Active or Passive?

[Tone2TheBone]

I realize there are like only 2 or 3 of you that play electric bass here at this forum and I know that you guys have your favorite basses and setups etc. I have a question concerning bass pickups as as you can guess from the thread title...active or passive...which do you prefer and why?

Case in point...I have an old cheap Yamaha bass that currently has the split single pup configuration. On my new little SWR Workingman's 10 combo it sounds really good....BUT as usual I second guess myself and am now wondering if I would improve ANYTHING by installing an active pickup? Does anyone have a good answer to this?

[Spudman***]

Tone
Does this bass have a place for a battery? That might be a deciding factor. If you have to rout a hole, run wires, buy a battery case and leads and drill holes for wires then it might not be worth it. There are still thousands of passive basses out there being played that sound good. Maybe if it needs something then get some Seymore Duncan 1/4 pounders for bass and stay passive.
I dunno.

[Tone2TheBone]

Spud - True.

I would have to probably rout out some wood to place the battery as the electronics area right now is pretty tight. Don't want to do that...even on a cheap bass guitar.

Quarter pounders you say? Any personal experience with those? The pups in my bass actually sound really good...but I always wonder if things could be made better. You know me.

[marnold***]

I've been perusing some posts on SX basses. It seems that everyone suggests getting Duncan 1/4 pounders. I've never tried them, but I don't think I've ever heard any pickup so universally recommended.

[ZoSo65]

Ok well, I'll give some input here all though I don't play the bass, but I fiddle around with it a bit,,LOL
The bass player I jam with has several bass guitars,,,he just picked one up from a local pawn shop,,,,It's an Ibanez, not sure what year or model(still have to look the serial number up) anyhoo it has active pups, 1 precision, 1 jazz,,they are active Duncans.
They have 3 micro switches on each one for tone,,,that's what we found out so far,,,I'm still waiting to hear from S&D for exact info.
I can say this, this bass thumps something fierce!!! and that was with a dead battery! But that's a good thing, it says to me at least, you won't loose much when battery is dead. BUT, with a new batt, it was so unbelievable, tone and clarity was top of the line! Now that was by my ear with me trying to play it, our bass player, you didn't hear this from me,,,plays like he's got cotton swabs on his fingers,,ROFLOL,,,so he doesn't really notice the difference, but everyone else does.
Well, I hope this helps somewhat,,,when I find out what exactly is going on with the serial, I'll be sure to post it.

[r_a_smith3530]

I realize there are like only 2 or 3 of you that play electric bass here at this forum and I know that you guys have your favorite basses and setups etc. I have a question concerning bass pickups as as you can guess from the thread title...active or passive...which do you prefer and why?

Case in point...I have an old cheap Yamaha bass that currently has the split single pup configuration. On my new little SWR Workingman's 10 combo it sounds really good....BUT as usual I second guess myself and am now wondering if I would improve ANYTHING by installing an active pickup? Does anyone have a good answer to this?

Tone,

I guess it all comes down to what you like. Jamerson did all his work with a passive P Bass. Stu Hamm on the other hand has pretty much used active pickups through all his most famous work. Stanley Clarke has used both. All three have produced phenomenal work.

As for me? My first bass was a Yamaha also. It was an RBX774, with dual active humbuckers. Sir Fender Frankenbass, with its active Bart P-J setup was the Yam's replacement. Today, I have the G&L 'Hog bass. It has the ability to switch from passive to active, and I am now following suit with Frankenbass, as it's getting the latest version of Bartolini's circuitry, with a push-pull pot controlling whether or not the active circuitry is engaged.

With the L-2000, I discovered that the ability to have both active AND passive was a positive, as they both have their place. Of course, as in anything, YMMV!

BTW Tone, by "split single pup configuration" I am assuming that you mean you have a P bass style pickup. Is that correct?

And yes Marnold, a lot of folks might talk about SD Quarter Pounders, but when you look at the top boutique bass builders in the country, probably 75% or better use either Bartolini's or EMG's (usually with active circuitry) in their custom basses. That, thumps through, loud and clear!

Of course, at almost double the cost of Duncan Quarter Pounders, that thumps loud and clear as well!

[Tone2TheBone]

Rob. Yes I have the P bass style pickup. Staggered...you know the kind. Us guitar players don't know your lingo. LOL

Speaking of which, and I KNEW this was going to happen...but the other day I posted the very same question on another forum under their bass guitar section and while the first 3 answers I received were directly concerning my original question, the entire thread then proceeded in a war between passive and active users which brought forth all the bass guitar experts in the field. Right now my thread has 32 replies. Bass players remind me of guitar players in that respect.

