Looking For Ss2 New Preamp Recommendations

[flyboycj84]

Hi all....been troubleshooting a rather annoying noise from my bass since I got her a few months ago. Long story short....Looks like the preamp circuit board has something wrong with it.

I'm going to just replace the preamp. Seems the Nashville store doesnt have any in stock, and banzaimusic just told me after 2 weeks of waiting that they don't have one either. So, if you were to have your pick of the litter, what would you choose/recommend? I'd like to keep the same set up as now......1 push pull volume/blend, bass, treble, mid.

Thanks!

 

[jester]

What's with everyone's electronics lately, did some EMP superweapon strike???

Assuming your pickups are active, you can choose between these two:

WARWICK BEC 3 El.f.Akt.PU 1V-BAL,1B,1MID,1 old model until 08-2002
WARWICK BEC 3 El.f.Akt.PU 1V-BAL,1B,1MID,1 new model from 09-2002

You can search for these by part number in banzaimusic or on the net in general. Let me know if you need anything else, good luck!

 

[flyboycj84]

Thanks Jester.....Im done with Banzai at the moment, and would prefer to try and get from somewhere in the states. They seem to be very difficult to communicate with, and Im quite irritated that it took 2 weeks for them to tell me they were out of stock.

Any non-MEC options you'd also recommend?

 

[jester]

Thanks Jester.....Im done with Banzai at the moment, and would prefer to try and get from somewhere in the states. They seem to be very difficult to communicate with, and Im quite irritated that it took 2 weeks for them to tell me they were out of stock.

Any non-MEC options you'd also recommend?

Aguilar OBP-3 volume push/pull, balance, stacked bass/treble, mid with push-pull for 400Hz/800Hz selection. Lots of flexibility, makes your bass sound fatter and a bit more sparkly. I consider it not transparent though, it definitely has its own thing going.

I would also recommend the Bartolini preamps, everyone is saying the best about them, my only reservation would be the possibility that they are optimized for passive pickups whatever that would mean.

 

[flyboycj84]

Thanks!! Looks like I can get the Bartolini in 2days with Amazon. The knob setup is a little different, but I can deal with that.

 

[kimgee]

Try checking with The Bass Place:
https://www.thebassplace.com/
They have a lot of Warwick parts, as well as other brands, and have always been great with me. Ask for Randy and tell him Kim said Hey Dude!

 

[jester]

Thanks!! Looks like I can get the Bartolini in 2days with Amazon. The knob setup is a little different, but I can deal with that.

Whatever you get, let us know about your impressions!

 

[flyboycj84]

Try checking with The Bass Place:
https://www.thebassplace.com/
They have a lot of Warwick parts, as well as other brands, and have always been great with me. Ask for Randy and tell him Kim said Hey Dude!

Thanks, so actually they do have the part online. At nearly DOUBLE the cost of getting one from Germany or the Warwick showroom in Nashville. WOW.

 

[jester]

Thanks, so actually they do have the part online. At nearly DOUBLE the cost of getting one from Germany or the Warwick showroom in Nashville. WOW.

Did you use the Hey Dude! trick?

 

[kimgee]

Thanks, so actually they do have the part online. At nearly DOUBLE the cost of getting one from Germany or the Warwick showroom in Nashville. WOW.

While I have never bought parts from The Bass Place, I have purchased several guitars, and got fantastic deals. For example, a brand new - in the sealed factory box, Fender Select P bass for $1200 shipped, and a new Warwick 2016 LTD 4 string Corvette for $2550 shipped. I have also purchased used guitars and a few cases from them, all at favorable prices. I would recommend calling them and see what the deal is with the prices they have listed. Good luck.

 

[flyboycj84]

While I have never bought parts from The Bass Place, I have purchased several guitars, and got fantastic deals. For example, a brand new - in the sealed factory box, Fender Select P bass for $1200 shipped, and a new Warwick 2016 LTD 4 string Corvette for $2550 shipped. I have also purchased used guitars and a few cases from them, all at favorable prices. I would recommend calling them and see what the deal is with the prices they have listed. Good luck.

Talked to Rusty yesterday, super nice guy. He didn’t have the part in stock. Quite ironically he called me back an hour later and the part had just arrived UPS. All that said, his price was $395. Seems steep to me when I was gonna pay Banzai $225 shipped. Also, the Bartolini on Amazon is only $200. Banzai has reached out to me offering the 18v version. So I dunno what I’m gonna do.

I like that I can get the Bartolini by tmrw, but also don’t want to lose my Warwick sound. I’ve read almost literally 50/50 for and against the Bartolini. I read good about the Aguilar, but am not interested in soldering all that.

 

[StreamerII84]

Any luck on this preamp swap? Does the aguilar OBP3 had higher output than the warwick preamp? Specifically the post 2016 preamp?

 

[Nightmaresandconclusions]

Best I tried in my wicks is a John east. Super quite and very rich sound. Iv had noll, mec, emg, seymor Duncan etc. If I could afford it id have john east in all my basses.

 

[Adhesive_X]

I put an OBP-3 in my $$5 and it's amazing!

 

[DiMarco]

+1 on the John East. I have a uni-pre 4 knob in my Zon Sonus and besides sounding ace it is very flexible.

It has:

• Preset jumper for flat or slightly scooped
• Jumper for cut+boost or boost only
• trimpot for treble shelving freq for the treb dial
• trimpots for upper and lower bass freq for the bass dial
• Stacked mid control pot with frequency sweep
• passive tone pot with push-pull for active/passive mode
• Stacked vol/bal pot
• Stacked bass/treb pot with pull for treb boost at 10khz.
• No soldering required, you stick the wires into screw terminals.

It is without any doubt the best I have so far experienced.

 

[DiMarco]

oh zombie thread

 

[jester]

oh zombie thread

What zombie, not even one year old. Also I do want an East pre now.