Anyone ever build a bass preamp?

Just curious. In my quest to dial in my perfect rig, I've toyed with the idea of a do-it-yourself kinda thing. Has anyone ever built their own bass preamp? I don't mean an onboard thing. I mean a stand-alone unit to run a power amp with. I'd like to find a relatively easy circuit that has a three-stage EQ, meaning bass/mid/treble. I've seen a couple of designs on the web, but they seem to only run with a bass/treble configuration.

Any ideas?

all the research i've done to diy amp and preamps and i still wouldnt know the first thing about even modding one of my current heads, let alone what i'de need to build one from scratch ............


but this seems to me to be the best place to start ........

http://www.paia.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9305HSR


definately gonna be a project of mine in the future.

Looks cool! The only bummer is that it doesn't seem to have any EQ controls at all. But it's a start!

i think these are the things that are cool about DIY. this kit is what ... about $150 ... cheap for a decent preamp. i'm wondering if you did business over the phone, if theyd break kits up. there are all kindsa other kits with bigger boxes, small tone modeling kits and another one rackmount space eq kit that you could build a 2 rackmount space unit.

my art tpsII doesnt have eq. got a 3 band with frequency adjusting on my bass head, one on the effects processor preamp and one as a separate effect on the effects processor ... sometimes i'm wondering if i cant get the tone right because i'm forcing the tone too far one way with one eq and trying to force it back with another. no more eq banks for me ... thanx.

i'm minimally impresssed with my art tpsII ... it does the job but doesnt handle driving or starving the tubes too well. thought of upgrading the tubes but feel like i'de just be wasting my time. was thinking of doing one of these paia's in the future (since i cant afford one of those alembic preamps).

The thing is, it seems to me that the vast majority of DIY kits are made by guys doing the work from their garages. I don't believe that splitting up their kits is an option, since they aren't running a full-blown business, and have neither the need or want to do such a thing.

I already know that for my distortion channel, ultimately I need to get hands on a working DOD G7. It's my low-end channel that I'm after. I did like the Behringer, but it had so many blasted bells and whistles on it that it was a bear to keep dialed in. One bump of the wrong knob threw it into a different mode of operation, and it would be a mad scramble to correct what I had done.

All I want for my clean channel is a simple one-rack unit that has a pre gain, seperate bass/mid/treble controls, post gain, and line outs. I could also live with a DI out, but like having a compressor, I could live with doing that with an outboard unit.

Also, I want it cheap.

I'm not asking for too much, am I?

i'm smellin what your steppin in brother.

i'm a that point where i gotta do detective work to figure out why i lost my tone ... i just want it simpler again.

i stepped up to the bigger processor because it has no delay in switching banks / effects. furreal, eventually i'm just gonna use the processor to control individual effects pedals / preamp for better and simpler tone and just not use the effects in the processor. simpler way? maybe ... but it shud be easier.

sometimes i think we are asking for too much. if we cant get it, we gotta build it.

keep asking around. i'm sure theres someone out there who does exactly what your looking for ... its just the finding them.

Thanks, Bro. I really do appreciate the supportive words.

My drummer Doug, who is also our recording engineer, absolutely loved the sound of my Behringer preamp. But there were a couple of nights that I would bump something I shouldn't have, and there we were trying to un-do my mess-up so we could record. I also loved the sound of the Behringer, but I just wish that it were simpler to use. If I could find me a version of that unit without all of the bells and whistles, I would be so happy.

Just pre, bass, mid, treble, and post. At a good price. That's all I ask.

stripped down simple DIY preamp project .....

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/12AX7_Preamp/

theres also tons of other stuff on this website ... i'm going back there now to look around. take you time and lemme know what you find cool there. if i see something else that applies, i'll post it back here. really neat site.

Thanks, Bro! I'll have to dig around a bit more to find something more to what I want, but it's a start! If only that first design had the tonal controls I'm after! But again, I know that it shouldn't be rocket science to build a preamp to my liking, and it's sites like this one that give me hope.

yeah ... i dont know if what your looking for comes in a complete shrink wrapped package ... but sites like this show you that you can experiment relatively cheaply. experimenting around, you can try different setups, wiring paths and components to figure out what will work, what wont and how to get what you want ... then spend a few bucks with your plan to build a nice piece of equipment.

downside ... this site isnt audiophiles with musicians equipment in mind. these guys are building stuff for home stereo and theater equipment. the same relative theories apply ... we just need more power and output. i wouldnt be happy with thru a 10W tube amp. iddid probably sound great ... but not even close to loud enuff.

did you see the one where the guy used a baking pan turned over as a box for his tube amplifier build? awesome!