Can anyone recommend a replacement preamp kit for the P Bass Lyte? My electronics died. Would like to keep stock pickups and not spend too much $$$ if I can help it.
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Pbass lyte club?
- Thread starter FenderBender82
- Start date
Some have reported hipshot bridges match the screw holes. Mine didn’t and I filled the holes and drilled new ones. You could measure and ask hipshot. They’ve always responded to my inquiries.
Maybe the prewired in this https://www.talkbass.com/threads/2-aguilar-opb-1-preamps.1628862/
Any 4 knob offering from Bart, Aguilar, nordstrand, audere, emg, etc. would work I think but if you try to get too fancy you might run out of room in the cavity like I did.
Does anyone here know the width in mm at the nut? And depth at first fret? I'd like to compare those numbers against a MIM Zone.
Also, if anyone knows, I'd love to find out if unamplified the mahogany body version "sounds" any different from the basswood body version.
Thought I would update everyone - the pad on the circuit board where I attached the 9V+ wire had failed, so I tacked it to another component further down the trace - original preamp is back working.
Any idea what contributes to the Lyte's electronics noise? Mine is too overbearing and I'm wondering if maybe now is the time to replace everything. Or have others had success managing noise through other less drastic means, such as lining the cavity with copper tape, or replacing input jack only? I've looked at EMG's BQC 4-knob system but wow that's not cheap and so I wonder if there's other options.
Rick, is yours super noisy? In connection with my issue, do you think that the stock pickups have anything to do with what I'm hearing (in which case maybe all I need to do is to replace those instead of the electronics)?
Mine is only super noisy when running the single pickup close to a noise source like fluorescent lights or a computer. Since I practice in front of a computer I just stay on the double coil. Cavity was lined with graphite based shield paint - also the same thing sold as "slip-plate" plow paint at farm and ranch outfits. Makes sure all your star washers are in place to complete the ground, and the control cavity cover still has the aluminum foil tape to shield it. Past that might try a new, good quality cable or investigate grounding and ground loop issues with your amplifier. Last resort rip the whole mess out and install the appropriate Tone Monster set up but you may have to do some routing to make room and make a new cavity cover or install battery boxes.
I'm home noodling only, through a Beringher 90 watter, generic cables, no pedals. It does quiet down when running neck only, yet my Zone at bridge is no where near as noisy. It could be that it simply needs a little TLC given that it's 34 yo and hasn't been played for years, only now coming out of "retirement".
On the input jack, I used a Q-Tip doused in Deoxit to clean it out and that took care of input scratchiness. Still, the bridge PU, yikes.
I was unaware this “club” existed. I’ve had my ‘97/‘98 P Lyte Deluxe since 2002 or 2003. I got it used back then at a GC, with nice gig bag included, for $220. It was in decent shape. I’ve since used it as my #1 for a long time and it took a beating. About a year ago, I pulled the original preamp, for no reason other than I like to tinker, and installed an Aguilar OBP-3 with a passive option and a passive tone control (that I wired to work in both passive and active modes). I found the pickups to somewhat suck when connected to passive electronics only and didn’t really end up vibing with the OBP-3. Today, I reinstalled the original preamp and I’m back to loving this bass. I was worried about the original pots fitting properly as I had to enlarge the holes a little for the new pots last year, but they fit fine still.
Also, for those of you who are not aware, the Deluxe was made from 1995 to 2001. Serials date them starting a decade earlier. Pull the neck and find your actual date. I always thought mine was an ‘85 or ‘86 by the serial until I pulled the neck and found it to be a Nov ‘97 neck on a Jan ‘98 body (so I guess technically a ‘98).
I’ve also included a picture I added some notes to to show how I had it set up with the OBP-3.
Also, for those of you who are not aware, the Deluxe was made from 1995 to 2001. Serials date them starting a decade earlier. Pull the neck and find your actual date. I always thought mine was an ‘85 or ‘86 by the serial until I pulled the neck and found it to be a Nov ‘97 neck on a Jan ‘98 body (so I guess technically a ‘98).
I’ve also included a picture I added some notes to to show how I had it set up with the OBP-3.
Very nice.
For me, I just put a set of Thomastiks on mine which is not a "Deluxe" version like yours. It's super fun to play now. It previously had a set of LaBellas but those just weren't my style, at least not the size/style on it.
Last week I did a complete fret dressing with one of those new Music Nomad fret tools. That worked out fine.
Because I have a Lyte and a Zone, I compare them daily. Merits for both. I like the smaller nut and larger neck depth of the Zone. I like the larger nut and smaller neck depth of the Lyte. Although the Zone has cobalts on her, I'm prob going to switch over to Thomastiks soon.
IDK about yours, but mine exude serious vibrations when plucked. I've not felt that in any other that I've auditioned recently. It's addictive.
Yeah, the mahogany body really does resonate well, especially given the size and weight.
I went with Donner Noise Killer. A very cheap fix. I need to set it at 11, clock hand, and it worked so I never went further into the problem.
Well, I know I said I put the original preamp back in… I believe it failed. It worked perfectly for a few days and then stopped. The battery is good, I have a connection from battery negative to ground with a cord plugged in and no connection with no cord. I cannot find any drawings for the bass or the preamp to verify, but I’ve wired a few active basses in my day and have a pretty good understanding of how the wiring goes (no idea on the actual circuitry on the pre). I’m planning on giving it a shot here for maybe a drawing and then throwing the Aguilar back in if I can’t make headway. I’m planning on trying to run the mids at 500 Hz instead of the factory 400/800 for the Aguilar if I put it back in. I also plan on having no passive mode or passive tone like I previously had. These basses don’t sound good passive, or at least they don’t with the stock pickups. So, anyone have a diagram for a P Bass Lyte Deluxe?
Well, I ended up not being able to get the stock preamp figured out. I rewired the Aguilar OBP-3 to only have active controls, no mid switch, and no passive tone. I bought all new 50k linear pots (because I don’t need the stacked for bass/treble or the push/pull for frequency selection for the mids) for the preamp and a new 250k audio pot for the volume (to get rid of the push/pull for active/passive). I did wire the mids for 500 Hz instead of the standard 400Hz or 800 Hz. It was fun finding 0.003 uF and 0.127 uF capacitors for that. The pre sounds way better with 500 Hz boost/cut for the mids. It’s very useable. I felt 400 was a hair low and 800 was way high. I also played around with 9V vs 18V operation. Based on Aguilar’s documentation, 18V gives you more headroom for hotter pickups or aggressive playing as well as an additional 6 dB of output. My normal playing does distort the preamp at 9V if I dime the controls, but it does not distort it at 18V so I figured out how to store a second battery in the cavity and will keep it at 18V. I went back to the stock knobs so it looks original. My next “mod” will be installing threaded inserts in the body for the control cavity screws.
