Budget On-board Pre-amp Recommendations

[Sean]

Hi Folks

 

I'm restoring an old bass (it's a hacked up early 80s BB400 from what I remember. It's routed for an MM and P. It has holes for 3 pots.

 

I've got a budget of £80 max to get it up and running.

 

I'm going to put in Warman pickups (£41.50 the pair), I've got loads of hardware, switches etc but need a preamp. I've looked at an Artec but they seem to be flat on 10 and just roll off frequency like filters from what I've read.

 

Any recommendations for a 3 pot preamp at around £25?

 

Thanks

 

 

[lemmywinks]

I've always liked Artecs, -/+ 12db according to the spec sheet:

http://artecsound.com/pickups/electronics/se2.html

https://www.thomann.co.uk/artec_se2a.htm

 

I have an SE2A in my fretless and there's definitely boost available, bass frequency is 100hz so doesn't get boomy too.

[lemmywinks]

I would get some shielding tape (dirt cheap from AliExpress) and shield the cavity btw, Artecs can be noisy without it in certain situations. I did my old Cort which had an SE-3P installed, went from noisy in my front room (tons of lights as my reptiles are in there) to deadly silent.

[Sean]

I've ordered the Artec now. I've got loads of copper for shielding so will fully shield the cavity.

Thanks very much.

[Rich]

+1 for the Artecs. My Thunder 1A has an SE2 in it at the moment, and I fitted a full fat SE3PA to my old fretless Yamaha, the three band with the sweepable mid, and it was great. For my money a 3 band with sweepy mid is the perfect preamp for fretless.

[Woodinblack]

16 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

I would get some shielding tape (dirt cheap from AliExpress) and shield the cavity btw, Artecs can be noisy without it in certain situations.

 

I found that, they are noise amplifiers so you have to be careful with their shielding

[lemmywinks]

15 minutes ago, Rich said:

+1 for the Artecs. My Thunder 1A has an SE2 in it at the moment, and I fitted a full fat SE3PA to my old fretless Yamaha, the three band with the sweepable mid, and it was great. For my money a 3 band with sweepy mid is the perfect preamp for fretless.

 

It was the SE3P I had in my old Cort, still have another one in a box somewhere. Really nice preamps.

[80Hz]

4 hours ago, Rich said:

and I fitted a full fat SE3PA to my old fretless Yamaha

 

It's good to know several folks rate these highly. I bought an SE3P recently to do a budget electronics replacement on a 90's Ibanez Soundgear which I picked up a few months ago. I have a Wilde / Bill Lawrence PJ set standing by.

 

I think I'll re-do the shielding paint while I'm in there just to be on the safe side 🙂

[kuetsum]

Check Baz custom bass pre amp

If you after the old Spector/ken smith tone.

Vadim made a really good one