ok, so played with it a couple of hours tonight. Here are my first impressions...
(sorry long!)
i'll try to describe as best i can but some terminology i use might not be correct.
i installed it into a 98 MIA Fender jazz with seymour duncan antiquity IIs and a Badass II bridge that i drilled through to make string thru body.
quick background. i had a killer 5 string walnut wal back in the day. i loved the electronics (and many other things about it) but i'm not a 5 string player so i sold it, but i always remembered how amazing those electronics were. i figured it was just a wal thing and that's why people loved wals, but it never occured to me that this was a filter based pre-amp and not only do other manufacturers use them, third parties make them as well. instarted a thread herebasking about them and @Passinwind hipped me to a number of makers. my initial plan was and still is to put a JTEX filter in a modded bass I am working on, but that will take a while and i wanted to try them.
I was in rehearsal recently and i was wanting more articulation from my main bass a late 90s MIA jazz. It always sounds great, but you know how it is. I got home that night and stumbled in
@LowEndLobster 's youtube about the lusithand NFP double jazz plate. i immediately figured this would solve both issues at once. geting more out of my jazz bass while also being able to try out a filter based preamp. i spoke to nuno at lutishand and decided on the single nfp jazz plate so i wouldn't have to make any mods to my bass. the double nfp i would have had to add a side jack.
i pinged nuno on instagram, discussed options (i went for a vol/vol my usual preference over vol/blend), i paid and it was here in like 4 days (london to dublin).
i had my guy install it today. like i said above it looked easy enough to do but it was even easier to have someone else do it.
i picked up my bass and on the walk home i was immediately feeling remorse. "this is my favourite bass. this is my main bass. i love the passive tone, what if i don't like it active." etc... I was actually scared to plug it in in case i didn't like it.
Long story short i absolutely love it.
My family was out so i was able to rock it through my practice rig (tc electronics BH250 into an aguilar GS112). When they came home i played through the headphine out on the amp.
There obviously was a marked difference between playing through speaker and headphones. More on that later.
First off, there is no tine control in passive mode, a feature i would have liked. Though the aguilar, i'm notnsure if it was my pickups or the tone control on he preamp, but the passive tone sounded great. very mid-dy and i was able to use my volume knobs to approximate tone control. However through the headphones i didn't have the fine tuning and the pasive tone sounded a bit harsh and it was more difficult to dial in a nice tone. I found some, but i didn't find MY tone like i was able to through the aggy.
then i switched it on.
through the aguilar, immediately it sounded great. i generally play with both pickups at 100% or neck 100 and bridge rolled back to taste so that is how i set it up. the range of tone out of this thing is outstanding. playing solo i was able to go from very thumpy dubby to mid elongated smoothness to harsh trebley attack and eveyrthing in between. Does it nail the Wal tone? No, it's a jazz bass, but you can definitely approximate the dude from tool or flea from BSSM with it to fool the average lsitener. You can get that thin trebley attack with the bassy undertones of tool and the kind of peaky yet smooth flea tone (if that makes sense)
When i play i like pretty much no attack on my tone. I like smooth elongated mids or deep thumpiness. this preamp delivers all three. Lots of settings i think would be good for a pick player but are useless to me generally although good to know what i can dial in if a room or amp sounds off. the range from trebley attack to dub thump us astounding. i see myself only using about 65% of the range though. there is also a push/pull for cutoff frequency that again gives you every possible JAZZ BASS tone from a to z.
Playing along to drum loops i was easily able to dial in at least a dozen very usable tones and as many again that weren't for me. it's unreal. And so easy to change sounds with just a slight twist. It sounds sensitive and complicated but it is smooth and easy and quick to find not only your favourite tone, but new tones you will love.
i am expecting my new focusrite to arrive on monday or tuesday i will figure it out and record some clips going through all the settings if people are interested.
i rate this a 9 out of 10 and will saynthe results are even better than expected.
