Lakland 44-01 electronics swap?

[1960LesPaul]

Hello all. I am sending a member here the money today for his tobacco sunburst and can't wait to get it. I bought this knowing there is a chance I was going to have to replace the preamp and alot of people has done that by using the American version NTMB preamp. Is this something that most of you would do and would you also change out the pups as well?

 

[mikezimmerman]

I thought the NTMB made for a definite improvement in my 55-01, but the stock preamp is certainly acceptable. I gigged with mine "stock" for a while and was perfectly happy with it until I toasted the preamp (by stupidly sticking the battery in backwards) and had to replace it.

I don't necessarily think "most people" would change the preamp (or pickups) out without at least trying the bass out first.

Mike

 

[1960LesPaul]

I thought the NTMB made for a definite improvement in my 55-01, but the stock preamp is certainly acceptable. I gigged with mine "stock" for a while and was perfectly happy with it until I toasted the preamp (by stupidly sticking the battery in backwards) and had to replace it.

I don't necessarily think "most people" would change the preamp (or pickups) out without at least trying the bass out first.

Mike

Agree 100% and would never replace something until only I deemed it was needed. I was just wanting to get a general consensus on the pups and pre because I don't have one and not familiar with it. I did compare 44-01 to a 55-02 and the 44-01 sounded very good. Just wasn't as full as the 55-02 but you could eq that in. Had to use the 55-02 cause they didn't have clips of the 44-02 but this was good enough.

 

[mikezimmerman]

Sorry, didn't mean for that to come out snarky! But I suspect most people are perfectly happy with the stock preamp. The one serious "gotcha" with the stock pre is that there's an EQ bypass switch but it's not a true active/passive switch, so you can't count on getting by if the battery goes dead.

The stock pickups are actually pretty good sounding, IMO.

Mike

 

[1960LesPaul]

LOL dude I didn't mean to come off as offended. I wasn't at all. Damn internet ha ha. I was hoping I wouldn't have to change it out. You actually made me feel alot better about and I was jacked up about it before we talked lol.

 

[MobileHolmes]

I kind of like 44-01 as is. It's really aggressive. Others find it harsh. I think some of the nordstrands (big singles, fat stacks, big splits perhaps) are more or less direct drop ins.

 

[jwbassman]

I changed my 44-01 to an Audre classic 4 Pre and Dropped in some Nordy Big Singles and it made a huge improvement in the overall sound. I personally didn't care of the stock electronics that much. Just my personal preference. The Nordstrand pick ups drop in without out any mods, but you will have a slight (about 1/8") around the PUs when done. If I was going to recommend changing anything it would be the pre-amp first.