J5 preamp/pickup combo

YCBass · #1 01-08-2008, 03:55 PM

Hey Y'all, sorry if this may be a repeat thread/question but I honestly didn't know how to search for it.

I currently have a Fender Custom Classic J5, with the 18 volt active preamp and Noiseless pickups and an MIA (passive) J4. I love the sound of both basses with their respective electronics but what I really want is a 5-string that will do both for me (active/passive modes) - so I want to either swap out the electronics on my J5 or sell it and have a new J style 5 made with the electronics package I want (Valenti, Nordy, Lull, Copolo, Sadowsky).

So my question is: What is your suggestion of a pre & p/u combo that would give me the big/modern/hi-fi/etc sound in active mode and a warm/classic/fat sound in passive mode???

My experience with active/passive basses has been that I love the active sound but find the passive sound very thin with severe volume loss.

EDIT: I am editing the bolded part above because my concerns revolve more around having a good passive tone out of an active bass (when in passive mode)... The volume loss in understandable and I know how to compensate for it. So I am pointing out that my focus is the TONE. So which pickups will give me a fat classic (Old Fender) sound by themselves (cause obviously there's a ton of good preamps out there). Thanks!

Thanks!

luknfur · #2 01-09-2008, 10:28 AM

I could fill up a page of reasons to list why to keep what you've got.

Here's half a page on the volume issue alone.

YOUR BASSES DON'T HAVE EQUAL OUTPUT?

YCBass · #3 01-09-2008, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luknfur

I could fill up a page of reasons to list why to keep what you've got.

Here's half a page on the volume issue alone.

YOUR BASSES DON'T HAVE EQUAL OUTPUT?

Thanks... Very entertaining thread but my desire to have an active/passive bass is really more for tone variation... Not so much concerned with the difference in volume (reading back on my OP, I shouldn't have even mentioned that, haha). What I meant by passive mode being thin sounding is basically that it doesn't sound like a bass that is passive only. My passive J4 sounds fat and I want an active bass with the same passive tone as my J4 basically. IMO, the passive mode normally suffers because I feel like the focus is for the bass to sound good in active mode and the passive mode gets less attention.