Reverse engineering vintage Haz Labs pre

[VeryTallBassist]

I'm a fingerstyle player too. The LHZ is a bit darker sounding than the BTS, and the treble has some grit to it. It's not a clean or transparent preamp, but it just sounds thick and full. If you back off toward the center detents and just play a little bit with it, there are a ton of useable tones. I think the BTS gets a little bit more top end, but to me it's too bright to be useful no matter where I set the dip switches. The center frequency on the highs is a little bit lower on the LHZ.

 

[fibz]

Amazing! Please excuse my ignorance, but what is this song? Thanks!

Alice In Chains - Dirt. From the 1992 album „Dirt“. Must listen LP, pure Spector madness.

 

[Maidenfloyd]

Thank you

 

[madmaskbass]

Amazing! Please excuse my ignorance, but what is this song? Thanks!

The song is Dirt by Alice in Chains it is a bit of an under the radar song compared to some of the huge songs on the album which was also called Dirt but it is just killer fun to play!. Thanks for the kind words!

 

[madmaskbass]

For me the main difference between the LHZ is that the highs and high mids are not that clean. They have more depth and are almost saturated so when you add a compressor and some dirt and a nice preamp it just continues to emphasise that awesome quality.

I now use a JAD freer Preamp pedal and holy heck that thing makes my LHZ Spector just sound so incredible. I think with the other great thing is that with the hot and quite brittle tone of the EMG's having a bit of a warmer preamp really does make it match so well. I have found that with the EMG BQC that i used to have in another spector that it could sound pretty harsh with new stainless strings on.

 

[ThisBass]

I think the BTS gets a little bit more top end, but to me it's too bright to be useful no matter where I set the dip switches. The center frequency on the highs is a little bit lower on the LHZ.

IME it may have something to do with the LF442 OP-Amp which is a quite mellow/dark sounding OP-Amp once it was directly compared to OP-Amps such as TL072, or just more modern and current production run (low current consumption) OP-Amps such as the OP-Amp that comes on the BTS.

edit:
speaking for low current consumption OP-Amps such as LF442 I can at least state that more modern OP-Amp that came of current production runs do most of the time provide a more open/airy sound that also may be perceived as to be "more bright" sounding vers LF442.
Personally I'm in the "more bright" camp regarding different OP-Amps but, that's only me.

 

[Maidenfloyd]

The song is Dirt by Alice in Chains it is a bit of an under the radar song compared to some of the huge songs on the album which was also called Dirt but it is just killer fun to play!. Thanks for the kind words!

I love the tone on it!! I have a Spector and the LHZ. I was messing around with my amp EQ and I can’t get that tone. Any suggestions to help out a newbie? Thank you

 

[VeryTallBassist]

I love the tone on it!! I have a Spector and the LHZ. I was messing around with my amp EQ and I can’t get that tone. Any suggestions to help out a newbie? Thank you

What pickup configuration do you have?

 

[Maidenfloyd]

I have the PJ EMGs. It’s dimed out with the pickup selector halfway.

 

[madmaskbass]

I love the tone on it!! I have a Spector and the LHZ. I was messing around with my amp EQ and I can’t get that tone. Any suggestions to help out a newbie? Thank you

Thanks man, Unless your amp is an old SVT it might be difficult without pedals. This tone was made with a few plugins including the Darkglass Neural DSP plugin on Vintage side and a compressor before it and a vintage Eq plugin after it. Typically you want something that is Ampeg SVT inspired to get the Mike Starr tone so something like:

Darkglass Vintage Microtubes
Sansamp bass driver
Tech21 VTDI
Origin effects Super Vintage

Plus a million other incredible and fun pedals. As for tone settings maybe a slight cut in mids but not too much depends on the pedal you choose. I personally now use the Jad Free Capo which is incredible. The other part to his tone is to angle the pick so it is scratching across the strings tuned half a step down. As for Bass settings just a bit of boost on bass and treble both pickups equally. This tone would be classed as a warm and gritty tone usually associated with the classic big Ampeg SVT head and 8x10 cab fairly pushed.

 

[fibz]

I love the tone on it!! I have a Spector and the LHZ. I was messing around with my amp EQ and I can’t get that tone. Any suggestions to help out a newbie? Thank you

You mean for real or in a DAW setup? I’d say try a Sansamp. Here’s a nice and free plugin: TSE Audio - Software

note: the owner seems to be inactive , nevertheless a good plugin.

