Ken Smith owners: Which preamp do you like?

[LanEvo]

Pretty much as the title says. Do you like the stock HAZ preamp? I've heard of some people installing Bartolini and Aguilar preamps in their Ken Smiths. And I hear great things about Glockenklang and Mike Pope as well.

I ask because I'm going to be using a pair of Ken Smith humbuckers in an upcoming project bass. I love the passive KS tone for fingerstyle. I like some low-mid growl. Just trying to figure out if I should go passive or try a preamp.

So ... what's the "hot" setup these days?

 

[LowB-90]

I actually have a mike pope preamp I’ve been wanting to try on 1 of my smiths. Just haven’t had the time to swap it out. Should be interesting

 

[somebrains]

You have to give to up the Ken Smith bc however he specs out his pickups retains the "Smith" sound passive.
I've known guys that got tired of the Haz preamp and tried other preamps to get a mid control if they had a factory 2-band.
They sounded like a Smith with a mid control, which actual does something to the voicing of the stock pickups.

Configuration becomes a swap reason.
Haz preamps aren't exactly easy to work with.
If you want to add a passive tone control, you want to make room with concentric pots, you would rather set your pickup mode switching to push pulls Bass and Treble pots you end up swapping to something with a discrete module and separate pots.

A guy in Mesa's home town just sold a set of pickups and 3-band.
I didn't pick them up bc I just don't need that many Haz 3-band equipped 4-strings.

 

[iwearpumas]

Im curious too.

 

[LanEvo]

Sorry I missed these replies. Thanks so much for your input!

Personally, I love the passive tone of KS pickups. There's a natural low-mid grunt and smoothness that seems to come through no matter what combination of woods the bass is made of ... or even which strings you use.

I'm also a fan of passive electronics in general. I'm thinking of a simple volume, blend, passive tone setup. Considering whether to add some "bells and whistles" in the form of series-parallel switching and/or coil-splitting. I think I'd prefer skipping the preamp altogether unless there's a major downside to that.

 

[somebrains]

I'm with you, KS pickups are really nice.
I know there were supply chain probs in the past.

Skipping the preamp is fine if you aren't trying to capture the era a particular preamp was voiced.

For the KS guys, isn't there a line btw Haz preamps and Pope or something else?

My 80's nostalgia likes Haz preamps, but right now a nice set of passive pickups do the trick.

A lot of the active desireability back then, for me at least, was that active setups were for the big $ guys. It's like a big ol wing + scoops all over your car.

 

[LanEvo]

Bump. Returning to this project after sitting on it for close to a year.

Any preamp recommendations?

 

[The Nameless]

In my opinion, havin owned both Smith bass guitars and a few other basses with Smith Electronics, there is nuttin like the Smith preamp. Best ever. Well, the two and 3 band, 9v originals are the best. The newer 18v has a different feel to it I can't describe. Not bad, but different. More stiff, less lush. The early 3 band preamps are my fave. They include an output trim on the back of the mid control to control output. You can match flat active to passive output, or set your active as a clean boost. The early 2 band preamps had the best low control. Ever. But the high control then becomes a treble/high mid control. Not a bad thing, but not to everyone's taste. There is nothing like those old HaZ preamps, in Spectors or Smiths, on the market today. In my opinion.
I've also replaced a ton of preamps in my time. I would never remove the preamp from a Smith. Sacrilege. Heh heh. But for a new build? It might be fun to see what those Smith pickups would sound like thru a good replacement preamp. I know all the big names; Aguilar, Nordstrand, Pope, Glockenklang... et al. But two names that worked great for me I don't see as often. Noll. And Audere.
I've use both Audere and Noll in boutique basses, and in Squire basses, where neutral tone is required or desired. Both preamps were absolutely colorless and were very good. Audere has the win, because of solderless install. But the Noll output stayed more even when under boost cut conditions. The Audere adds a bit of output under boosting conditions.
Too many folk makin electronics for onboard use of basses. All good sounding, quiet and reliable. So, features, price and convenience become deciding factors. If you like the passive tone? Get a floor pedal made by Smith, Fodera, Aguilar, Sadowsky, Demeter, to try options without havin to open the bass, solder, etc. I love Smith pickups passive. Heck, most amplifiers come with great preamps! Heh. My process in deciding what to use comes from playin a bass to see what's lacking. Smith pickups are NOT the most powerful in output. But that's simply a gain increase on my Amp. And I don't particularly like strong basses. I play too hard. Ha!
Trial an error is the only way you'll know. Just too many options out there. Very hard to say which would work "best". But I think, today, any of them WOULD work. It's hard to ruin the sound of a Smith humbucker.

 

[BunchyMutt]

I actually have a mike pope preamp I’ve been wanting to try on 1 of my smiths. Just haven’t had the time to swap it out. Should be interesting

reviving this thread to see if you did this. I'm planning a KS inspired build and thinking about either the KS preamp or a Pope

 

[dkbg4real]

reviving this thread to see if you did this. I'm planning a KS inspired build and thinking about either the KS preamp or a Pope

I’m glad you revived this thread... I also am planning a KS inspired build. I already have the Humbucker 5 string pickups. I’m looking at the Audere as my preamp. Wondering if I’ll still get close to that lovely KS tone because of the pickups.
Any input talkbass?

 

[TrustRod]

Skipping the preamp is fine if you aren't trying to capture the era a particular preamp was voiced.

The old promo for the original preamps bragged that the passive versus active tone with everything flat was identical. No voicing from the preamp was a selling point as it was a transparent unity gain buffer at that point.

And I love the sound of those pickups passive. I've built a few basses with them and always loved the sound of the pickups before I put the preamp in.

 

[somebrains]

The old promo for the original preamps bragged that the passive versus active tone with everything flat was identical. No voicing from the preamp was a selling point as it was a transparent unity gain buffer at that point.

And I love the sound of those pickups passive. I've built a few basses with them and always loved the sound of the pickups before I put the preamp in.

That's a rare attribute in Ken Smith's a guy pointed out to me in the 90s.
A lot of active preamps with passive pickups back then was like hitting Turbo on KITT.

Some Tobias builds can be the same, I found some throwback ideas in a 535 setup.
If someone wants a specific sound often they do not know the specific pickup or preamp for that model in a given era.

It's not a fault, more of an archaeology exercise.

 

[TrustRod]

Tobias used a Bart TCT a lot. I don't have much experience with those.

I used to use a bunch of the TBT/NTBT variants and they also sound the same active as passive if the EQ is flat and you don't use the boost. But I think most people used the boost.