Bass onboard pre-amp

[lordie]

hi all,

need idea.

currently using aguilar opb-3 on the a warwick, the on-board bass can get super massive and sometime hard to tweak, been using for like a year. i think its time to change. any recommendation? was thinking of getting the bartolini pre-amp.

i already have the bartolini pups on the wick but also has the original wick MEC pups as well. thinking of swapping those in and with the new pre-amps.

thanks in advance.

 

[e4t3n]

I am using the Bartolini 3-band preamp on one of my basses and I think it is awesome.

Other good brands which you can consider are: Audere, J-retro.

Good luck

 

[lordie]

problem with pre- its hard to tell do some research lack of video to gauge the tone.. i sell off the opb-3 to fund the barts or audere. hope it sound nice on the warwick.

 

[Turxile]

I know many prefer the obm3 because of its massive low end. Is it too muddy with the Warwick?

 

[lordie]

yup especially muddy when playing thru a tube amp, been with it for a year to give a chance but it does not sounds as good as my other warwick. which equipped with MECs pre-amp/pups and works well for most situation.

 

[Z3r0_G]

which wick are you having trouble with?

 

[lordie]

my warwick taranis. the warwick vampyre sounds absolutely amazing and i want the taranis to more or less soudns similar. instead of this really dark, very extremely high mid, horrible sounding bass lol

 

[Turxile]

Lakland used to use Bartolinis with the Taranis's pup configuration (with Bart pups) Note the Lakland is a completely different beast to taranis.
Isn't the taranis supposed to sound low and dark
Did you change to normal tuning or still have the BEAD?
On scond thoughts, maybe you should just trade it with one of my basses, especially if you have the black one

 

[lordie]

the only taranis to get is the black one with the texture sandblasted finish. its normal tuning as its a 5er, not a 4. and yes i did change to Barts + OPB-3. and it sounded bad, the MEC MM pups seems to have a zing that cuts thru better than the barts, but the opb-3 sounds band with the MM. so either i swap back the original MEC and get a different pre-.

 

[lordie]

and yea i dun mind to trade it with a WW Infinity ;p

 

[Z3r0_G]

you might want to try delanos or glockenklangs. all german made as well i think.

 

[lordie]

yeah but the 5er MM has a different size

 

[Turxile]

Any luck with the changes? Did you manage to find a solution?

 

[lordie]

nope... i bought a used 3-Band pre-amp from a Thumb NT5 from talkbass ;p

have not arrive see how that works

 

[mislyd]

yo, i think you should first try to change out the bartolinis.
bartolinis have a much darker warmer 'muddy' low end compared to MECs.
by the way, MECs have a tone that is between bartolinis and EMGs and that's why it is more 'balanced'.

yup i think after you swop out the bartolinis for a brighter sounding pickup, that should solve the problem without changing out the pre-amp.

happy rigging...cheers

 

[Fauzi bassir]

John East Retro preamp (black)

 

[lordie]

yo, i think you should first try to change out the bartolinis.
bartolinis have a much darker warmer 'muddy' low end compared to MECs.
by the way, MECs have a tone that is between bartolinis and EMGs and that's why it is more 'balanced'.

yup i think after you swop out the bartolinis for a brighter sounding pickup, that should solve the problem without changing out the pre-amp.

happy rigging...cheers

some update. the PUPs are all now original MECs that comes with the bass accept the pre-amp is a 3-band MEC pre-amp that was taken from a thumb. verdict? Perfect. not too bass, not too treble, way too much mid, which is a good thing for me.

now i got issues in finding a 4/6mm stacked knobs for the MEC.

 

[Turxile]

Glad it worked out.
The original pups in the Taranis are great.
For the knobs, you can buy direct from the Warwick website. They have a good selection.
Where did you find the MEC pre from?

 

[lordie]

the knobs are way too expensive shipping same for thomann flat fee of euro$30 for 2 stacked knobs are excessive. so i get mine custom made by david king. they are lightweight and cost slightly lesser than getting them direct from thomann or warwick, the knobs are wenge ;p

the MEC pre-amp cost an arm and a legg. euro$300 if get direct from warwick or thomann, but got this guy in the forum willing to sell me his for usd$100, its taken from a mid 80's thumb. which is made to work with 3 knob design vol/blend+mid+bass/treble. got it fixed by SV and came back with tons of issues, like feedback and all crapped out, tot of complaining and returning it to the seller, but i took it instead to TYMC to get them do a full set-up/servicing/shielding, etc.. and they fixed it and it work great now.

the taranis with this pre-amp finally kicks so much, perfect for metal with both guitarist are using 7er. it cuts thru cos it has so much mid to it, the PUPs on the Taranis are really really hot for being passive, the amp clips like made compare to my Vampyre dark lord.