New Preamp for my Thumb NT5.

Morgoth

Morgoth

Sir Paul of Thumbalot
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Göüde Daying Comrades.

As my Thumb's preamp is most likely kaput, I'll have to change it. But, I know very little about preamps. That being said, since I really like the Thumb's tone, I'd like to get a pretty neutral preamp, that doesn't add too much of its own character to the bass'. Oh, and no MEC preamp please. I think I'm done with them.

Many thanks,

Paul.
 
bartolini is pretty neutral and comes in a variety of possible layouts
 
If you're looking for transparency you should definitely check out the Glockenklang pre amps. Made a night and day difference when I swapped out the MEC in my Vampyre for the Glock. Extremely clear, punchy sound without any brittleness or harsh high end. Does not color the tone very much, even with a lot of EQ boosting. Seemed to be a pretty big step up in output as well.
 
There. Three options and not one step closer :d
I would take schlobodan's word for it though, the man knows his stuff.
 
Bartolini is to warmth as EMG is to clarity/sterility, IMO - it's an amazing sound on my Pentabuzz, very warm and natural (with the pickups as well).

I have a Glockenklang preamp and I think it's fantastic (it's on a Fender though) - the high end might sound stupidly spec'd at 18kHz but it's surprisingly natural, and I stand by my assertion that 40Hz and 500Hz are the best bass and mid frequencies.

I'd put them in my Vampyre (as above) and Katana (same exact wood config), but a) I'm cheap and in the middle of a Warmoth build, and b) there's a coil split on the Vampyre, so I'd need some funky pot (see a)).

The_Other_Aaron, you might want to try flipping the bridge pickup upside-down (or changing which coil is soloed when splitting) to further change the sound - stock is too close to the bridge. I find the Vampyre to be very clangy and requiring a generous onboard mid-cut to get a usable sound (something I don't like doing), but your idea is interesting....
 
Well clangy is pretty much what I go for, haha. I like a big snarly pick tone. I basically run with my on board wide open to boost the signal. I really liked the way the vampyre sounded bypassed, tone wise, but it just wasn't aggressive enough. Having heard a lot of good things regarding the transparency of the Glock I gave it a try and it did pretty much exactly what I wanted. My Vampyre still sounds like my Vampyre, just with a lot more of it lol.

In a way I guess I stole the idea from my guitarist. He uses a tube screamer with the drive turned down and the tone cranked to boost his signal, then turns down the gain on his head. Adds a lot of bite and aggression especially on the attack, and tightened up his tone quite a bit(ENGL Savage 120).

As of late though I gotta admit I've really been digging the sound of the Bart p/j and Bart 2-band in my LX4 SE. Biased like 80% to the p and with the eq boosted it sounds like a P-Bass on crack, lol. I still think it can be improved though, my car guy gene keeps telling me to MOD ALL THE THINGS, hahaha.
 
I've been a huge Seymour-Duncan fan well before I became an endorser of theirs, mainly because the stuff works so well with the "sound of wood." I switched out the pres on my Streamer LX and Corvette Std. with the SD STC-3a and STC-2a preamps, respectively and the results are great. For my Streamer, the 3-band (over the 2-band MEC) just adds a little more control; tonally I can't tell a difference. The Std. is much more apparent, mainly because I didn't have a pre in it prior; it really opens up the sound and gives me a LOT of control over the tone of the bass, which I'm relearning.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys!

But, I haz another question. schlobodan told me there is no proper room for an extra knob (as the Glock 3-way has 4 potis). So, I wondered, am I stuck with a 3 knobs preamp for the Thumb? No feasible change for a 4 potis preamp? Because that reduces considerably the number of preamps I could choose and well... the MEC is a no-no-no for me and the Bartolini seems pretty hard to find.

Le Thanks. :)
 
my obp-3 also has 3 knobs.
stack lo/hi, mid push-pull, stack vol/vol
 
i got opb-3 on my taranis 5. it just way too much bass for me. so i got a used 2nd hand MEC that was taken out from a 80s thumb nt and it sounded like how i want it to sound like.

my vampyre dark lord its all stock and it sounded badass.
 
Glockenklang DOES make a 2 band version with three pots. I know it's a shame to lose that mid band but that might even work - on fretless, anyway (i.e. I'm considering it for myself!)
 
Yep, I might go with the 2 band version. After all, the Thumb has all the mediums you could dream of... even though it's still handy to have the mid band.
 
One thing to remember is the MEC has a bit of a mid cut in it already so just by taking it out you will end up with a little more mids not including the color of the new pre. It's subtle but noticeable in those MEC vs. OBP vids. I personally love my OBP and don't think it colored my tone too much (without tweaking the EQ obv) and you can get them in many different configurations so you can do what I did and get extra switches instead of extra knobs which will fit much better in a Thumb (if you wanted active/passive and 400/800hz).
 
I prefer 2 band to 3 because I strongly feel the frequency of the treb control on 2 bands is at a much more useful frequency.On the 3 band I never touched the treb control and always left it at center position.
 
DiMarco said:
I prefer 2 band to 3 because I strongly feel the frequency of the treb control on 2 bands is at a much more useful frequency.On the 3 band I never touched the treb control and always left it at center position.
Click to expand...

I totally resonate with your post. I just LOVE 2-band MEC's treble control.
 
If ya love the Thumb's tone, why not go completely passive?
 
Grgzilla said:
If ya love the Thumb's tone, why not go completely passive?
Click to expand...

Actually, that's the first question I asked to the Luthier. He told me that it was indeed possible. But if I ever get to sell or trade the bass, I guess having a preamp would be a plus. Or, rather, not having a preamp would decrease its value. ;)
 
But AFAIK the Thumb pickups are active, and still require a battery? At least that was the case with my '91...

With that said, I agree with going passive!
 
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