Mike Pope Flexcore - White Noise Level?

[thepontif]

Thanks Mike. I sent you the wrong city and no zip. Not sure what I was thinking, but I just sent you an email with the corrections. Thanks

On the way!

 

[Modulus1906]

On the way!

Thank you, I appreciate that!

 

[guy n. cognito]

I've played a few basses equipped with these preamps, and the one common factor seemed to be the increased noise. It's not terrible, but it drives me crazy.

 

[thepontif]

I've played a few basses equipped with these preamps, and the one common factor seemed to be the increased noise. It's not terrible, but it drives me crazy.

I'm curious, what basses were they?

 

[kdubb24]

I have a new Flexcore 2.1 4 band and it hiss's louder than all the pre's in my other basses as well.

 

[Sheffield]

Just bumping this back up - I had an OMG THE NOISE experience with the Flexcore myself, and wanted to comment that in my case, at least, it was user error.

Yes, all other things being equal, things were 'noisier' with the Flexcore than with existing Bart NTMB in my bass, without changing any part of the gain structure in my gear. However, having recently gone through and tweaked gains and volumes and stuff to suit the Flexcore better, things are now no noisier than with the NTMB.

Both my overall gain structure and the master volume of my amp, BTW, went down to achieve the same perceived loudness during band practice with the same, very quiet, noise level.

The result, after these tweaks? Same perceived loudness (to my ears) as the previous preamp, with a much, more better sounding EQ section and a significantly less veiled sounds high end.

Viva Pope.

 

[Munjibunga]

I have a new Flexcore 2.1 4 band and it hiss's louder than all the pre's in my other basses as well.

Try turning down the input gain on your amp. Also, if you have passive/active inputs on your amp, use the active one or push the 12-dB (or 15 or whatever) attenuator button.

 

[bucephylus]

OK, I checked the Flex Core in my Sadowsky Metro UV70, and there's slightly more hiss in in active over passive. So I checked my Foderas - same difference. So I checked my LeCompte (OBP-3) - same. Then I checked My Fender Am Deluxe Jazz Plus V - same. When I feel like digging out a bunch of the others, I'll check them, but I'm getting the feeling that a little hiss is the nature of the beast with active pickups. None of the hiss I'm hearing would be detectable in a gigging situation. I don't even hear it on the recordings I did with my trio a couple weeks ago.

Hey Munji! (@Munjibunga) I know this a pretty old post; but, I have some questions about this hiss issue and the Pope preamp. Hoping you might have some insight.

I have/had this preamp in several basses; but just took delivery of a new bass; and in this case, the pickups are the Nordstrand Fat Stacks. You may know those pickups.

On all the other basses of mine with the Pope, that hiss is present, but not overwhelming. The weird thing about the hiss is that the hiss goes away whenever I touch anything, including strings, knobs, and even the amp surfaces, which are already at ground potential. Almost seems like a ground loop or something, because otherwise the chassis ground should be silencing it.

Anyhow, the Fat Stacks have both single coil and hum cancelling settings, the former being selected by dropping the tap to ground. In single coil mode, with tap to ground, that hiss is what I would call typical. Switching to hum cancelling mode makes the noise about 3x louder; though, again, it goes away when touching any grounded element - strings, knobs etc. But, that’s pretty annoying, because the hum cancelling setting is supposed to be the get out of jail free card when 60 cycle noise is going on.

Anyhow, just wondering if you’ve had any further thoughts since this older post of yours on the topic of preamp hiss. I do agree that all my active circuits have some level of hiss. Except my Alembic Series I, which is dead silent.

 

[Geron Webb]

Doing some research because my Brand New BassMods Bass with a flexcore preamp has a terrible hiss. Its especially bad when both mids and the highs are turned up. Even if I have it set completely flat its still there. If I switch it to passive it goes away probably 90%.
Modulous1906 and thepontif, were yall able to get this resolved and what can I do?

 

[pepj]

Just saying, my Flexcore is my best pre amp and I've had a fair few.
Different league to most so hope you get it sorted