Antimaps

On 10/03/2020 at 12:32, lemmywinks said:

 

That’s a pretty luxurious case! If I owned that, I would take it to festivals and sleep in it. 😁

I’m now looking at the Aguilar OBP-1 (Vol + Blend + Stacked Bass/Treble) then adding a Sadowsky VTC (passive tone with push/pull preamp bypass). If it works as well as I hope, I’m going to get a sire P and a fretless and do the same.

10 hours ago, pete.young said:

I have a Nordstrand 2B-4c in my Bass Collection 465. It seems to work perfectly well with either the original pickups or the Delano replacements, so I think it's unlikely that there would be any reason why it didn't get on with the Sire pickups.

I never use passive mode. The passive switch is a push/pull pot on the volume control I believe! The sound is always better in active mode, and I can't imagine the audience will notice the difference anyway.

I agree. I hardly ever use passive on this bass. But I did once turn up to a rehearsal with dead batteries and no spare, so it’s good to have it as a backup.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. They’re a great help. I know there are many options and I’ve more or less whittled it down to the preamps that I think will suit me.

At the moment, I’m most interested in whether you know if it’s technically possible to replace the Sire preamp alone and if the Sadowsky, Aguilar or Nordtsrant preamps would match the Sire pickups.

On 10/03/2020 at 13:23, itu said:

How about the separate knob versions? And every pot is not a must to connect and use, isn't it?

I got my hopes up when you told me about those as I’d not found them before. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do a stacked treble/bass so I’d be back to a 5-knob setup. However, the East single knob layout would suit me better than the factory layout.

On 10/03/2020 at 12:22, lemmywinks said:

You might find switching the knobs to metal ones makes it less fiddly, I prefer it. I used standard flat top tele knobs on the regular pots and the slim EMG ones for the concentric pots.

I  already did that using the cheap and cheerful Harley Benton knobs. I much prefer them to the originals but it’s still not ideal. A 4-knob setup is definitely what I’m looking for so I’ll have a look at the Sadowsky.

Edit: The Sadowsky is exactly what I’m looking for! Thanks lemmywinks!

13 hours ago, itu said:

How about John East? Too many knobs?

The John East preamps sound great, seem really versatile and would be high on my list if it weren't for the stacked volume/blend pots, and I don't need the mid eq.

13 hours ago, Rich said:

I love my V7's preamp, so my answer to the question 'what do you think?' would be along the lines of 'that you are clinically insane'
But seriously, I would definitely consider a John East unit.

 🤣 The Sire pres sound great and they're versatile, like the East. But I find them fiddly to use between songs in the middle of a gig on a dark stage etc.... I'm always moving the master volume when I try to roll off the passive tone. and I keep hitting the mid/bass control when I'm using the active/passive switch. I guess it's my fat fingers that are the problem but Anderton's don't sell upgrades for those. 😁

I love the Sire V7 Gen 2 but I can't get on with the layout of the preamp (too many knobs, too close together, too easy to turn the wrong one). I'm considering swapping out the preamp for a volume (pull passive) + blend + passive Tone + stacked bass/treble. I was thinking about an Aguilar OBP-2 or a Nordstrand 2B-4c.

What do you think? Does it sound like a good idea? Anything I should look out for?