Suggestions for tone control when bypassing active preamp

[SteveC]

Instead of buying a Geddy Lee or other passive jazz, I have been experimenting with by-passing the active on-board preamp of my bass - a Bartolini - as I have Bartolini "jazz" pickups. They aren't single coil (I hate the hum) so it isn't exactly the same as a GL, but it's all I can afford right now.

Anyway, when I bypass the active preamp, I only get control of volume and pickup selection - no "vintage tone" control like a Sadowsky or something. I think I would still like a little tone control when I bypass the active preamp.

What are my options? An EQ pedal of some kind I would guess. Any other suggestions?

[fruitlabor]

Try a Glockenklang. I had a three band and when you use the passive mode, the treble acts as a regular treble like on a jazz bass. And it's a great pre IMO.

[SteveC]

I'm not really looking for a preamp - I have my Bartolini for that. I am looking for something to act like a "tone" knob on a traditional jazz bass.

[mikezimmerman]

An EQ pedal would be doing pretty much the same thing as the preamp in your bass, so it's not really going to give you the same effect as a passive tone control. If you want a passive tone control, it seems like would be easy enough to get a pot and a capacitor and recreate the same passive treble roll-off that's normally on the bass in a stomp box or beltclip kind of unit--the hardest thing would probably be finding the stompbox or beltclip case!

You might also look at trying to replace the volume control pot on your bass with a concentric pot that would let you have the volume and the passive tone control stacked (ala Fodera). The hardest thing there would probably be finding a stacked pot that also had a push-pull switch for the active/passive setting like the stock Bart controls.

Mike

[sunbeast]

You'll want to put the passive tone control BEFORE any active buffer or it won't function the same (unless you completely bypass the active preamp when using the tone control). This means attaching the tone control directly to the pickup(s) or volume control if the volume control is passive in your bass.

Karl

[mikezimmerman]

Originally Posted by sunbeast

You'll want to put the passive tone control BEFORE any active buffer or it won't function the same (unless you completely bypass the active preamp when using the tone control). This means attaching the tone control directly to the pickup(s) or volume control if the volume control is passive in your bass.

Karl

Since he's spcifically looking at using the passive tone when the Bart preamp/buffer/EQ is bypassed (aka, in passive mode), that's probably not a big issue. However, it is worth noting if he decides to install the passive tone in the bass itself rather than an outboard box--may as well wire it so that it works the same way in both passive and active mode.

Fortunately, the Bart blend and volume controls are both passive, so wiring it after the volume control before you get to the EQ should work fine.

Mike

[SteveC]

I was thinking more on the line of an outboard type solution. I think I'm going to try an EQ pedal. It won't sound like my on-board Bart preamp - or any preamp will it? Won't it be more like if I adjusted the EQ on my amp for example? An EQ pedal isn't "voiced" like a preamp, right?

I want to leave the amp alone in a neutral setting that will work for both active and passive modes. It just sounds like I am missing some low end when I go passive. I don't boost it when active either, so I don't think it's my ears being tricked.

[fruitlabor]

Xotic makes a pedal called Trilogic. It's a pre but has tone settings.You might want tocheck that out.