Aguilar OBP-3TK/PP 3 Band Onboard Bass Preamp

Great low-price electronics overhaul for your bass.

Features: There are a few different kits floating around out there with different numbers and types of pots and switches; the kit I found came with the preamp, three 50kOhm linear pots, and a mini switch, as well as wiring diagrams to get you hooked up no matter what setup is currently in your bass. The mini switch is helpful if you want to take advantage of the preamp's selectable mid frequency.

Basically, the OBP-3 is a 3-channel active EQ that fits inside your control cavity.

The specs are:

• works with your current pickups (in all likelihood)
• 9 or 18V operation (18V add +/- 6dB to below numbers)
• +/- 18dB at 40Hz (bass)
• +/- 16dB at 400Hz or 800Hz (mid), freq can be selected w/ mini switch or hard-wired
• +/- 16dB at 6.5kHz (treble)

Sound: I put this in my hot-rodded Pilot bass, into which I also dropped in some vintage-style single coils. This preamp lets you tune in a huge variety of tones. Basically, if you want a particular tone, you can get it. The only possible downside is that it doesn't have a parametric midrange. If you don't know what that is, then this preamp will give you more tones than you need, but if you're a tone monger who needs to tweak his mid peak depending on what key you're in, look elsewhere...

The OBP-3 puts great tone controls at your fingertips: Need more bottom? boost the bass knob a little! Too much finger noise? Cut the highs! Need more "beefiness" (400Hz) or "solidness" (800Hz)? Put some mids in your bass...

Unlike most OEM preamps I've tried, the OBP-3 is actually useful throughout the knobs' travels, not just full boost/cut or center; and the "flat" setting preserves your bass's natural tone (or, if you're really picky, Aguilar supplies a wiring diagram if you want to put in an active/passive switch...). That being said, you probably don't need/want to boost the bass all the way, unless you don't like your woofers... Also, boosting the highs all the way tends to introduce more 60 cycle noise than is helpful.

To put it concisely, unless you have a botique bass worth more than your first car, the OBP-3 will make your bass more useful and sound better.

Durability: I'd say most of this comes from your skills as an electrician, since once it's inside your bass, it's not really susceptible to the environment, pets, or beer...