How do you use an active preamp?

[EJWW]

I've a super duper Mayones super Jazz bass. It has an East Uni preamp which can be bypassed. I love this bass. 

 

But I've been playing for nearly 30 years, countless different types of basses, and I've come to the conclusion I just don't 'get' active preamps on basses. 

 

I think the East preamp is a good one, and the Nordstrand pickups and bass in general is just excellent. But I only run the bass passive because it's just simpler, particularly on gigs. The Uni has got a traditional passive tone control and a blend. This seems to be just fine. So what am I missing out on by not using the active bit?

 

How do you get the most out of using an on board preamp? How not to keep messing around with the variable mid control? 

 

I guess what I want to know is how to get the most from this terrific instrument. It has a great natural, passive sound but by not utilising the preamp am I missing out on an even better aspect of it?

 

All tips and opinions appreciated 👍

 

[itu]

Start from the hi-Z (high impedance) sound. Then try to achieve the same with the preamp. If you love the hi-Z sound, you can tweak it with lo-Z (low impedance, "active") settings, like adding some more bass, or enhancing mids. 

 

Play with the settings! Mark King said in one magazine interview that he doesn't know what the adjustments do, he just turns them to the max. (Sure he knows, but the story was fun and a good reminder that do whatever you like.) 

 

Another reminder: 

If your amp or effects love one (hi-Z) or the other (lo-Z) output, use the one that works better. I have said it many times here that especially fuzz/OD/dist as well as some compressors work in a different way depending on the output impedance of the bass. Use your ears. 

Edited 2 hours ago by itu

[Doctor J]

I tend to run no EQ on the amp so start with everything flat and adjust to taste for what I'm playing, with no preconceptions of how it "should" be set. It depends on the room, my mood and the song. I use as little as possible to get the sound I'm after and I'm as open to cutting frequencies as I am to boosting. I have a few 2-band EQs on basses, often I will cut both low and high to accentuate the mids.

 

If the bass sounds great with everything flat, you win, just leave it alone. If it doesn't, then the EQ is there to help you win. In short, let your ears guide you to the sound you're after and don't think you need to boost the bejesus out of everything just because you can.

Edited 2 hours ago by Doctor J

[RichT]

Lots of people appear to think that the starting point for active controls is that they should be maxed out, and that seems to be why Stingrays for example have a reputation in some quarters as being ridiculously bright and trebley. They're only ridiculously bright if you turn the treble up to a ridiculous setting! 

 

You should always start with the controls centred and work slowly from there. In practice I usually end up with a slight bass boost, then on a 2 band eq I'll use the treble like a tone control to brighten/darken to suit the song. This often means my treble ends up below centre in a 'cut' poisition. 

 

If you have a 3 band then the Mid control is your "poke through the mix" control. Turn the mids up to be more prominent in the mix, turn them back to sit back inside it. Nothing wrong in changing that from song to song either. When I have a 3 band I do tend more to set the treble once and then leave it alone, and then the Mid becomes my 'tone' control instead. No point in making things unnecessarily complicated. 

 

 

[JapanAxe]

4 minutes ago, RichT said:

… start with the controls centred and work slowly from there. In practice I usually end up with a slight bass boost, then on a 2 band eq I'll use the treble like a tone control to brighten/darken to suit the song. This often means my treble ends up below centre in a 'cut' poisition. 

 

If you have a 3 band then the Mid control is your "poke through the mix" control. Turn the mids up to be more prominent in the mix, turn them back to sit back inside it. Nothing wrong in changing that from song to song either. When I have a 3 band I do tend more to set the treble once and then leave it alone, and then the Mid becomes my 'tone' control instead. No point in making things unnecessarily complicated. 

 

 

This is pretty much what I do on my one active bass. I tend to prefer passives but this approach works for me.

[Jack]

It's really useful to have a volume control that doesn't affect the tone. 

[gjones]

I have a John East J-Retro fitted to my Jazz Bass. 

 

I love a bit of low mid, which I feel gives punch and definition. When I go through a, front of house, PA I will turn up the low mids on my Jazz to prevent the sound engineer giving me a muddy sound out front.

 

Of course I could change the whole character of my bass, with various options available with the J-Retro, but I mostly keep things pretty simple.

 

I also like the ability to walk out into the room, while the band is playing, and change my tone to suit the room, without touching my amp controls.

[lemmywinks]

If you are happy without it then leave it bypassed, the Uni Pre is pretty transparent (think there's a jumper on the board which can change it to a pre shape so check this first) so it should be a very similar sound without cutting/boosting.

 

With it engaged you can just do all your EQing on the bass itself which is my preference, the Uni Pre does have extra internal jog wheels so you can set the individual pickup gains, upper and lower bass frequencies and how high the treble frequency goes. Basically you can boost bass without adding boominess and boost treble without it sounding too thin. Once you have those set it's a very comprehensive preamp and offers some incredible sounds so definitely worth spending some time getting used to it.