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Struggling with ACG pre


lowlandtrees

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If you have the acg-eq-01 it's worth making a note or taking a photo of a setting you like.  I sometimes meddle with mine to get a "new" sound, then spend hours trying to get back to where I started.  When you get the hang of it, much better than bass mid .treble EQ ... You can do that on your amp

 

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I am sold on the versatility of active low pass filter based bass tone controls. It took me a while to be able to make repeatable tone choices especially since mine have independent filters for each pickup. 👍🏾

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I really didn’t get on with the Filter pre when I tried it, so when I ordered my ACG, I had it built with the more standard treb/mid/bass JE preamp (I forget the name). The bass sounded awesome, and I found that preamp very intuitive (as that setup has been my experience of active basses for however long).

So yeah, if you like the bass, perhaps swap out the preamp for the more conventional one.

Si

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My ACG came with a dual EQ01 filter which I persevered with for several years but eventually swapped out for an East modular 3-band preamp.

I spent plenty of time getting to know and understand the filters in a variety of musical situations, but in the end the tonal range was just too extreme for my needs and I found it difficult to make fine adjustments in the small range that I found useful. I particularly missed being able to make small tweaks to cut or boost the mids which the EQ01 didn't allow for.

I'm still intriqued by filters though and now have a Lemme 'state-variable filter' in an outboard pedal, so I can mess around with it on different basses. Mostly for experimental purposes.

IMG_20210110_151603_resized_20210116_102700266.thumb.jpg.b1c34e5b1410ba017fbcf250fe086887.jpg

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7 hours ago, ikay said:

Lemme 'state-variable filter'

Stereo wire your bass and get two of these .... Acg-eq, sorted.

Must admit, as do John East and Alan C,  the eq-01 is adjustable beyond the realms of usefullness ( extreme reggae dub bass is fun tho ...max roll off & max Q ).  The Wal version is more useful.

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13 minutes ago, NickA said:

Stereo wire your bass and get two of these .... Acg-eq, sorted.

Must admit, as do John East and Alan C,  the eq-01 is adjustable beyond the realms of usefullness ( extreme reggae dub bass is fun tho ...max roll off & max Q ).  The Wal version is more useful.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread the lowpass filter range was reduced so it is now pretty much the same as the Wal. Most of the comments here relate to a version of the preamp that ceased to exist 5 years ago. 

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10 minutes ago, bubinga5 said:

sometimes I think you think you have to have lots of EQ when you don't actually need it.?. 

It all depends if you want a bass that can do the classics, P-Bass, J-Bass etc. which to be fair is about 80% of all bass sounds most people would want, or if you want something that can do both P and J, everything in between and more. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a bass that does P and/or J only, but personally for me I like a bass that can go to extremes, and the ACG pre-amps do that for me. They absolutely do take some getting used to, especially if you're coming from a 'standard' non-filter based pre-amp, but if you learn how to use it, then it really does provide everything you will ever want. 

I honestly think that if you spend one or two hours understanding the pre-amp, you will be able to use it to it's full potential. My two cents is that it is worth properly learning the pre-amp, once you've done this you'll get a lot more usage and enjoyment out of it. With a P/J bass you can almost 'jump straight in' and get a decent sound in a few seconds even if you've never played one before, but a filter based pre takes a few hours to 'learn', but once you've done that you'll get much more out of it and you only need to invest that time once! It's absolutely worth it in my opinion. :)

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39 minutes ago, NickA said:

..but the eq-01 is what I could buy from John 😁.  And I really like that hp pass through feature; like the Wal's " pick attack" but adjustable. 

The 01 still exists but it is not the same as the early ones which was all I was saying. Yes that was the plan for the top end of the highpass. The upper ring on the lowpass filters does the same as the push/pull on the Wal but again it is variable. 
 

I know the Wal preamp very well I played one for years. The 01 was my attempt to address what I thought could be improved from my perspective. There was also a bit of more is better and both myself and John are a bit prone to that so that lesson had to be learned. 

What I am also trying to get across is that filter preamps are not for everyone. You don’t need to have a filter preamp in one of my basses if you don’t want it so don’t let the filter preamp put you off my basses if you like the designs etc. 
 

Edited by skelf
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Just to be clear .. the acg-eq-01 I have is not in an ACG bass. I bought the amp direct from John East and put it in a bitsa project bass.  The electronics in new ACG basses are obviously more developed & refined.

Also have a Wal with their version of the same thing ( pull switches instead of adjustable knobs)

Personally I'm totally sold on having an " EQ" for each pickup.  Otherwise I'd have no on board EQ at all and just use the amp to adjust the sound. 

Great thing about ACG basses, you get the choice!

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I’ve been using an ACG for about 3/4 years now. With the filter eq. I understood the concept, after @skelf explained it, but it took a while to get my ears and brain into dialling it in. Even now I will have active practice sessions just dialling in different tones. I love it. 

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