Pre-amping?

[arabassist]

Hello,

Please excuse my crap knowledge on electronics for bass. I was reccomended to get a pre-amp for my new squier VMJ in order to make it into a beast for slapping. I have a few questions about preamping:

a) what kind of preamp would make the VMJ great for slapping?
b ) does using active pickups count as preamping the signal?
c) do effects pedals also count as preamps?
d) i hear you can connect your bass to a preamp and then to your PC's soundcard, allowing you to record with much better quality - is this possible?

cheers

i should be shot for my ignorance

Edited June 23, 2009 by arabassist

[Musky]

I think whoever told you to get a preamp was probably talking about an on board preamp. I can't make any suggestions which ones to look at because I've no experience whatsoever in retro fitting one.

Active pickups aren't usually counted as the sort of preamp you're talking about because all they do is boost the very low levels the pickups output to something usuable by your amp's preamp (if that makes sense ).

Some pedals will do the job of a preamp, like EQs or the SansampBBDI. Sadowsky do an outboard preamp that's the same as their onboard version, though it's not a pedal as such.

An onboard preamp won't do much to improve the sound direct to a soundcard because the levels probably won't match the input, though it will give you more scope to shape the sound.

Edited June 23, 2009 by Musky