Artec on board pre-amps, anybody have experience of them?

[Nibody]

One of my original bass guitars ( That I bought from New in 1992/3 ) is a Washburn XS-4. It has hung around when more expensive bass guitars have been traded/sold, I just love the neck (somewhere between a P and a J). They had an on board Preamp with Passive pickups (were switchable between Active/passive with a push/pull tone switch. Passive its nothing to write home about. You dont see that many around as they were only made for 2 years.

It's been in bits several times, and a while ago the active circuit started playing up, so I've bought an Artec SB-2 (2 band on board EQ with blend and volume preamp). I know there are some fantastic products out there but I couldn't justify spending £100 plus on a bass probably worth little more than that commercially but a lot sentimentally.

Has anyone here tried the Artec Preamps and have any thoughts on them? Mines due in from Thomann soon.

[brensabre79]

Yep I had one in my Jazz, the 2 band concentric pot type. It was pretty good, especially for the money - i think I paid around £25! There's a modicom of noise with them, especially when you boost HF, but not as bad as the early Musicman preamps.

I swapped it for an EMG BTC in the jazz though and I have to say, that it was worth the extra money. The EMG just sounds better, more transparent you might say. but The Artec is still getting plenty of use in my spare bitsa P bass.

It's a perfectly capable pre-amp.

[neepheid]

No problems with the 2 and 3 band ones with individual pots, but I had some bother with a couple of the 2 band concentric ones - bad pots which made horrible noises when you turned them or wiggled them, worse than scratchy, nasty clippy, signal drop out type noise. Not cool. It's the same board as the individual pots models though so my money was on a cheap pot gone bad.

They work pretty well, especially for the price.

[hamfist]

My experience was much the same as Brensabre really. I think they are very good value for the money. But if you buy an expensive preamp like an audere, an East, EMG etc, you will hear the difference.
In particular I found the parametric mids control to be surprisingly unpowerful on the Artec compared to the equivalent John East unit.

[ahpook]

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1400856030' post='2457630']
It's a perfectly capable pre-amp.
[/quote]

Plus the one.

I've fitted a couple - very good value for money.

[Nibody]

Cool thanks chaps. I just want to get the old girl going again so it sounds like it'll do what I want it to do. The Wasburn Pre was never fantastic and incredibly noisy but the pickups sounded so much more sweeter with it.

[BassBunny]

I've used both the 2 and 3 band ones and they are exceptional for the money. The only thing that lets them down is the pots. They seem to get quite "scratchy" quickly. East to get rid of by just rotating them a couple of times but better pots would make them pretty unbeatable.

[Paul S]

Same experience here, really. Put an Artec on board my old SGC Nanyo Bass Collection as one of the controls was a bit iffy and it did the job ok. But not in another bass - my Precision Lyte had a knackered preamp when I got it, put in an Artec, wasn't that happy with the sound. Put in an East U Retro and now it is gorgeous with a huge variety of sounds. But then the East unit was over £150 more expensive.