Seymour Duncan STC-3 3-Band Bass Preamp

Extremely easy to use, pain in the ass to install!!!!. On-board preamp for bass. Has bass, mid, treble, balance, and volume controls, the slap switch and internal presets for bass and treble for the slap switch.

Of all the on-board preamps I've had a chance to play around with on either my bass or someone else's(EMG, Bartolini, Duncan), this is by far my favorite. It does not offer a HUGE boost or cut for any parameter (bass, mid, treble), however it is absolutely quiet and transparent. Bartolinis are too warm for my taste although very smooth and silky, EMG's are too cutting and seem to make every bass sound the same by naturally scooping mids. This preamp seemed to offer clarity and warmth but had a slightly different tone than the rest. I can easily get a perfect balance of chest-pounding bass mixed with hi-mid crunch and harmonics, turn down the mids a bit and I have a nice smooth sound. The treble stays in the center position at all times.

Well...Duncan sources state this to go about 1000 hours on one 9 volt battery, however I think mine lasted about half that. Still not too bad though Treat it right and it'll do the same for you, just keep a 9 volt handy.

They have a great website so that counts for some points. Never dealt with them in person though.

It takes up a lot of space in the control cavity and it drains Energizers quicker than it says it's supposed to. However, what this unit does do is wonderful. It allows you to fine-tune your sound without noise and interference and also adds a lot of depth and dimension. If your sound needs drastic enhancements then personally, I think something's wrong. I should never have to have a control (other than volume) turned all the way up or down to have a decent sound. I'd buy it again if I broke it and wouldn't feel like I was missing out on anything else.

Very easy to get the tone you want. Just turn the knobs til you're happy, nothing challenging.

I bought the STC-3 as an upgrade for my Warwick. I'm not a massive fan of MEC, the stock circuit was too harsh. In comparison, the Seymour duncan is a godsend. Nice and quiet, full bass and subtle treble. A definite winner over the 2-band version, the mid control is very useful. Can really colour the tone if you want it to. Hate to quote manufacturer BS but in this case it actually applies - "gives great cut without being honky". Can't argue. Not too sure about the preset slap contour - a little too bassy for my taste, but this is easily changed via trim pots on the circuit board.

I've had a bypass installed on mine because I don't like depending on batteries, but this is just a personal thing. I'd say it's reliable. No problems as yet.

Never dealt with Seymour Duncan.

I've been playing everything from folk to funk and have found this preamp very easy to deal with. Great versatility and range of tones. I think it's a definite improvement on the stock preamp and for the price it's certainly good value. I considered Bartolini and Sadowsky preamps but am glad I settled for this one. It really brought my bass to life. What a cliche. Ah well.

This is the Seymour Duncan Basslines STC-3PSB onboard pre-amp for passive bassguitars. It has a slap-contour switch in form of a push/pull volumeknob, a pick-up blend, a mid-range and a stacked bass/treble knob.
Simply just a matter of tweaking till you're content and that's not hard... very easy to use because it's a simple setup!

I have it installed in my Warwick Streamer STD 4-string and it improved my sound drastically! The bass used to have a clean basspunch, but nothing more than that and now it has a very piano-like high-end and a nice and rounded mid-range in addition to the massive low-end.
If I crank the treble all the up it gets noisy, but there's no need for that unless you want to break glass or play jingly-jangly guitarsolos!
My bassrig is as following: Korg DTR-2 racktuner > DBX 160A compressor/limiter > Ampeg SVT-3 PRO bassamp > Peavey 8x10"TX cabinet.

There's a lot of wiring inside the bass and the e.q.-card does take up a lot of space, not to mention the 9-volt battery! I am a bit concerned that the battery will harm the wiring and/or the e.q.-card since I don't have a separate battery-compartment, but I try to look optimistic at the situation...
The battery has a life-span of about half-a-year so as long as I change batteries every six months I should be covered!
I'll still bring my Warwick Corvette STD with me, but that's because I use different tunings on my basses.

Never dealt with Mr. Duncan and I hope I never will! (No offense, man...)

This pre-amp really enhances my bass and I love it!
I bought because my bass needed an upgrade and my main basstech recommended it... I have no regrets!

I give it a "9" because of the wiring, but that's just peanuts, really!

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This preamp was installed in a Warrior 5-string bass that has 2 ASB-5 "Phase 1" active soapbars. The pickups sound great, but the preamp is noisy in the flat mode, and extremely noisy when the midrange and treble controls are boosted. The output of the preamp is about half as much as a Bartolini, Anguilar, or Sadowsky, but that's okay. The tone of the preamp is good in the regular mode, and when the contour mode is engaged. I could never get the sound I wanted out of the preamp, because I could never find the reason the preamp was so noisy.

If the noise was eliminated in the preamp I would be able to use it on any gig or in the studio. The reliability of it would probably be such that I would not have to have another bass with another preamp for backup.

The technicians at Seymour Duncan will talk to you about their products. The tech I talked to told me that many pros use their bass preamps and none of them have had any problems. It made me wonder if the preamps the pros are using are the same preamps the regular bass players are using, because my preamp was(is) extremely noisy. My experience with this preamp has not been good. Four or five bass players I know have tried this particular bass preamp, and all of them have complained to the music store where they purchased it from about the "noise."

I play funk, R&B, contemporary jazz, and gospel. Ive been playing for 28 or 29 years and I own or have owned some very respectible equipment: Pedulla, Gibson, PRS, Fender and G&L. My bass preamps are: Bartolini, Sadowsky, Anguilar, Fender and Suhr. If the Seymour Duncan 3 - band bass preamp was quiet it would be a nice preamp to have.

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This preamp was installed in a Warrior 5-string bass that has 2 ASB-5 "Phase 1" active soapbars. The pickups sound great, but the preamp is noisy in the flat mode, and extremely noise when the midrange and treble controls are boosted. The output of the preamp is not as loud as a Bartolini or Sadowsky preamp, but the output is decent. The tone of the preamp is good in the regular mode, and when the contour mode is engaged. I could never get the sound I wanted out of the preamp. This preamp made by Seymour didn't really turn me on.

If the noise was eliminated in the preamp I would be able to use it on any gig or in the studio. The reliability of it would probably be such that I would not have to have another bass with another preamp for backup.

The technicians at Seymour Duncan will talk to you about their products. The tech I talked to told me that many pros use their bass preamps and none of them have had any problems. And that's cool for the pros, but I'm not sure if they have the same preamps as the regular bassist. My experience with this preamp has not been good. Four or five bassist I know have tried this particular bass preamp, and all of them have complained to the music where they purchased it about the "noise".

I play funk, R&B, contemporary jazz, and gospel. I've been playing for 28or 29 years and I own or have owned some very respectable equipment: Pedulla,Gibson,PRS,Fender and G&L. My bass preamps are: Sadowsky, Fender, Suhr, and Bartolini. If this Seymour Duncan 3-band bass preamp was quiet it would be a nice preamp to have.