Onboard preamp questions for the knowledgeable, recomendations wanted...

EWH

EWH

Jul 7, 2017
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Denmark, Europe.
#1
Hello to all readers/contributors...

I humbly seek your thoughts, opinions and recommendations concerning the following two onboard preamp manufacturers: Noll Electronics and Glockenklang...

What I am looking for is more information on which brand and which of their products to go with - based on your experience(s) and knowledge.

With your help to make my final decision, the "winning" preamp will be wired into my new Custom Shop bass - a *very modern* version of B.C. Rich Mockingbird bass (made by official BCR CS luthier Casey Crabtree of No Shadows Optics, CO.) later this month.

Info you will certainly need to aid with your answers:

- The bass is neck-through and has "double P" pups with a traditionally large BCR rear cavity to house lots of stuff (see attached fotos) however, it will not have the traditional BCR loom inside - only up to 4 volume and tone controls.
- The pickups are 2 sets of passive DiMarzio DP 296GB Relentless Middle - Billy Sheehan's signature pups.
- I'm only looking for one master volume, one pickup blend with center detent, one bass boost (evt. push/pull) and one treble boost (evt. push/pull). A mids boost would be nice as well but I have asked for only 4 control holes in my efforts to "keep it simple, stupid", so it looks like that is not possible...
- I am normally exclusively a EMG/Bartolini P/J pup guy so this bass will be quite different in sound - and I may try to get the same familiar sounds out of this bass on occasion as well...
- I play with a plectrum 90% of the time and my preferred genres are within the rock/heavy rock to heavy/speed metal.
- I use versatile digital amps like the Peavey MegaBass and miniMega and effect stompboxes, so my sound doesn't rely solely on the bass and what it has itself. But, I do want the onboard gear to noticeably and effectively cut through my mix when I use it...

Any and all thoughts and opinions are welcome - please do share them freely. I look forward to learning more about this topic.

Thanks in advance for your time and input...!

20230209_134543.jpg 20230209_134627.jpg
 
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#2
I've used both as replacement preamps in several bass guitars. I'll take the Noll all day long. The Glockenklang is great. Accurate. But the treble control is set to too high a center frequency. There is too much separation between the low end control and the high end control. I prefer the Noll in that it is Hi Fi, but has more meat in its output. I prefer two band preamps, as the bass control has a wider Q into low mids. So when I do boost, or cut, bass, it sounds as if it does more with less travel. I use my pickup balance to add or remove mids, more bridge pickup equals more mids, for me. More neck pickup, less mids.

The tone I seek gigging and recording is not what others may seek, however. I'm a bit old school. I play a lot of styles at a LOT of gigs. But I don't chase recorded tones. I don't try to sound like Geddy when I play Rush, nor do I want to sound like Aston Barrett when I play reggae. I don't play with a pick when I cover Megadeth. I don't slap when I play Chili Peppers. I seek to enhance my own sound in styles I play. The Noll is transparent, but not quite as pure as the Glock, in my experience.

That experience was illustrated recently with preamp swapping in two Warwick Streamer Stage 1 basses. A 6 string fretted and an old 5 string fretless. Both came with MEC preamps that were very good, but both failed. So me and a buddy tried a lot of preamps. Duncan, Bartolini, Aguilar, Glockenklang, Noll. The Noll was a shock how well it performed. I installed a 2 band Noll with a passive tone control and it was our favorite by far. My buddy likes the Aguilar preamps. He does a lot more slap style than me, tho. He likes his mid control.

Hope my experience helps. But in the end, you must try both. Because, in the end, it is your ears you gotta please. Everyone's style is different. Everyone's tonal goals are different. And, it's fun to gain the knowledge and experience trying all you can.
 
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#3
David McIntire said:
I've used both as replacement preamps in several bass guitars. I'll take the Noll all day long. The Glockenklang is great. Accurate. But the treble control is set to too high a center frequency. There is too much separation between the low end control and the high end control. I prefer the Noll in that it is Hi Fi, but has more meat in its output. I prefer two band preamps, as the bass control has a wider Q into low mids. So when I do boost, or cut, bass, it sounds as if it does more with less travel. I use my pickup balance to add or remove mids, more bridge pickup equals more mids, for me. More neck pickup, less mids.

The tone I seek gigging and recording is not what others may seek, however. I'm a bit old school. I play a lot of styles at a LOT of gigs. But I don't chase recorded tones. I don't try to sound like Geddy when I play Rush, nor do I want to sound like Aston Barrett when I play reggae. I don't play with a pick when I cover Megadeth. I don't slap when I play Chili Peppers. I seek to enhance my own sound in styles I play. The Noll is transparent, but not quite as pure as the Glock, in my experience.

That experience was illustrated recently with preamp swapping in two Warwick Streamer Stage 1 basses. A 6 string fretted and an old 5 string fretless. Both came with MEC preamps that were very good, but both failed. So me and a buddy tried a lot of preamps. Duncan, Bartolini, Aguilar, Glockenklang, Noll. The Noll was a shock how well it performed. I installed a 2 band Noll with a passive tone control and it was our favorite by far. My buddy likes the Aguilar preamps. He does a lot more slap style than me, tho. He likes his mid control.

Hope my experience helps. But in the end, you must try both. Because, in the end, it is your ears you gotta please. Everyone's style is different. Everyone's tonal goals are different. And, it's fun to gain the knowledge and experience trying all you can.
Click to expand...

