Aguilar OBP-1

It's a simple boost-only 2 band preamp, run with 18v. It doesn't get any simpler. There are a couple of variations on the wiring you can do; I chose the option that allows you to have a passive tone knob as well as the two actives. It's all color coded, so soldering it was a matter of minutes.

Holy crap. I put this in a P-Bass of mine that already had a Seymour-Duncan Quarter Pound P pickup. Upon turning up the bass and treble, the tone became really meaty and big, with a crisp high end. You'd be surprised how little you need to turn this preamp up in order to get some killer sounds.

Based upon Aguilar's reputation for building solid pieces of equipment, I have no complaints. I've used this bass now in my blues band, and it's held up well to 3-4 hour gigs on weekends.

I've emailed Aguilar a couple of times, and they've always responded promptly, in a no-nonsense fashion. I can't stand when you email a company about their products, and all you hear are "Dude, this is by far the greatest ______ ever! You will totally love it!" The folks at Aguilar made some great recommendations to me based on my needs, and even steered me away from some of their other products that they thought wouldn't fit as well.

It's a great little preamp, period.

Pretty no-frills: bass boost, treble boost.

The sound is SUPERB! Clean, tight, strong... Big wolly bass with really organic, glass-like treble. Sounds musical at almost every setting. The 18 volt power supply seems to really make a difference: no noise, tons of headroom.

Never had any problems (depends on the soldering skills of the tech who installs it). I did have an incident where my bass was plugged into a device that had phantom power via the 1/4" jack without my knowing. It made the preamp put out tons of static & sound real horrible so I switched it out. Later I realized what had happened, and was amazed that the incident didn't cause any damage. The preamp still works 100% (as long as it's not being fed 48 volts from the wrong polarity from a crappy external power source!!).

I called them about a scratchy pot. They would have taken care of me, but I remedied the problem myself before there was any need to.

This is a great preamp. It's a bit bulky, and the 2 batteries can be a hassle. But if you've got the space, and you want something simple that sounds fantastic, this onboard pre is for you.

Apparently this is the same crew that designed the much-celebrated Sadowsky preamp, some years ago. It sounds similar, but IMHO the newer Aguilar design with the 18 volts is stronger, tighter, generally more devastating & pure.

2001Volume, bass, treble onboard preamp. 18 volt system. Lots of headroom. Very warm, quiet, and punchy. I had it installed in my 2000 American Standard Jazz bass and it is everything that I could want as far as tone goes.

The P/Us are stock fender jazz which I will be replacing with Noiseless Jazz P/Us. I play Jazz/funk/Fusion and the Preamp really allows the sound to come through clean and crisp. I was going to get a sadowsky bass or preamp but don't need to go that route any longer. For those who like a warm, crisp, clean, punchy sound and are thinking about a pre amp. check out the Aguilar OBP-1. I'm running the Jazz through a SWR Goliath Senior (6x10 1 horn) and a SWR SM400. I'm done. The 18 Volt system on the preamp allows lots of headroom for power, bass, treble, volume. Everytime I perform the bass gets a lot of compliments on the tone and clarity and punch.

It's an 18 volt system. I change the batteries once a month. Other than that, it's been great and has never let me down.

Never needed it.

I've been playing 27 years. Lakland, A Basses, Modulus are offering the OBP-1 as an option. SO what does tha tell you. I've compared the pricing to Sadowsky's and I saved myself about $250 with installation.