Artec SE-3 Preamp

[TimR]

Have lost the will to live with my Ibanez SR400 volume pot. Its a non standard pot that's soldered to the board. There's no equivalent pot that I can find, or a pot that will fit, and have the same diameter shaft that will fit the existing knobs.

 

So I have two options, ditch the electronics, make it passive, blank off two holes and go that route. 

 

or

 

Replace the pre-amp. A shadowski pre-amp is probably more than I want to spend. So thinking of taking a punt on the Artec. 

 

Anyone used one of these? I figure it must be better than a 25 year old Ibanez stock. 

 

I have the DXP and DXJ passive pickups. 

 

 

https://www.thomann.co.uk/artec_se3_basselektronik.htm?gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=1581403900&gclid=CjwKCAjwy7HEBhBJEiwA5hQNotlg5qVmdkmIFXkIzrbymxNpJCwbkNKlg38RMUSnd83RC-nDuTX3CRoCxZYQAvD_BwE

[pete.young]

I've fitted the SE3A to a couple of Bass Collection basses (4 pot) and they are pretty good for the money. One of them developed crackly pots after a few years, the other one is still OK.

[PaulThePlug]

Nothing to loose...

But, have you tried it passive?

I've passivated 2 SR300, one with a P and Artec QTP Passive Tone, tother with Maida Vale Stacked Coil Jazz pickups, an SR400 with Twin Coil DiMarzios, both Vol and Pan and a SR500 with the Std Bartolinis and a 3 position switch, and no on-board tone control.

Edited yesterday at 12:54 by PaulThePlug

[TimR]

18 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

But, have you tried it passive?

 

I haven't. I think by the time I have purchased pots and wiring, had them delivered, soldered them all together, it would just be quicker and just as expensive to fit the pre-amp, which would only require soldering the existing barrel jack in.

 

 

[itu]

If you are into tinkering, use a rotary switch to get options like in Kubicki Ex-Factor: OFF/STAND-BY/ON... but like passive/active... 

[TimR]

19 minutes ago, itu said:

If you are into tinkering, use a rotary switch to get options like in Kubicki Ex-Factor: OFF/STAND-BY/ON... but like passive/active... 

 

The problem with active/passive is that the control knobs will be different values and part of the active circuitry, so not just a case of switching off the amplifier bit and keeping the volume. Would need a bit of thought. What about balance and tone controls? 

[itu]

I might do at least a bypass to electronics in case of a battery failure, and to get a few more sounds. Ser/par (pickups) could be another extra. 

 

If you think a tone is a must, one rotary switch position could be passive with a trimmer and a cap. With trimmer you can adjust the amount of tone, and then you'd have a preset tone ready. 

[itu]

...and as Artec is a plain tone stack, vol and balance are 250k or 500k. You can use them in lo-Z (active) and hi-Z (passive) modes. Therefore bypassing Artec would be very simple. 

[lemmywinks]

Had a few Artec pres in basses, currently have an SE2A on my fretless and an SE3P in my Zoot. They sound very good to me, prefer them to a lot of posher preamps. Centre frequencies are very musical, you'll need to shield the cavity properly as they can be noisy if that isn't done, once it's shielded they're silent however.