A great answer - Thank You very much for it, David...:thumbsup:
 
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#4
EWH said:
A great answer - Thank You very much for it, David...:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Yer welcome, sir. Good luck. One point I might mention, those Relentless pickups are very, very hot, signal wise, on their own. They won't need a ton of boost or signal strength help. They could very well overdrive the input of any preamp. I'd definitely go with an 18v setup, regardless of choice in preamp. Also, Audere makes a simple, 3 band pre with a stacked pot for treble and bass, and a mid pot. That would give you a 3 band in two holes. If mids are necessary. I think Noll and Glock offer that option, too. Just food for thot.
 
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#5
David McIntire said:
Yer welcome, sir. Good luck. One point I might mention, those Relentless pickups are very, very hot, signal wise, on their own. They won't need a ton of boost or signal strength help. They could very well overdrive the input of any preamp. I'd definitely go with an 18v setup, regardless of choice in preamp. Also, Audere makes a simple, 3 band pre with a stacked pot for treble and bass, and a mid pot. That would give you a 3 band in two holes. If mids are necessary. I think Noll and Glock offer that option, too. Just food for thot.
Click to expand...

Your first post was all the convincing I needed - I have been leaning toward the Noll for the longest time, the "Glock" being the only second choice I was interested in. Thanks to your well-worded thoughts and experiences, I went for the TCM2 2-Pickup 4-Knob 2-Band B 2003 version - passing over the 3-band version based on you reminding me to control the mids by panning more efficiently between bridge & neck pups...That, plus the other EQs my signal goes through before hitting the cabinets makes the 3rd mid-range band redundant enough to skip over in a preamp...Thanks for that reminder...! I'll make sure Casey puts an 18v cassette into the cavity as well - hope there's room left over as he's got some LED stuff going on there as well...;) If it turns out that Mr. Sheehan's pups set everything on fire, I'll be very gentle when applying whatever the Noll does to their signal...Perhaps I'll finally be able to have "millimeter control" and the days of cranking control knobs fully over to one side or the other will be over...:laugh:
 
#7
9c1ny said:
Wasn't this bass finished like 4 years ago?

Double Bill Lawrence P's with V/V/T/T and 1 switch for a Moser booster
Click to expand...

No, you must be confusing a different build with mine - THIS bass was ordered in late 2020...Work on it began well into 2021, once Casey had found the perfect plank of flamed maple - this entire bass, including it's maple fretboard, is made from the same plank...:thumbsup:

With that said, I had originally ordered a BCR Custom Shop Mockingbird bass (completely different specs and hardware) precisely 5 years ago in february 2018 from the CS luthier at that time. However, after 2.5 years of extremely poor communication, missed deadlines and assorted far-fetched tales, I recinded my order. That luthier was then ejected from BCR shortly afterwards as the company was undergoing major internal changes at that time. What he had built for me was painfully incorrect and was later sold to someone else.

That bass had double P-pups and a full Moser circuit loom.

The "new" bass, which should be completed by the end of march give or take a couple of weeks, is radically different to the original order as I wanted to distance myself from it in every way possible.

So, perhaps you are thinking of these two separate basses...?
 
#8
EWH said:
No, you must be confusing a different build with mine - THIS bass was ordered in late 2020...Work on it began well into 2021, once Casey had found the perfect plank of flamed maple - this entire bass, including it's maple fretboard, is made from the same plank...:thumbsup:

With that said, I had originally ordered a BCR Custom Shop Mockingbird bass (completely different specs and hardware) precisely 5 years ago in february 2018 from the CS luthier at that time. However, after 2.5 years of extremely poor communication, missed deadlines and assorted far-fetched tales, I recinded my order. That luthier was then ejected from BCR shortly afterwards as the company was undergoing major internal changes at that time. What he had built for me was painfully incorrect and was later sold to someone else.

That bass had double P-pups and a full Moser circuit loom.

The "new" bass, which should be completed by the end of march give or take a couple of weeks, is radically different to the original order as I wanted to distance myself from it in every way possible.

So, perhaps you are thinking of these two separate basses...?
Click to expand...
No, thinking of your original order ;)
I know Bryan loves the bass Ron built for you.
Think you were saying like a year ago this one was close to done.
 
#10
9c1ny said:
No, thinking of your original order ;)
I know Bryan loves the bass Ron built for you.
Think you were saying like a year ago this one was close to done.
Click to expand...

I thought it was you...:D
Funny how you never see him playing it though...:rolleyes:
And, I might have had it a year ago if Bill wouldn't have kept interrupting my order for some utterly forgettable celebrity's GA Wave copy or the f'king US production lines of Stealths & IB's...:cautious:
I think I'll get Shannon over at Jackson to build my next BCR CS bass...:whistle:
 
#12
EWH said:
Nice pups - too bad about the color, though...

I see you sold off Casey's Wave - without changing the pups...Hope the new owner has a black felt pen...:p
Click to expand...
I asked him if he wanted black or creme, he chose creme. Hopefully you enjoy your bass
 
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#14
EWH said:
I would have chosen black...:)

Yes, me too - I can't wait to show it to you...I talked to Casey yesterday and he's just waiting for this Noll peamp to show up to do a mockup of the cavity controls, etc...Then it's off to paint...:)
Click to expand...
So probably September ;p
 
#20
9c1ny said:
Bills been dead for years, not really even the same company anymore
Click to expand...
His wife and daughter run the company and produce his pickup designs. How is that not as close to the same as you could possible get?

On topic: I like the Glockenlang preamp because I have experience with it. The active/passive switching that utilizes the treble pot as a passive tone control is really handy. It's a transparent sounding preamp with powerful controls.
 
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