Pedal Or On Board Pre-amp For German Streamer Std

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I am picking up a 2002 German Streamer STD with 1 pu at the weekend. This will be my 1st Warwick so I apologise if my questions are answered elsewhere. I haven't played it yet but have wanted a Warwick since I played a Corvette LTD Edition in a guitar shop. Now I know that the Streamer is no Corvette in feel, price and sound lol

I understand that the output from the bass can be described by some as somewhat lacking. In anticipation of this, I am trying to decide whether to go the pre-amp pedal or onboard pre-amp route. I don't have a big budget so the pedal will not be a Darkglass or anything fancy like that. I am looking at an EH LPB-1 just to boost the signal. In regards to onboard, I hear good things about the Aguilar OBP 2sk.

So now my questions;

  1. I play in a four piece rock/pop covers band doing Hendrix, Stereophonics, Elvis....typical function type cheese.
  2. Will I need either? I have the option of plugging into a Warwick Protube IV or TC Electronic BH500 and then into a combination of TC Electronic BC210, BC410, BC212, handmade 210 Emminance driver or handmade 115 Emminance driver cab via a pedalboard with a Joyo American overdrive/distortion pedal on it. Would this set up boost the output enough without changing from the stock MEC and electronics?
  3. if so pedal or onboard?
  4. Which pedal or onboard? would the LPB1 give me the necessary bang for my buck?
  5. If I go with the Aguilar OBP2, do I need to get an additional push/pull pot to keep the functionality of the single/humbucker push/pull volume pot that is already on the Streamer or does the OBP2-sk come with such a thing or just a normal volume pot.

Sorry for all the questions and my complete noobness. Please break me in gently as the actress said to the bishop. I value any opinions and experience.
 

DiMarco

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Pedal!

There are sooo many great ones to choose from nowadays, and an onboard pre that sounds as good will usually cost more.
 
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What a coincidence. I just bought one myself, and after comparing it to my other basses, I noticed such a drastic difference volume wise that I’ve determined to either run a totally different amp setup or put a preamp in. Any suggestions - still a single pickup Streamer standard (currently just a Volume/Tone set up).
 

Stainless

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What a coincidence. I just bought one myself, and after comparing it to my other basses, I noticed such a drastic difference volume wise that I’ve determined to either run a totally different amp setup or put a preamp in. Any suggestions - still a single pickup Streamer standard (currently just a Volume/Tone set up).
Swap the pickups? :) I had the same issue with those MEC Balanced passive PUs. I put DiMarzios inside.

Technically you could modify them also with magnets, but those PUs are encapsulated.
 

Myh

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Hi Silky999


If you like the sound of the stock pickup you could just add an EMG PA2 onboard booster, it has a trim pot so you can preset the amount of boost up to 20 dB.

I did a more drastic upgrade on Myh Streamer Std. One pickup:

Adding a pickguard, a Delano Alnico P-Bass pickup, passive bass and treble control (cut only), moving the jack plug to the side, changing the bridge for a Warwick/Schaller bridge and other but minor changes. The outcome was rather good and the bass is in good use delivering the right P-Bass sound.

upload_2020-10-4_11-55-56.png
 

Hardy

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Good info, Myth!
Nice work on your bass too!
 

DiMarco

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To anyone with the same questions, here's another and imho great option:

TenBandEQ.jpg


If you check the bottom three frequencies of this ten band, you notice these are especially great for bass guitar.
The 4k is often the 'treble' freq on two band onboard preamps, and 8k close to that of three band ones.

Since I play both active and passive basses, this pedal helps me keep their sound and level better in line.
And since it is a graphic EQ, I can also fix unwanted on-stage boomyness by cutting 31.25hz by 6db or more.
I'm loving this unit, it runs on 18 volts so you need a capable PSU.

I also own a number of pedalboard bass preamps, but those add their own character to the mix and sometimes that is not what you're after.
 
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