[Tim]

Bass players remind me of guitar players in that respect.

Tone - Do you mean there is a differnce between the two? I am shocked at this revelation. Most base players I know play both instruments. Is there a mini war out there that I do not know about?

[Tone2TheBone]

Tim - No they're pretty much one in the same. I was making an inside joke like I normally do.

[Tim]

I was making an inside joke like I normally do.

Oh yea!! So was I, but one never knows what is going on out there in the crazy world. So I was playing it safe.

[Spudman***]

Tone - Do you mean there is a difference between the two? I am shocked at this revelation. Most base players I know play both instruments. Is there a mini war out there that I do not know about?

The difference is that the bass players know how to spell "bass."

I couldn't resist. No offence intended.

How many guitar players does it take to change a light bulb?
6
One to change it and 5 to talk about how they could have done it better.

Bass players never do that...do they?

[r_a_smith3530]

The difference is that the bass players know how to spell "bass."

I couldn't resist. No offence intended.

Yeah, you tell'em Spud, that's bass, like in the fish!

How many guitar players does it take to change a light bulb?
6
One to change it and 5 to talk about how they could have done it better.

Bass players never do that...do they?

Naw, we bass players would rather just keep the jam goin' than to stop to change the bulb!

[Tone2TheBone]

Rob...technical question here for ya...or technically challenged if you will.

All this talk about active pups and passive got me thinking. I came home today and plugged my Yamaha bass into my trusty MXR Micro Amp THINKING that I could use it as sort of a pickup boost. I had the single knob dialed low at aboot (watching a Geddy Lee interview as I type - for all you Canadiens) 1/3 the way and it sounded good. Good as in it boost my signal overall, including a full range output over the existing pickups tonal response yet it didn't overdrive my amp at all...and it didn't introduce any noise. Now my technically challenged question to you Mr. Bass (not the fish) is...do you approve of this type of experimentation at the risk of looking like a guitar player dressed up to fish, I mean play. ??

I'm just boosting an existing signal now...and I suppose I've probably answered my own question!

Circle yes or no

YES NO

[r_a_smith3530]

Rob...technical question here for ya...or technically challenged if you will.

All this talk about active pups and passive got me thinking. I came home today and plugged my Yamaha bass into my trusty MXR Micro Amp THINKING that I could use it as sort of a pickup boost. I had the single knob dialed low at aboot (watching a Geddy Lee interview as I type - for all you Canadiens) 1/3 the way and it sounded good. Good as in it boost my signal overall, including a full range output over the existing pickups tonal response yet it didn't overdrive my amp at all...and it didn't introduce any noise. Now my technically challenged question to you Mr. Bass (not the fish) is...do you approve of this type of experimentation at the risk of looking like a guitar player dressed up to fish, I mean play. ??

I'm just boosting an existing signal now...and I suppose I've probably answered my own question!

Circle yes or no

YES NO

Not to be fishin' (or is that Phishin'?) around here or anything really bass (or is it base?) like that, but I would say that you've just created the poor man's version of active electronics. I don't know if the MXR has any voicing that would effect higher (read guitar here) frequencies more than bass, but otherwise, rock away! Just don't be fryin' no bass on Fridays. Since Vatican II, the Pope might get pissed! And you certainly don't want Ratz to get pissed over bass! That would be too strange a mixture of meets (oops, meats)!

Oh yeah, YES.

[Tone2TheBone]

Rob - LMAO...so you approve? Excellent!

The pedal adds no voicing at all...just sweet smooth output. I'm so smart. Thank you for liking me still.

[r_a_smith3530]

Yeah, think about it for a moment. Active electronics merely means that there's a pre-amp on board. Now, like I said, I can't tell you whether or not the MXR stomp box is voiced for the frequency ranges of a bass (you know, 'dem fish do talk pretty low), so, you could run into a situation where the lowest freqs (or is that freaks?) aren't getting the boost of the high notes, but hey, that's why they call it experimentin' (oops, should that be Spearmintin'?). That's what I meant when I said "voiced." Oh, all this talk about fish and gum's about to drive me plumb nuts! You know, like the center thingy in a plum?

BTW, who said I liked you anyway? Just kiddin'!!!

[Tone2TheBone]

BTW, who said I liked you anyway? Just kiddin'!!!

hahahaha I took a lucky guess.