Aguilar OBP-1 Bass Guitar Preamp

I installed an Aguilar OBP 1 onboard bass guitar preamp based on the 2 volume, 2 tone control schematic.

I had it wired with a blend pot. I tried 2 different blend pots. Two volumes just works better than a vol and blend on any bass with passive pickups regardless of the preamp.

With 18db of boost on each band, turn the tone controls all the way down to start. That's a ton of boost on each band. You'll probably never turn either one up past halfway.

Use 25k pots for the active tone controls. 500k or 250k potentiometers are for passive circuits... 500k volume knobs on passive pickups, for example.

No capacitors needed.

Tone pots do not need to have lugs grounded.

jaydavee videos are by John David Briley

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• bass
• guitar
• Aguilar
• OBP
• onboard
• preamp
• pots
• potentiometers

[pleximanic]

This make me want to smoke some POT man.

[jaydavee]

@pleximanic yeah I know. I seem like a pot smoker to a lot of people. It's funny that it's something I tried in the late 80's and early 90's and did not like it at all. :D I like nicotine and caffeine though.

[OJMAH]

I plan to install it or xtct 2 bands into my hohner b2 headless. Do you think it is possible or not? The space is very limit. It is about the same space to Telecaster guitar...

[jaydavee]

@OJMAH mine is a few years old. The dimensions may be different on a brand new one today. This one is (5.5 x 3.5 x 1.3 centimeters) 2 & 1/8 x 1 & 5/8 x 1/2 inches. The long end, 2 & 1/8 inches, needs an extra half inch of space for the wires to curve out of it.

[Kuuuks]

I just got one installed in my bass guitar and I noticed that when I touch the wires inside like you are doing it picks up radio frequencies and also when I go very close to any bass amp it has like a buzz but once I stay like 5 feet away the buzz stops, any help?

[jaydavee]

@Kuuuks

@Kuuuks I think that is a pickups thing not a preamp thing. It sounds like the pickups need to be grounded and the bass body cavities need to be shielded. The black area inside mine is shielding paint.

[bemolable]

any diference between opb-3tk,opb-3tkpp,opb-3sk ? which one is better?

[BassManBailey5]

Im a year into bass. Will this work in a OLP MM3?

[Drblooter99]

I put a rotary selector in my passive bass circuit, and attached several capacitors. I like the various sound options, but the selector switch makes electronic clicking noises whwn I switch. Do I need a resistor somewhere?

[barret707]

Do you know which wire coming from you're pickups went to the volume pot?

I just cant figure it out :(

[coal4life]

Thanks for the post. I've gotten an OBP-3 TK/PP. Tested the pots and all are within spec. I'm setting it up with two volume knobs as you did. The bass it's going into is a Dean that was active with what I think are passive pickups. They show 15.75K on the bridge and 13.63 on the neck unit. It had a blend pot with a 100K volume unit. Now I wonder if I should go with two 50K's or just try out everything from 1 meg to 25K and see what happens. Any suggestions?

[Mightypaul]

The obp-1 is bass and treble boost only. I wired mine with a passive tone control. With this setup I find that I have more control over my sound than I do with my Jazz bass with the obp-3 that has a mid control. Also it is on a 9 volt circuit because of space issues in my cavity and it works fine, in fact I can't tell any difference between 9 and 18 volts.