So When Do You Change Pre-Amps?

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I've been thinking that I don't think much of the pre-amp on my ABG. In 25 words or less, the bass has a very different sound when miked up and when played through the pre-amp.

 

But it's not like I can find .wavs of various pre-amps like I could for normal pickups esp. thos emade by Seymour Duncan (would I need to change the pre-amp or the piezo, BTW?) And is there any way of getting ANY pre-amp to fit in the hole on the side of the ABG? I'm thinking of something like a universal sleeve?

 

How do I know that what I'm buying is going to be any better than what I have? Are there measurements (sound measurements, that is) that I can compare?

 

And IS IT a good idea to go for a more "acoustic" sound anyway? At the moment, when I plug in, it sounds like a woodier electric... would sounding TOO acoustic ruin the band's sound? I guess only I know that one, forget I asked.

[jeremy c]

I've changed preamps in two different active basses because the old ones didn't do what I wanted them to do in terms of what frequencies could be boosted and cut.

 

The preamp in an ABG is very small and it's actually not that hard to get it out of the instrument. But I don't think changing just the preamp is going to make your instrument sound more acoustic. You might have to change the whole system including the piezo. My brother who plays acoustic guitar actually has a both piezo and a condenser mike in his guitar and the sounds picked up by those are mixed and sent to the output. It's a Martin D-28 which is a great sounding guitar to begin with.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

The preamp in an ABG is very small and it's actually not that hard to get it out of the instrument.

 

Sure, but if the new one's not the right size, it won't fit in the hole left by the old pre-amp. If the new pre-amp is larger and it's just a matter of enlarging the hole, that's easy enough, but what to do with a smaller pre-amp?

 

But I don't think changing just the preamp is going to make your instrument sound more acoustic. You might have to change the whole system including the piezo.

 

Yep, that sounds about right.

 

I'm in the odd situation where I've played most of the available ABGs in the next quality level, and nne of them are that much better than my Samick. Some of it is down to personal taste, of course, but I can't see a real chalk and cheese diff between my bass and whatever I could get for a few extra hundred. So the idea of changing the pickup/pre-amp is tempting.

 

I've also been thinking of playing in front of a (gated) mike, but I move around a bit too much for that.

 

[The Geoff]

Don't know much about this, Vince, but have a look at this, for curiosity.

 

http://www.artecsound.com/main.html

 

G.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Wow, Geoff! There's enough controls on some of them to scare a jet pilot! Seriously, they all look like they mean business.

 

It's just that when I read stuff like

 

Boost & Cut 12 dB 80 Hz, 570 mVp-p

Boost & Cut 12 dB 800 Hz, 490 mVp-p

Boost & Cut 12 dB 3 kHz, 500 mVp-p

 

I think that sounds really impressive, but have no idea whether it'll sound any good or not. I wish manufacturers would put up some .WAVs: that would make life so much easier.

 

 

[Juancarlin]

... don´t believe in dealers... don´t believe in .wavs... just believe in me.. Yoko and me... Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!

 

Now, seriously, on my ABG the preamp has about 5 EQ sliders, a "countour" control, and another knob I Have no idea what is for (Seriously!, I promise to post pic as soon as I can). It is a "Belcat" preamp (Don´t ask me... the guy who made the ABG put it in there), and I keep noting the HUGE difference when plugged in or the acoustic tone of the ABG. But still, I have yet to hear a "piezoed" ABG that sounds nicely enough to my ears as to compare it with the acoustic tone. Somehow I assume that, for live performing, I´ll have to adapt to the "piezo-ey" tone, while on recording, I´d better put a condenser microphone at about 2Ft to catch the "boom" and mix it with the piezo on another track, to get a certain tone...

 

Oh, BTW... my 5-stringer is also a Samick.. and I can say I´ve had good luck with it. Makes me think once again on the subject.. same instruments factory (Korea, I assume) for different brands?

 

Back again, I wouldn´t change the piezo, though.I tend to think all of them would tend to sound somewhat similar. I´d rather check the possibilities on the piezo preamp, but to add an internal microphone into the ABG, and have a "Blend" control onboard. That, in my humble opinion, would do it...

[Davo-London]

OK

 

I have a Godin A4 fretless, which has a built in piezo and an LR Baggs pre-amp. As you observe there's very little similarity between the tone of the acoustic bass and what you get out of the piezo/pre-amp combo, eg ...

 

http://www.heathette.com/music/Godin%20acid.mp3

 

It has a nasally/buzzy tone.

 

So what did I do? I ordered one of the K&K Pure PUs from Bob Gollihur's website and had a luthier fit it to my Godin bypassing the pre-amp, with a separate jack plug. That produced this tone:

 

http://www.heathette.com/music/GodinK&K.mp3

 

That's much closer to the tone of the Godin. And you even get some of that string tone. I'm a happy bunny as I never liked the Godin pre-amp controls anyway.

 

Davo at your service.

[Big Daddy from Motown]

Might be a good time to move up to a Martin, or at least a Tacoma.

[Tom Capasso]

I wondered about moving up (like BDfM suggested).

 

You might also study what an expert is doing - not sure what's available near you, but this cat knows his stuff. This cat is Rick Turner, who is working with Seymour Duncan.

 

http://d-tar.com

 

Tom

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Might be a good time to move up to a Martin, or at least a Tacoma.

 

I've thought about that and well, I've never seen a Martin. With a total population of 4.5 million, NZ's a small country and there's not a great deal of choice as far as instruments go!

 

I can order in a Tacoma Thunderchief from Auckland, but I'd feel bad if, after putting the local shop to all that trouble, I simply didn't like the bass enough to fork out for it.

 

And anyway, it feels like overkill. In the Samick, I have a perfectly good bass which I am happy with. There's just that niggling sensation that I could improve the plugged-in sound with better electronics.

 

PS: I've just been looking at the Tacoma and electronics are an optional. Which sort of would leave me back at square one, ie looking for a pre-amp, only $2000 poorer.