 

[Maidenfloyd]

You mean for real or in a DAW setup? I’d say try a Sansamp. Here’s a nice and free plugin: TSE Audio - Software

note: the owner seems to be inactive , nevertheless a good plugin.

Thank you. However, I don’t have a DAW set up. Just my amp and some pedals.

 

[Maidenfloyd]

Thanks man, Unless your amp is an old SVT it might be difficult without pedals. This tone was made with a few plugins including the Darkglass Neural DSP plugin on Vintage side and a compressor before it and a vintage Eq plugin after it. Typically you want something that is Ampeg SVT inspired to get the Mike Starr tone so something like:

Darkglass Vintage Microtubes
Sansamp bass driver
Tech21 VTDI
Origin effects Super Vintage

Plus a million other incredible and fun pedals. As for tone settings maybe a slight cut in mids but not too much depends on the pedal you choose. I personally now use the Jad Free Capo which is incredible. The other part to his tone is to angle the pick so it is scratching across the strings tuned half a step down. As for Bass settings just a bit of boost on bass and treble both pickups equally. This tone would be classed as a warm and gritty tone usually associated with the classic big Ampeg SVT head and 8x10 cab fairly pushed.

Thank you for the response I appreciate it. I have the Ampeg SGT DI preamp coming in today. I super excited to experiment with it. I think that will get me pretty close. I already do scrap with my pick and I just need to work the EQ.

 

[VeryTallBassist]

I have a Tech21 VT Bass pedal that works really well with the LHZ to get the classic growl, but I also have a Mesa Subway Bass DI that is a lot cleaner than the SVT. Still get the growl, just have to work a bit harder for it.

 

[Maidenfloyd]

I have the Mesa Subway 800+ amp. I have it set in a way that will get the growl also. However, just missing something for that AIC tone. I’m hoping the Ampeg preamp helps. This is how I have the amp now, any suggestions of how to tweak my EQ to get that “sound”? Thanks!

 

[Maidenfloyd]

Sorry for high jacking the thread.

 

[fibz]

I have the Mesa Subway 800+ amp. I have it set in a way that will get the growl also. However, just missing something for that AIC tone. I’m hoping the Ampeg preamp helps. This is how I have the amp now, any suggestions of how to tweak my EQ to get that “sound”? Thanks!

The secret imho is to rely only on the onboard preamp and leave the amp‘s EQ flat, maybe cut the bass on the amp if you max out the bass of the onboard preamp. That‘s how I do it when I play over my amps in practice room which are a GK 400 and a Mesa M6.

 

[fibz]

@AgingEngineer there was talk about putting the LHZ into a stompbox. I‘m about to get some parts. Not sure about if it’s directly possible? Also what kind of volume k would you recommend? 25k? 100k? 500k?

 

[AgingEngineer]

@AgingEngineer there was talk about putting the LHZ into a stompbox. I‘m about to get some parts. Not sure about if it’s directly possible? Also what kind of volume k would you recommend? 25k? 100k? 500k?

I was thinking that as a stompbox, the LHZ would just need the Bass and Treble pots (linear 100k, center detent), a button that acts as a bypass & power (assuming this is not like an effect pedal that you'd be kicking on and off during a song: it'll always be on or off), In and Out jacks, and and LED to let you know it's on.

There'd be no volume control on it at all: you'd rely on whatever volume pot is on the bass just like if the preamp was built into the bass.

I'm also designing a version with a pre and post gain stage that can push the core preamp harder (this might be a neat OD for guitar?) and also allow you to adjust the output volume. For this version, the pre gain stage will use the feedback loop for gain control. That way I can just select a single pot that works for the gain circuit instead of trying to determine which pot value will be best for whatever pickups / electronics are in the bass.

(I know that's a hot mess of a reply!)

 

[fibz]

I was thinking that as a stompbox, the LHZ would just need the Bass and Treble pots (linear 100k, center detent), a button that acts as a bypass & power (assuming this is not like an effect pedal that you'd be kicking on and off during a song: it'll always be on or off), In and Out jacks, and and LED to let you know it's on.

There'd be no volume control on it at all: you'd rely on whatever volume pot is on the bass just like if the preamp was built into the bass.

Yes! Regarding the volume pot: i was talking about a volume control between the LHZ output and the output jack maybe my first post wasn’t clear.
In the past I put a Tonepump in a stompbox and used a 50k log pot as a overall output control. Everything else is already in my stash!