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An interview with Michael Pope – Part 2

See Michael Pope’s business listing here

This is a continuation of the interview from part 1.

Is there a relationship between the MPP preamps and the new Trickfish Bullhead 1K?

Yes. Richard Ruse, the owner of Trickfish and conceiver of the Bullhead 1K approached me sometime back about integrating the MPP-1 plus a few refinements into a product that included a nice quality power amp. David Yates and I worked on it, with David being the one who put it all together into a final electronic package, and we have an amp. It’s really cool, really quiet, and definitely has the MPP sound.

How did you arrive at the design for the EQ circuit in the FlexCore?

The topology itself is generally the same as what I was using in the old hand-made circuits. Over the years I had a number of very specific requests in terms of applications. Torrain Gwaltney, a bass player here in Maryland, wanted a circuit that would specifically give him a lot of “MWAH” for his Stambaugh fretless. Andy Cichon, bass player with Billy Joel, wanted to be able to dial in lots of “grind” for his vintage P-bass. Other guys asked for other specific needs to be addressed, which I took on one at a time…as requested. After a reckoning of a lot of these specs, I figured out it was possible to roll many of them into a package that would allow access to many of those features in a circuit that could be produced in quantity, for a lot less than I had to charge to make them “onesey-twosey.”

What do the “Core” numbers mean?

Basically, it’s passive section.active section. A number “1” means a single pot on the balancer board (left of the dot) or EQ board (right of the dot), and a number “2” means a dual pot on those boards. The letter “t” means “stand alone passive tone control” and “stk” means the pot that is not called out in the number “1” or “2” is stacked. So…Core 2.2 means there is a dual pot on the balancer board, a non-stacked volume control, a dual pot on the EQ board, and separate midrange controls. A 1stk.2stk is a single volume control on the balancer board, a stacked volume control (serving as a stacked bridge volume and master tone), Stacked B/T on the EQ board, and a stacked dual midrange control. It’s totally confusing…it makes perfect sense. It’s everything to everyone.

So is there a difference between the different versions either electronically, or sonically?

Pretty much no, but… Since a Core 1.x has an individual volume control for each pickup, and a Core 2.x has a balancer pot and master volume, a Core 1.x has 2 passive elements in parallel, and a Core 2.x has 3 passive elements in parallel (a balancer is like two volume controls reversed from one another on one control). As a result, the Core 1.x has a higher input impedance which might produce a little brighter sound with some pickups.

Other than that, no. It’s all a matter of control layout. For example, a Core 2.2stk and a Core 2.2 sound exactly the same. The only difference is that the 2.2 fits in 5 holes and the Core 2.2stk fits in 4 holes. This is particularly convenient when you’re trying to retrofit the preamp into a bass that already has holes drilled and you don’t want to add any, or leave any empty.

So since all the modules are separate, and there’s only one control on each board, you can pretty much fit it into any layout?

It fits into LOTS of basses! Probably most basses. It’s most difficult to install in a passive bass. Mainly because of batteries, though. You can get the preamp worked into a tight spot, and then realize you have no room for batteries. When I was about 16 years old I decided to cram a Ken Smith preamp into my 71 Jazz bass. But I didn’t think through the battery situation. So I showed up at a concert with a Ken Smith preamp crammed into my Jazz Bass with a battery taped to the outside of the bass. Oops.

There are lots of switches available as accessories for the FlexCore. What are they and how do they work?

The popular ones are the midrange switches and the “kill” or standby switches. A Core 1.x, Core 2.x or Core 2t.x have a push-pull active/passive switch on the volume control. Core 1stk.x or 2stk.x come with a chrome active/passive toggle switch.

A midrange switch is designed to switch the frequency center and bandwidth of the midrange controls. All of the components for two different frequency bands are already installed on the midrange boards. The switch can be plugged into either one to bring those other components into the circuit. Alternatively, jumpers can be installed on the came connectors that the switches plug into in order to set the frequency to the lower option. There are total of 4 midrange frequency bands in the FlexCore. The “Lo Mid” can be set to either of the bottom two frequencies, and the “Hi Mid” can be set to either of the top two frequencies. There are green connectors on the midrange boards that are labeled to accept the switch. The dual stacked board has a green connector for Lo Mid, and Blue connector for Hi Mid.

The Kill switch is just plugged in where the output jack goes, and then the output jack plugged into it. It interrupts the hot output signal and shorts the output jack to ground so it’s quiet. The switches come with all the cables and hardware needed to use them.

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