Overwater Original Series 'Filter Based Preamps'

[W1_Pro]

Hello folks,

I have a question with regard to this.

I've heard a few people mention Overwaters 'filter based preamps' over the years but I have to confess I have no idea what they are or what they do.

Were they fitted to Original series basses? I have three of them which are all passive. Two of those have completely standard pot and loom wiring  and the third has a pcb which might as well be pot and loom, as it has (mounted on the PCB) two pots (volume and tone), a coil tap switch and a capacitor. 

If anyone could shed any light and maybe a pic or two, I should be grateful.

[BigRedX]

I used to own two Overwater Originals. The older of the two had the filter pre-amp replaced with something more modern, conventional and IMO boring. The other still had the filter preamp fitted. 

 

The filter pre-amp is active and like most 80s electronics eats it's way through batteries, leaving the bass plugged in over-night by mistake would almost always drain the battery and under normal usage I would be replacing it every 2-3 months. Controls 4 single pots for volume, pickup balance and a then a single filter for each pickup. As far as I could tell the filter added a peak which could be swept using the control. I would set the bridge pickup to a slight top-end boost and the neck to a more bassier sound and then use the balance control to change the overall sound of the bass. Most of the time it was set to favour the neck pickup slightly. The filter preamp also included a DI output on an XLR next to the standard jack socket. 

Edited Friday at 11:08 by BigRedX

[bloke_zero]

Alembic and Wal are the names that comes to mind with filter preamps.

 

I got one from Luisitand - this one: https://www.bassdirect.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NFP-Preamp.pdf - I like it but I haven't used it much in anger. Good long battery life with it though as it uses modern components.

 

I don't know the Overwater versions - interesting!

[W1_Pro]

So Red, the Overwater that you had that was active..I assume that was a later one with the Kent Armstrong soap bars?

[BigRedX]

26 minutes ago, W1_Pro said:

So Red, the Overwater that you had that was active..I assume that was a later one with the Kent Armstrong soap bars?

 

They were both active, it's just that the earlier one had the filter pre-amp replaced by a more conventional one. The DI output was still in place it but the XLR wasn't connected to anything inside the bass. No idea who made to pickups. They were "soap bars" (for what that's worth, as there could be anything under the cover) under wooden covers. According to Chris May the basses dated from 1983 and 1985 so that makes them reasonably "early" in the grand scheme of things. IIRC the 1983 one was the first 5-string bass that Overwater had ever made.

 

I sold the 1985 model to someone here who might be able to add further info if they still have it.

[W1_Pro]

Thanks for that. As far as I'm aware, the  early originals had Bill Lawrence blades in them, and then for whatever reason, they (Overwater) moved to using Kent Armstong soap bars and continued doing so into the Artisan bass(on the right of the pic below).  The Kent soap bar is a relatively straightforward humbucker to  which Overwater (sometimes) added a coil tap to to facillitate single coil usage, one assumes...Mine are all passive and have a single jack out.

[BigRedX]

Both of mine had pickups that looked like those in the basses on the right of your photo.

 

Control layout was the same as that on the far right. I think it was volume, neck filter, bridge filter in line with the pickup balance control underneath.

[BiBaBass]

I once owned an old Overwater Progress Bass (called the Rabbit) with an old filter-based electronic.

In comparison to the Alembic ones it wasn‘t that effective and it didn't fit the bass very well.

In recent decades there have been repeated attempts to copy or to come close to Alembic or Wal-filter electronics,

but non of them have reached the goal.

[JPJ]

My Overwater Original 5 string used to belong to @BigRedX and is indeed fitted with the filter preamp although sadly this is a bit temperamental at the moment - probably due to me removing it to fit a John East Uni-Pre then reinstalling it when all the chat started on here about Wal’alikes and filter pres. It’s also a 36” five string with an almost piano-like B string. The pickups are the later Kent Armstrongs under wood covers. 

[BigRedX]

The position of the controls in the photo above is probably very close to my standard setting when I used to own that bass. Volume on full, neck filter to bassy, bridge filter to trebly, balance slightly toward the bridge pickup.

[JPJ]

Here’s a “guts shot” of mine. I’ve identified the issue as being a problem with the mounting of the volume control which is on a separate PCB to the main PCB. Looks like it might just need resoldering but that’s above my plumber grade soldering skills, so it’ll be off to a local electronics guru.

 

[W1_Pro]

That must be a 'late' Original I think JPJ? The pickups have moved into an Artisan like configuration I notice. Really interesting to see how they have developed over time. Is that the battery box just off to the left there?

[BigRedX]

25 minutes ago, W1_Pro said:

That must be a 'late' Original I think JPJ? The pickups have moved into an Artisan like configuration I notice. Really interesting to see how they have developed over time. Is that the battery box just off to the left there?

 

It's the one that used to belong to me. It's from 1985 according to Chris May. Does that make it "late"? The other Original I used to own was from 1983 and had the pickups in the same place. The battery box is on the back under where the bridge is on the front.

[W1_Pro]

AFAIK yes, 1985 is relatively 'late'. My burst one in the pic further up the thread is according to Chris 'very early' he dates that as 1979 and the blue one at 1980 or '81.  Here is a link to an article reviewing an Overwater with Armstrongs but in the same position as the earlier Lawrence pickups. A transitional model I suppose. It does mention in the review that Chris has been building this shape of bass for some time. https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/overwater-bass/6557?utm_source=chatgpt.com

The article dates from June 84.

Edited 4 hours ago by W1_Pro

[JPJ]

My first recollection of seeing an ‘Original’ Overwater was as a teenager, pressing my nose up against the window of Chris & Andy’s on High Bridge in Newcastle in the early eighties. One image that sticks in my mind was a window display containing an Original series fretless four string displayed alongside a JayDee Supernatural - that image caused unnatural stirrings in the trouser department.