Acoustic bass preamp - onboard or in an enclosure?

I'm in the middle of building myself a short scale, solid bodied bass, inspired by the Kala U-Bass and Ashbory. I've got an Artec undersaddle pickup for it and now I'm just trying to work out the best place to site the preamp. Ideally I'd like to put the preamp in a separate enclosure but I have a lingering concern that the low piezo signal will be significantly degraded by the time it gets down a length of cable. Are my fears unfounded, or would I be better keeping the preamp as close to the pickup as possible?

The reason a separate enclosure appeals is mainly for space considerations. It is a very small/thin body.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

http://damacleod.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/minibassday10_10.jpg

More info and build progress pics over at http://damacleod.wordpress.com/tag/minibass/

I would rather have it in the guitar, but a third option is some type of body pack, that would allow you to keep your cord length short. I don't really think loss of signal will be a problem. Is there a phantom powered preamp for a bass?

Interesting thought Sam. I could easily run power up one side of a stereo cable and have a bit more space for an onboard preamp. Thanks.