Please suggest a Preamp for my MTD Kingston Z

Not much to go on here. What do you not like about the current setup?

Honestly, any good quality preamp (and you shouldn’t waste your time with crappy preamps) is going to cost almost as much as a good set of pickups.

I’m a huge fan of John East .

 

The most cost-effective departure IMO would be an Audere 4 band in a 5 knob configuration. Audere uses a "mixer" format which circumvents problems associated with pickup vs pickup loading via a conventional blend. You can install yourself with only the most basic soldering skills, too. Given your needs, here's an attractive package:

Classic VB 4B 5H None

 

I've had 4-5 installed...some by me, some by walterw. The hook-up to active pick-ups is a bit tricky but not a consideration in your case. You could also do a straight 3 band or 3 band w/ freq selector switch. The world is your oyster! My favorite, by far, is the 4 band which gives more control over the hi & low mids.

 

1. How do you know that the bright tone is coming from the preamp, and not from the pickups? In my experience, the pickups dictate the overall tone, and the preamp just fine-tunes it.
2. On the other hand, John East preamps have this lovely thick velvety low end...

 

In the non-USA MTD thread this issue is discussed at length. The consensus over there is that the preamp on the Kingston Z is the weakest part and those who have tried it, reckon the pickups are quite good and sound better either passive or with a "better" pre. The only thing that has stopped me changing the preamp on my kingston Z is the knobs. They are not normal solid knobs. If anyone changes theirs I'd love to see pictures of how you remove these.

 

I pulled a knob off mine a while ago. It was a thin metal shell over a spring steel cage. Couldn't see how to remove the metal cage and didn't want to hack away at it as I didn't want to damage anything.

This thread:- The "Official" MTD (non-US made) Club Part 3

Lots of love for the bartolini preamps that are similar to what's in the US MTDs but any quality preamp should be an improvement.

 

I'll try to work up the courage to pull one of the shells off and take a picture. Can't believe mine is the only one like that. Looks like it was to save weight. Mine is a 2011 lefty 4 string. Maybe it was only some production runs that are like that.

 

The preamp in the Z should be nothing more than a garden-variety G&B bass pre. It's not that great.
I remember talking to someone here who was thinking the same thing. The pickups are not bad, but the preamp is definitely anemic and a little noisy when boosting. Not to mention fairly imprecise.

I didn't like the wood-shell pickups on mine, so I replaced both the pickups and the preamp at once. The difference was pretty dramatic. I went with Fat Stacks and a Bart NTMB (5.4) pre. I added an extra hole for a "drop to single coil" switch.

 

I had one of these when they first came out. I loved the playability but could never get a convincing low end out of the thing - it was all mids and highs with a very pinched bottom. Not nearly full enough to hold its own in a busy rock mix. A Bart NTMB would be a relatively simple upgrade, and the Audere would be a great option as well. If you want to get into the realm of the MTD 535 stuff, get yourself a Bart NTMB and swap the pickups for Bart CBCs with the bright wind.

If I still owned my old Z, that's what I could do with it.

 

Exactly. It's a shame because it's such a comfortable instrument. Fortunately, it's a prime platform for modding and the aftermarket options are extensive. I'd also suggest dropping a Hipshot B bridge and upgrading the tuning keys to ultralights.

 

The only real advantage of the A over the B is ability to adjust the string spacing. If spacing is something you want to be able to tinker with, by all means get the A. But if you know you like a certain dimension (19mm is my own preference), there's really no need to spend the extra $$ on a more complicated bridge setup.

MTD and FBass both use the Hipshot B bridge, among several of the high end manufacturers to do so.