Recommended Preamp for Cort A5

[DonaldR]

Battery dying at a gig is a myth at most. I play active basses and guitars for 30 years and never happened. You hear the sound changing way before the end of the battery life.
Me I want an active/passive switch with a tone pot for a different sound (the pickups in my Yamaha are very organics) not because the battery can die.

 

[RumbleMan3]

Does your A5 come with the Markbass onboard preamp? If it does you are good to go

I believe the markbass pre was a few years ago. The current A4/5’s have the Bartolini Mk1 preamp.

The C4/5 basses and B4/5 basses come with the markbass pre. Tonally, I actually dont mind the markbass pre. Very warm, but it lacks some clarity. However I only ever tried it on an action V dlx so it could have been the cheaper pickups. Don’t know how it would sound with Bart mk1, I’ve never tried the current C or B model basses.

 

[RumbleMan3]

I have Bartolini NTMB-918F in one bass and Audere Jazz in other. I think highly of Audere, see here.

Bartolini is older version on 3-eq 3-mid knob discussed here. The sound of Bartolini is very clean, usable, quick to set right. I would describe it as 'no miracles, just a reliable, practical tool that lets the bass sound natural'. Lately I soldered off the blend pot and am using it now with my P. On that P I got flats, which is by no means a good way to judge sound of a preamp. With this said, I can add my personal characteristics: the best results with Bartolini preamp I got when tweaking highs. Mids are alright, but somehow the untweaked sound sounds usually best. Lows can be tweaked nicely, the overall sounds doesn't tend to be unnaturally boomy when turned to max.

I should add that the Bartolini preamp is some 10 years old - likely more, I'm afraid to count it - and still no rattling pots.

The main volume knob of Bartolini preamp can be lifted up, in which case the bass goes passive and even works without battery. I have a feeling this is very important, as I can compare the passive and active sound. With my P, the passive sounds better at home; I never used passive at a gig however. I guess the practical advantages of active preamp (you can go straight to mix, you can take any cable that lies around, etc.) outweighs the nicer, thumpier attack of passive. My opinion only, of course.

Audere does't work without battery at all. The philosophy behind it is 'battery lasts so long so why should you want to go passive?' This is a real disadvantage to me. But, the sound shaping possibilies of Audere, with the super flexible Z button, makes it great.

In this case... I think I’ll go with the Audere! Thanks, you actually brought out some good points. I think I’ll just go all active then. I’ve got a passive 4 string that I love if I want passive anyway, so it’s all good.

Thanks for all your help guys.

If I ever change my mind, I’ll probably go with the Bartolini HR5.4/AP

 

[SgtHulka]

You reminded me of something. I forgot to mention that the battery would never die on a gig because it has a battery gauge when you plug it in. The light emitted from an LED let you know the power you have left in your battery. So it could never just "sneak up on you" that you'll run out of juice on stage.

I understand the preamp bypass. If your battery dies at a gig you can flip the switch so you, your sound guy, and your audience enjoy compromised tone.

I really do get it. Most cheap Basses that have a preamp bypass switch sound BETTER without the preamp. You will be spending several hundred dollars to replace the preamp so the tone is better. Why again would you want to bypass the new preamp? An 8 pack (limited lifetime supply) of 9v batteries will cost less than a pack of strings.

The Audere, Glockenklang, and some John East preamps do not color the tone when set to flat. Disengage the preamp and you will be left with a volume drop, not a tone change. Unless you have a passive tone control the active/passive thing is sort of a moot point. IMHO, of course.

 

[KeithPas]

I believe the markbass pre was a few years ago. The current A4/5’s have the Bartolini Mk1 preamp.

The C4/5 basses and B4/5 basses come with the markbass pre. Tonally, I actually dont mind the markbass pre. Very warm, but it lacks some clarity. However I only ever tried it on an action V dlx so it could have been the cheaper pickups. Don’t know how it would sound with Bart mk1, I’ve never tried the current C or B model basses.

I had the A5 Deluxe and I kept the preamp and swapped the stock Cort pickups for Mk1 pickups with great results