PREAMPS
Fodera proprietary preamps are designed to react to both the individual style and musical setting any player may ever find themselves in. Combining 40+ years of feedback and engineering, our preamp showcases the true tone of the instrument rather than coloring it.
The new Fodera x Trickfish preamp is the latest version of the Fodera onboard preamp, and has been made in collaboration with our longtime friends at Trickfish Amplification. Improving upon previous versions, this new circuit has an even lower noise floor, longer battery life, and easily configurable features. By using internal dip switches, players now have easy access to changing the overall output gain of their preamp, the frequency sweep of their passive tone knob, low and high pass filters, and even the frequency center of their mid control. All of this allows you to easily craft your voice on your Fodera with no soldering or additional circuit jumpers required. The new preamps were made to retrofit so swapping an older version out will be easier than ever.
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The Passive Tone Control works the same as it would on a classic passive Fender
style instrument, with a .022uF capacitor installed as the standard roll-off. There are two dip switches on the board that can be used to add higher capacitor values to the tone roll off, eliminating more treble as the knob is engaged.
style instrument, with a .022uF capacitor installed as the standard roll-off. There are two dip switches on the board that can be used to add higher capacitor values to the tone roll off, eliminating more treble as the knob is engaged.
The Pickup Blend Board uses a solderless connection to allow for easy pickup
installation. When a 4 lead dual coil pickup is installed into this board, it ran in
parallel to create minimal noise volume difference between single and dual coil
modes.
installation. When a 4 lead dual coil pickup is installed into this board, it ran in
parallel to create minimal noise volume difference between single and dual coil
modes.
The Bass Treble Board on the preamp is the first step of the active section of the preamp. On this board, you have the ability to adjust the gain of the overall active preamp, if it is a 2, 3, or 4 band preamp, and the frequency centers for the Bass and Treble controls.
The Mid Range Board is an easily customizable active Mid Range EQ, allowing users to choose between 4 different Mid Range Frequencies. Using the onboard dip switches, players can choose between two different groupings of a Low and High Mid Frequency, and with an external switch toggle back and forth between the chosen Low and High Mid Frequencies.
STANDARD PREAMP
FODERA x TRICKFISH STANDARD USER MANUAL
CUSTOM PREAMP
Flexible EQ
Players have the option to tailor our 3-band EQ to their taste. Each of the three bands of EQ are user selectable for your specific tonal needs.
Bass - 12db cut and boost at 46Hz or 90Hz
Treble - 15db cut and boost at 6kHz or 10kHz
Midrange - Switchable between low and high mids via the Mid Selector switch.
Midrange - Switchable between low and high mids via the Mid Selector switch.
Low Mids: 12db cut and boost at 280Hz or 370 Hz.
High Mids: 15db cut and boost at 485 or 840Hz.
18v Battery System
Our Custom preamp is powered by 18v which provides more than ample headroom for even the most nuanced playing situation. When in passive mode, the preamp will draw little current in order to guarantee a longer battery life when your preamp is entirely active.
True Passive Tone Control
In both passive and active modes our preamp utilizes a vintage style tone control offering players an easy and familiar style of high-end roll off. Additionally, putting the bass in active mode simply inserts the preamp in between the passive circuit and the output jack. This means that in the event of battery failure, the bass will remain operational in passive mode.
CONTROL LAYOUTS
(3 band preamp)
(4 Band Preamp)
POPULAR SETTINGS
ADJUSTING YOUR PREAMP
One of the unique features of your Fodera’s Active Preamp (beginning with the 2009 version) is the ability to customize its tone shaping abilities according to your personal taste. The preamp is found in the back cavity of your instrument. You must remove the backplate. Do this by removing the four screws that hold it in place. Please click on either of the following buttons to download the proper instructions for the model year of your preamp. Unfortunately, during early 2010, there was some overlap between the versions of the preamp, so you might need to look at both sets of instructions to find the one with the same hardware as your preamp.
CLICK BELOW FOR LEGACY PREAMPS
v.3 Custom Preamp Instructions (Dec 2022 - Jan 2025)
v.3 Standard Preamp Instructions (Dec 2022 - Jan 2025)
2010 and Later Preamp Instructions
2009 Preamp Instructions