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Review: Bass Mods Preamp BEQ12

silvertripper

silvertripper

Mar 12, 2010
687
26
Houston, TX
#1
I just posted this in another thread, but decided it should have it own thread. I hoped I could make a review in the "Reviews" part of this forum, but there is not a section for On Board Preamps. So here it goes....

I will first disclose all compononats and equipment. And I should also state that I am not endorsed by Bass Mods, nor am I affiliated in any way with this product. I a simple consumer making an honest evaluation of a product.

My equipment:

MIM Jazz Body
Teak neck with Ovankal board by Warmoth
Gotoh Bridge
Aguilar 4J60 Jazz Pups
BEQ12 Bass Mods Preamp
Standard Fender Tuners
DR Sunbeams 45-105 (Nickel rounds)
All Cavities Shielded with ground jumpers (complete grounded system.)

Playing Through a Ampeg SVT810E, and Fender Bassman 300 Pro, using monstor cables.

So on with the review...

First Impression (9 of 10) - Im pretty blown away by the transparent sound of the BEQ12 Bass Mods Preamp. Its really just a clean boost with tone controls. It reminds me very much of the Aggie OBP3 I have in another build. The Bass Mods Pre has Clean Highs, can get rumbly lows, and punchy mids. Its very impressive for this price point I paid $80.00 with controls new on the Bay.

Controls (9 of 10) - The first pot is the volume with push/pull active passive control. A BIG PLUS is there was not an audible click or pop sound when engaging the active/passive push pull. Its nice and quiet due to the prewired resistor on the pot.

The Preamp itself has a output pot to adjust your Active Output Setting. Passive setting is obviously not adjustable.

2nd control knob is the blend knob. When set in passive mode, this is the only working control besides volume. Some players might want a tone control when in passive mode but did not feel like the preamp was lacking anything without a passive tone control. Plenty of tone blending from pup to pup.

3rd knob when in active mode is tone control.

4th knob when in active mode is double stacked bass/treble.

Quality (8 of 10) - Because I bought this system with the preamp already prewire to the pots with control plate included, I not completely disappointed with the pots the builder is using. I think they personally could be a little better, but they function like they are supposed to.

Sound (9 of 10) - As I stated previously. Id put this sound up against my Aggie OBP3. I also have a Sadowski preamp in my Valenti and I'd put this bassmods preamp up against it as well. I would say I have 3 top quality and top sounding preamps. I play Rock, Jazz, and Funk. This preamp allows the true sound of my bass to come out and be heard. Regardless of the tone setting I have, it sound great. I can dial in a variety of tones depending on what I playing at the moment. It lacks not in the tone department.

Overall (9 of 10) - I would buy another BEW12 Bass Mods Pre if I have another build. Period! The sound is that of preamps 2 and 3 times its price range. I am totally happy with my decision to buy this preamp, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a clean preamp with veratility.


Thanks for taking the time to read my review of this great product.
 

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#2
Hi, thanks for the excellent review.

have you tried bartolini preamps at all?

i'm currently selecting electronics for a 5 string build, and already bought the bass mods 18v, 5 pot preamp a month or two ago, and just won a pair of bartolini, quad coil, soapbars on ebay.. however i wasn't sure if i should just save the bass mods preamp for another build, and buy a bartolini preamp..

seeing your post though is reassuring, as the quality of these preamps seems to be really good... =).

I'm hoping to go for the really 'middy' bartolini tone, as i really like that tone. I also plan to wire a few switches to each pickup so i can choose between single coil north, south, series and parallel.
 
#5
How does the blend work? Do you get loading/slight loss of output when both pickups are full on like when it was passive? I have one with the passive tone option, but my (custom) bass has a stupid control cavity and I need to take it to the luthier before installing the preamp.
 
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#6
Finally installed the beq 12 but no sound when in active mode, passive mode works fine, the blend and tone work.

I have no clue what's wrong, maybe the battery is to weak (I bought a very cheap one), will try a a Duracell 9 volt battery to check and also getting a multimeter to check wheter this pre-amp receives power.

bummer! :mad:

Ooh regarding the grounding I soldered everything to the blend pot, the instruction says to do it at the potentio / volumemeter but this has an extra component at the pot so can't solder to that potmeter.
 
