My next project....

[pandathe3]

Hi there, for my next project i plan to purchase an OLP MM2 and change out the internals.

The planned pickup thats going in there is a kent armstrong.

Do you think i could fit a small preamp in that cavity or would i need too route it out? Id be looking at maybe those sabre remakes on the 'bay or kentarmstrong. It would also be 2eq.

If not, what sort of options do i have passively?

I dont want the option of coil splitting, but just a Master volume, push/pull pot for series/parrallel.

But what after this? Just a tone control, too roll off highs?

Is the any way i could CUT a certain frequency of choice (400/800hz) via a 2way switch?

Cheers!

[pete.young]

slaphappygarry did something similar - there's a thread on the forum called something like 'Pimp My OLP'. From memory I think he used an Artec SE preamp, can't remember if it was a 2 or 3 band.

If you use a 3-band pickup , that has a mid sweep which would give you the option to pick the frequency you don't like and either cut or boost it.

Edited September 18, 2010 by pete.young

[mcnach]

[quote name='pandathe3' post='957833' date='Sep 15 2010, 11:10 PM']Hi there, for my next project i plan to purchase an OLP MM2 and change out the internals.

The planned pickup thats going in there is a kent armstrong.

Do you think i could fit a small preamp in that cavity or would i need too route it out? Id be looking at maybe those sabre remakes on the 'bay or kentarmstrong. It would also be 2eq.

If not, what sort of options do i have passively?

I dont want the option of coil splitting, but just a Master volume, push/pull pot for series/parrallel.

But what after this? Just a tone control, too roll off highs?

Is the any way i could CUT a certain frequency of choice (400/800hz) via a 2way switch?

Cheers![/quote]


You may be able to fit a preamp in the cavity, but they tend to be pretty tight so you *may* need to shave off a bit of wood from the sides of the cavity.
You won't be able to fit the battery inside 'though, so you'll have to create a cavity for it. It would be relatively simple to carve some wood under the scratchplate to fit it there (they last months and months, so no need to have easy access) or best to route a small cavity on the back, and use something like the 9V battery boxes from Gotoh (same ones fitted on Stingrays, at least on my 2002 one!), because they work well, and ou don't need to be very careful: the edge of teh box will cover 2-3mm around the edge hiding the cut edge.

I like the John East preamps a lot. They'll be an easy fit too. Not the cheapest 'though.
I also have a Seymour Duncan 3-band one which is quite good too.

The 2EQ ones you can sometimes find on eBay are supposed to be pretty good (like the original). Or you can build your own. Check out the Talkbass forum for a thread discussing the ins and outs. Cheap. You may be able to get a printed board there, so all you'd need would be the cheap components. I have a board from that thread, I just haven't got around to build it.