search and am stoked that I did. A friend of mine has a set in his vintage Starfire bass, along with a set of Alembic pickups and it's a wonderful combination as well.

 

[mellowgerman]

I'm curious if you can use these in a "one filter per pickup" setup like one would have in a Wal?

Indeed you can. I have 2 in my Starfire, one for each pickup. Also 2 in my Gibson, one for the neck pickup and one for the other two pickups (selectable with a 3way mini toggle).

In any case, the way I understand it in a technical sense, they have a set resistor on the output end of each preamp which allows you to use multiple units together, sending their output to the same destination, without them affecting each other. Works like a charm!

 

[mikezimmerman]

Thanks! The Starfire looked like it might have 2 filters based on the 2 switches, but it's goo to know for sure.

Indeed you can. I have 2 in my Starfire, one for each pickup. Also 2 in my Gibson, one for the neck pickup and one for the other two pickups (selectable with a 3way mini toggle).

In any case, the way I understand it in a technical sense, they have a set resistor on the output end of each preamp which allows you to use multiple units together, sending their output to the same destination, without them affecting each other. Works like a charm!

 

[mellowgerman]

Thanks! The Starfire looked like it might have 2 filters based on the 2 switches, but it's goo to know for sure.

Yup! Currently it just has a master volume and a 3way mini toggle selector, but I think I'm going to rewire that soon for independent volumes and no selector switch. I just didn't have two 25k pots on hand for the volumes when the filters arrived, but was eager to get the filters kickin, so I did a temporary master volume setup.

I think deep-space magic happens when you've got dual filters... kind of like:
2 pickups with no resonant filters = 2D.
2 pickups with 1 resonant filter = 3D!
2 pickups with 2 resonant filters = 4D!!!!!!

or something along those lines anyway

 

[mikezimmerman]

I used to be primarily a Wal guy, so I know what you mean!

Yup! Currently it just has a master volume and a 3way mini toggle selector, but I think I'm going to rewire that soon for independent volumes and no selector switch. I just didn't have two 25k pots on hand for the volumes when the filters arrived, but was eager to get the filters kickin, so I did a temporary master volume setup.

I think deep-space magic happens when you've got dual filters... kind of like:
2 pickups with no resonant filters = 2D.
2 pickups with 1 resonant filter = 3D!
2 pickups with 2 resonant filters = 4D!!!!!!

or something along those lines anyway

 

[sunbeast]

Yup! Currently it just has a master volume and a 3way mini toggle selector, but I think I'm going to rewire that soon for independent volumes and no selector switch. I just didn't have two 25k pots on hand for the volumes when the filters arrived, but was eager to get the filters kickin, so I did a temporary master volume setup.

I think deep-space magic happens when you've got dual filters... kind of like:
2 pickups with no resonant filters = 2D.
2 pickups with 1 resonant filter = 3D!
2 pickups with 2 resonant filters = 4D!!!!!!

or something along those lines anyway

One benefit of the ACG/East dual filter that I didn't mention is that you get that sweet East active/buffered Blend control that I've found to be one of the better functioning blend controls on the market (of course you also have experience with this, but for the benefit of the OP...). Usually I would prefer a Volume/Volume setup as well, but that Blend manages to do what you expect a blend to do (ie offer very seamless and linear blend between two sources without any dips or peaks in response most blends tend to have, something particularly useful when blending together two filtered voices). I've toyed with the idea of pairing a dual filter setup with an East UniPre I have to get the best of both worlds including the benefits of the East Blend control.

 

[kesslari]

FWIW I have the ACG/East in my Zon and love it (it's in all the samples in my sig). Just curious about what else is out there as the possibilities expand.

 

[bassvirtuoso]

I just bought a NFP to possibly replace my ACG EQ01; when it comes in, I'll try to add some comparisons.

 

[WG Plum]

Which ones will fit within a standard passive Jazz bass control cavity?

 

[bowthing]

Which ones will fit within a standard passive Jazz bass control cavity?

The Underhill will fit (the boards are tiny), but the Lusithand Jazz Plate is probably the easiest way to go, it drops right in.

 

[WG Plum]

The Underhill will fit (the boards are tiny), but the Lusithand Jazz Plate is probably the easiest way to go, it drops right in.

Groovy, thanks!

 

[Beej]

Just as a point of note, JTEX is also on TB here: @Jerry Catanescu

 

[sunbeast]

Which ones will fit within a standard passive Jazz bass control cavity?

The J-tex should fit as well as it is quite small, in fact you could probably fit dual filters along with stacked volumes though probably only with a seperate 9V battery box if you did the dual filters