Artec SE-2A Bass Electronic Set

I fitted this on a previously passive Iceman bass. The shafts of the pots aren't long, so I had to do a bit of woodwork and the width of the dual concentric tone control is bigger than a normal tone knob, so the hole needed to be rewired. They give you a good amount of cable to position the battery.

I had a problem in that after grounding the bass, it no longer made any noise and found out that the wires that went from the balance output to the tone input were reversed which was shorting out the board. Taking the pins out of the plug and putting them in correctly (as the silk screen on the board shows) fixes the problem. Also note that there are no instructions with these preamps, although instructions are on artecs website. Everything is wired (even if incorrectly) apart from battery +/- and jack out/ground/switch solder terminals on the board.

Apart from the wiring issue, which is why I marked quality down, the actual quality of the preamp is fine, I can hear no difference with it in or out of the circuit with the tone controls flat, as it should be, and the tone controls provide a useful range of options.

So initially I thought this preamp sucked the tone massively from my musicman style pickup, making it quite boxy / dead. Then I realised that at centre detent the EQ is actually sucking half the bass and treble out of the mix. When both hi/low are at 100% my pickup was back to sounding as it should (with a nice quiet transparent boost). So really you need to leave it at 100% and the roll back the bass for a treble boost, and roll back the treble for a low pass. A proper designed preamp should be effectively bypassed at the middle position, this is not. hence the three stars.

However when you know this it can be used quite effectively, if you're good at soldering the stacked potentiometer can be replaced with two seperate hi & low pots. The volume control is very smooth and linear which is great.

splendid piece of kit.
this brings a bit more life into the old axe, it does however highlight any earth issues and pick up wiring conflicts.
my aria p2 has a single and hum bucker, they had to be wired in reverse of there original wiring which brought to my attention earthing problems....simple, need new pickups. bummer.
enhances the basses top mid and bass with a real difference.
the blend button is a bit harsh and doesn't really give a lot of range and it wont work full stop without a battery... keep a spare at hand.
real easy to fit and im sure once you got through the positioning and wiring you'll be reasonably impressed. I am.

I purchased one of these to put into a 1989 fender precision bass refurbishment I as doing, it was easy to install using the online schematic (there isn't one provided but it's a simple search away online) and I don't think you can do much better for double the price. The stacked tone knob and volume pots are smooth and are centre knoched for a mid point. The sound is great and the EQ can give you everything from the classic Precision sound, to get dub lows or a bright modern tone. Overall the price means this this preamp is an absolute steal. As always the service from thomann was brilliant.

Nice little Pre amp.
Fitted it into a esp/ltd phoenix.
The original preamp is great but there's no real control.
You have to turn the active tone boost up full to get a good sound.
This is more versatile with active balance & bass & treble boost/cut.
Similar to a Seymour Duncan stc-2c-bo but at 1/3 the price its a no brainer, though not quite as good.
Though its dead silent with no earthing issues.
The wiring diagrams wrong at the jack input just swop the wires round till it works.
For the money its a bargain.

Very Pleased.