#8
I have both the bassmods beq12 and Bartolini 4.7. The beq12 is almost like a aguilar 3 band, boost only clean power but aguilar highs are much hifi sounding I had the beq12 in a jazz bass with Bartolinis and was not happy but then put the beq12 in a jazz/mm pickup bass i was blown away how good it sound clean middy punchy powerful sound and Bartolini preamp is second to none sizzling highs deep low bass bumpy mids cant go wrong with either preamp
 
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#9
The boost only thing kind of takes me out of the market for trying one of their preamps. A passive tone control could be used to cut treble, but that would add an extra knob.
 
#11
I had the BEQ12-34PTAP (Sold that bass recently) and I liked it a lot. The bass controls are more in the low mid territory (300Hz), so it makes your tone extra fat but doesn't lose it to sub frequencies. The mid control is in the mid high area (1Khz) and it gave a lot of snarl and grind, loved it for stuff like going for Geddy-grind. The treble control is too higher than usual, and IMO that makes it a little less usable than the other two. I find myself using mostly the mids control and the passive tone for modeling my tone, but I'm pretty much a set and forget guy. Ran my amp (also recently sold) almost flat, gain to adjust grit ant that's it.

Regarding "Boost only", my unit had center detents, boost and cut. Plus the passive tone which gives you a lot of fun options.
 
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#12
sotua said:
I had the BEQ12-34PTAP (Sold that bass recently) and I liked it a lot. The bass controls are more in the low mid territory (300Hz), so it makes your tone extra fat but doesn't lose it to sub frequencies. The mid control is in the mid high area (1Khz) and it gave a lot of snarl and grind, loved it for stuff like going for Geddy-grind. The treble control is too higher than usual, and IMO that makes it a little less usable than the other two. I find myself using mostly the mids control and the passive tone for modeling my tone, but I'm pretty much a set and forget guy. Ran my amp (also recently sold) almost flat, gain to adjust grit ant that's it.

Regarding "Boost only", my unit had center detents, boost and cut. Plus the passive tone which gives you a lot of fun options.
Click to expand...

A center detent pot doesn't mean that it is boost/cut. It just means it has center detent pots.
 
#13
Hopkins said:
A center detent pot doesn't mean that it is boost/cut. It just means it has center detent pots.
Click to expand...

True. However, while on the centered on the detents, it sounds remarkably like the unamplified sound (preamp bypassed), and below the center detents, it sounds thin when I turn down the bass, dark when I turn down the treble, and not like the same bass when it was passive or when it is in the center detents. I would be inclined to believe the preamp is boost/cut.
 
#15
JustForSport said:
Looked on their site:
didn't see anything about the pre's being 'boost only', or boost/cut either. 'Usually', center detents are used w/ boost/cut, or not used at all.
Click to expand...

Frequency response 20Hz~20KHz
Control range 20Hz~15KHz
Treble control 15KHz(10dB)
Middle control 1KHz(12dB)
Bass control 300Hz(10dB)
Input Impedance 1Mohm
Output Impedance 10Kohm
Current requirement 9V 0.72mA
18V 0.77mA
Click to expand...

The controls only say 10 or 12db, not +/- 10 or 12db. From everything I have ever read about them, I have only heard about them being boost only
 
#18
I tried to try a bass mods pre but they shipped me the wrong item then ignored me when I tried to get it straightened out. I finally had to file a claim with ebay to get any response.

Full disclosure I got the purchase price back but I paid shipping both ways for their mistake and it took me almost a full month from the time I placed the order to get it all resolved, most of that me trying to get the problem fixed without filing a claim. I got a couple vague emails, one of which promised they would take care of the return postage but when I finally got a refund it was purchase price only and they never replied to any of the emails I sent after asking if they were going to return the postage.

I would have been happy to just swap it out for the pre I ordered but they ignored any offers to do so and I wound up having get ebay involved.

YMMV but I won't be dealing with them again, and I hate it because I've heard good things about their preamps.
 
#19
I bought direct from their website, the preamp I ordered didn't fit, so exchanged it for another. Only had to pay the return shipping. All emails, were responded to quickly (well, a couple days).
Now, they did originally send the wrong color switch plate, so maybe that's why they didn't charge me another shipping, don't know.
So my customer service experience was good.

As in most online shopping, ymmv.
 

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