Old DiMarzio Bass Preamp?? Question for the experts...

[chromium]

So my buddy sends me a link last night to what was being listed/sold as a NOS DiMarzio bass preamp. It sparked my curiosity, and I ended up throwing an offer out and picking it up. I wanted to get some input from any folks familiar with DiMarzio's (and possibly Hamer's?) past as it relates to this unit...

I honestly don't recall DiMarzio really doing much in the preamp space. I do remember the Shock Waves from way back (pre that dropped in place of a strat jack)... I found reference to those on their legacy products list (DP-144), but no other preamp units:

http://www.dimarzio.com/faq/do-you-still-make

The reason I'm asking here is because the pre is a dead ringer for the units in my 4-digit basses - which I always assumed were made by Rex Bogue (under names like Balz Galore, etc...)

Any thoughts on this little oddity?

[chromium]

Pic of one of the old bass pres in my Hamer for reference/comparison...

[velorush]

Don't know a thing about it, but that's cool! Especially finding a NOS unit!

[mc2]

Got a scan of the paperwork?

Maybe Rex made some for Duncan ?

Is the potting and wires the same?

[HAMERMAN]

Seems quite possible that it's not Dimarzio and that's just the case it went into when somebody removed it (while putting in some Dimarzio's). I wonder of the paperwork says Dimarzio anywhere.

Small potting boxes like that with tan epoxy doesn't say much about who it could be but the ribbon cable colors matching and the use of a "fish paper" type 9V connector just like your bass has does. seems like even of it turns out to be Dimarzio it was likely made for them by the same people.

[chromium]

Got a scan of the paperwork?

Seems quite possible that it's not Dimarzio and that's just the case it went into when somebody removed it (while putting in some Dimarzio's). I wonder of the paperwork says Dimarzio anywhere.

The only photos I have so far are from the not-so-great pics in the auction. I'll post some better pics when I receive it.

Looks like it's written on DiMarzio letterhead (unless these are two different sheets of paper)... and in the pic up above showing the body of the letter, I can make out appears to be a description of the 3-pos tone switch behavior.

The thought of DiMarzio possibly buying and distributing some of Bogue's preamps did cross my mind, as did the question of whether this was just non-DiMarzio parts gutted from something else... although that enclosed paper may help to answer that once I can view it in its entirety.

The black box, color and position of the ribbon cables, and the potting epoxy used all look identical to the units in the Hamers- near as I can tell.

Cheers

[chromium]

This preamp arrived today, and I snapped some better photos of the packaging, paperwork, and harness/potted module.

Looks very close to the units in my early Hamer basses, and while its hard to say... it does kind of appear to be "NOS", as the switch hardware is still packaged and stapled to the harness, and the connection leads are still freshly stripped, tinned, and ready to connect to a bass per the instruction sheet.

Looks like the same switch mfg, in comparison to the harness and DPDT switch in my Bs:

The potted module looks similar too, with exception of the I/O, power wiring (the brn,red,yel,etc wires) being ordered slightly different:

Might have a use for this.. look forward to trying it out.

[velorush]

Very cool!