I found that the stock preamp would distort heavily in a rather unpleasant manner when either bass or treble were turned up beyond the center detent. The MojoTone pre is clean throughout the entire range of adjustment.
From MojoTone’s site.: “The Mojotone Music Man® Clone 2 band EQ bass preamp is a perfect replica of the original 2 band pre-Ernie Ball circuit with the original 4250 chip. We even had the potentiometers custom made to have the exact same taper and values as the originals, including the reverse audio 1M pot. Absolutely NO corners were cut which makes ours the truest clone on the market today. This is a direct replacement for original Ernie Ball and reissue basses with 3 control knobs. Volume, treble, and bass.”
I don’t know if they replicate other MusicMan preamps.
They absolutely do, with the stock pick up.
which, you are also instructed to start FLAT, all the way CCW and boost to your liking.
In the case of the Stock Pick up, any boost is almost too much, but anything over 50% (the detent) is just obnoxious.
The pick up is the real weak link in an otherwise awesome bass.
With the Aguilar pick up the bass boosted all the way does not distort my amp, but I do need to either dial it back, or lower the input on my DAI, or it will certainly distort, however this is tru with most active basses, in my DAI experience.
True, the 2 band stock pre-amp (which is the same one used in the Ray24, even tho they market it as tho the pickup is upgraded in the Ray24) is nothing to brag about, it is far from great, but it is adequate for use in a $299 bass if you decide to just upgrade the pick up.
It is ALMOST adequate on the Ray24 if you pop out the stock pick up and wire it in parallel and stick it back in, yet it still distorts when all the way boosted, and is a little noisy because it is not potted like the Ray4 (which is why you can’t wire it in parallel, unless you rip it apart rebuild it.)
I believe the stock preamp is enough for the Aguilar pick up, and the more modern Stingray sound.
of course if you want the smoother 70’s stingray sound, your choice in pick up and pre-amp is near perfect, as it would kind of be silly to add a music man 2 band pre-amp re-created from the 70’s old smoothie (or pay an over-inflated price for an original if you can find one), and a music man replacement pick up from the factory, if they sell them (or again pay heavily for a vintage MM pick up pulled out of a 70’s stingray).
I would say we are pretty much in agreement on the matter.
I would not be the least bit surprised to find out this is the same one that MM uses in the later releases of the OLD Smoothie, just in generic packaging.
I am not saying it is, I am just saying It would not surprise me if it were.