Pre-amps and Lane Poor Pickups

[5stringho]

Hello, Oh knowledgeable ones...
I have a Precision Bass Special (yea, I know, uggh, ackkk, pttffttt)that I use mostly for outdoor gigs and at venues of questionable repute(so I actually use it quite a bit). I bought it specifically because I had a set of Lane Poor's P/J pickups laying around collecting dust. Used in conjunction with a Sadowsky Outboard Pre-amp/DI, it really sounds great. Not Series or anything, but a rather nice old-school tone. I am thinking of adding an on-board pre-amp, and would appreciate some input.  
  I'm looking at Sadowsky's on-board, Alleva-Coppolo, Aguilar, and a rather new player in the field, Audere Audio. I imagine the Sadowsky and Aguilar OBP-1 are pretty close, since Alex Aguilar designed the Sadowsky, and is quite a bit less than Roger's offering. I havn't had a chance to hear the Alleva-Coppolo, but it appears by spec to be quite similar. The Audere got a thumbs-up review from a magazine that shall remain nameless, and has some intriguing features, but I don't want the Lane Poor pickups artificially colored. They just need boosted.
  Any of you had any experiences (good or bad) with these pre-amps or Lane Poor pickups? Ideas or suggestions? Other pre-amps to consider? Just being curious. It sounds really good with the Outboard pre-amp, but I'd rather just have it ready to go anytime without having to fool with hooking up the pedal.
   I thank you for any info you may be able to provide!
             Have Fun, Mike, tho =]

[edwin]

Well, I have a Lane Poor preamp lying around here somewhere. I used to have a set of his pickups which were very noisy. It's a great preamp, just clean, clear gain with two inputs and one output. Let me know if you are interested.  
 
I had an Audere for a while and I liked it OK, but didn't really go for the impedance switch. I do like the Retro series of preamps, I have a J-Retro  in my Lakland JO5 and it sounds really nice.
 
Edwin

[dfung60]

For what it's worth, if you're considering Aguilar preamps, I'd take a look at the OBP-2 instead of OBP-1.  The OBP-1 is the original product (and I think the closest to the Sadowsky).  It's designed in the style of the stock Stingray preamps and just boosts.  The OBP-2 has boost and cut, so it's more like the more conventional active preamps such as EMG and Bartolini.  
 
I put an OBP-1 in an old Warwick Streamer of mine who's active EQ had conked out.  Warwick still sold the original circuit (this was a 1989 Streamer which I had bought in the mid 90s) but at a truly exhorbitant price.  So I put the Aguilar in, given it's very positive reputation.  The sound is good, but I determined very early on that boost-only is not happening for me - I regularly want to cut treble, especially on the bridge pickup so the OBP-1 was not a good match for me.  It's also physically very large - two 9V batteries + the EQ board which is in a box that's considerably larger than a 9V battery.  
 
I haven't picked up an OPB-2, but that does have boost and cut, so probably would work better for me.
 
In the Warwick, I ended up swapping out the OBP-1 for an EMG BT.  I like the sound of the EMG too although it's not as natural sounding as the Aguilar.  It's very compact and only needs one battery, too.
 
I've never been much of a fan of 3-band systems (Aguilar, EMG, etc.).  The EMG 3-band has a sweepable mid filter and I still can't find any position that I like for it.
 
David Fung

[5stringho]

Thanks, Edwin and David! I appreciate the input and info. You can always count on people to come thru here at the old AC! Looks like I may try to work something out with Edwin on his LP Preamp. I just never thought I could actually find one! I'm sorta thinking I may want to keep it as close to passive as possible, for that type of tone. These pickups really sound great by themselves. I have other basses with the 2 or 3-band boosts and cuts (Bartolini's and Warrior) and they sound good, but maybe not for this particular bass. And for me, I've been using the boost-only MusicMan for so long I've never even thought about it!
Edwin, look for an e-mail. If ya don't get it for some reason, shoot me one. Thanxxxx again, guys!
Have Fun, Mike, tho =]