Batteries or not?

[Low Main]

An idea I got from Jack Read was to run active pickups through passive controls.

Some older Ibanez Roadstars have this setup.

I took the preamp out of a Spector NS-2J and replaced it with a small passive board that converts the controls to 2 Vol, 2 Tone.

I kept the stock active EMG J pickups in.

The bass now has a nice glassy, slightly compressed sound and I can EQ it with an outboard preamp.

 

[Swamp_Ronin]

This has to be a data harvesting bot.

 

[superiorpine]

An important distinction: Active vs passive pickups, and a battery powered (active) preamp. As above, they come in a variety of combinations. Most of my instruments use passive pickups and active preamps. Active preamps, besides the obvious tone shaping, also manage a signal so that there is minimal tone loss in the cable to the amp. I.e., longer cables sound the same as short ones. You will find advantages and strong opinions with all combinations. YMMV, IMHO etc.

 

[micguy]

There are two things that batteries bring to basses:

1) Load insensitivity - you can make the thing sound the same with various lengths and varieties of cables. This is not really something that you actuallly need batteries for - professional dynamic microphones have been designed with impedances where the cable is a non - issue for decades - hundreds of feet of cable is not an issue. Of course, if you demand that your pickups be made exactly the same was Leo did it in the 1950's, then you're stuck with what you get out of that paradigm. I have done a lot of circuits where (wiring things in parallel, and them loading them to the desired sound) you can make basses that sound active (whatever sound you want, including nice and bright if that is your thing) and that are much more insensitive to cable capacitance, and that don't need batteries to power anything.

2) Onboard processing (usually eq). If you want to have knobs that do more than a passive tone control (or various loading options, etc) will do, batteries can be used to power that circuitry. That does, however, limit your eq options to what you can do with a few knobs.

Besides that fact that I don't need active circuitry in my basses to make them do what I want/need, I have also found that many active basses have relatively poor preamp circuits in them - one of my pet peeves is that a lot of them use low power op amps, which are too noisy (hissy) for me.

 

[Medicine Man]

I love active basses for playing variety covers live, because you can dial in a modern vs vintage sound right from your instrument. Also, the volume knob has less effect on tone. My three main players are a MM Stingray 5, a Modulus Q5, and a G&L L2500, so im clearly biased toward 5 strings with active electronics and humbuckers. For recording I like a good P or J passive most of the time, but that's because you can fine tune the eq and gain structure in the box. I maybe change the batteries once or twice a year. The only major disadvantage is that you can't just leave it plugged in at your house, which puts wear and tear on the jack.

 

[ghostdog93]

This has to be a data harvesting bot.

Yeah, I've become super suspicious of brand new accounts in general, but specifically when they are posting questions like this.

Don't feed the trolls...errrr, data bots.

 

[Gervais Cote]

How is loudness of the bass an issue for pickup choice? Does your amp not have a volume control?

In a jam session, I use the amp of the bar and we don't have time to tweak the amp between musician's change so that a good scale to evaluate an active pickup against a passive one.

 

[gln1955]

I bought my first active bass earlier this year (a Cort short scale). I was unsure about ordering it because it was an inexpensive bass and I'd played other low end active basses and been unimpressed with them, noisy and just not good sounding. Turns out, I'm loving the bass and digging the onboard control.

 

[Fierzzaga]

Don't feed the machine, people.

 

[JoeyFab]

Most annoying part is remembering to unplug your instrument. Other than that, just keep a few spares around and change them as needed. When it comes to recording, treat them like strings - fresh for best results.

Yep, this, but since I'm now wireless from my bass to my pedalboard, I'm in the habit of turning off the wireless transmitter and receiver and unplugging my wireless transmitter from my bass between sets. I ALWAYS carry extra 9V batteries (and strings) to a rehersal or gig (my Peavey Cirrus uses two 9V!), and I usually practice incessantly before both, so if I start hearing some strange distortion while practicing, I know to install fresh batteries before the rehearsal/gig.

All of my basses have active pre-amps, as I like having that wider tonal range that provides. My Jackson X-Series Spectra 4-stringer does have a push-pull volume knob; pull it out and the bass becomes totally passive, so if the battery dies mid-song you can keep on playing. The Jackson was my regular bass for the last band I was in,, but I'm trending to playing my 5-stringers more now, which do not have that option.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Just wondering about the benefits and hassles associated with pickups that require batteries.

Thoughts??

The benefits for me is I get active basses with the tonal range, flexibility and onboard EQ I like.

The hassle? I write a note in a calendar to check the battery ONCE a year at least, and if it tests low voltage/power, replace it then.

That's ONE purchase of a 9-volt (or two if it's one of those), and ONE accessing the cavity, plate, or battery compartment to change it, PER YEAR.

I spend more time every year thinking about whether to clean my laundry dryer vent or change the filter in my home HVAC system.

Maybe this perspective will be helpful. I hope so.

 

[wboyd68]

I've had several basses with pre amps but I've never encountered active pickups.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Pros: mmmm - if you are tone shaping with pedals - none

Cons: batteries

As far as I've been able to know and experience, pedals may not easily be able to exactly or even closely duplicate the sounds available in an active bass circuit. The sound and tonal flexibility that an active bass can deliver via an active circuit BEFORE it reaches the sum point of an output jack is tonally NOT the same as plugging into another device as the summing point of a passive bass used to modify tone.

If you want the sound and tonal flexibility of an active bass, get one of those and keep your signal chain and knob fiddling as simple minimal as possible.

That's what I find. I have active and passive versions of Jazz Basses and Precision Basses (and other instruments) and that's what I have experienced.

 

[31HZ]

For decades all of my basses have had batteries. I've had zero problems, ever, with dying, leaking, or otherwise problematic batteries.

I have one of these USA-made load testers (image below) and I replace batteries once they get down to 60%; the tester takes all of the guesswork out of replacement and cuts down on waste. (I have a bunch of basses so it's worth it to not have to simply replace all of them at some guesstimated interval.)

 

[JazznFunk]

Do you like the sound of the bass with an active preamp? That's the benefit. There are no 'hassles'. If you play a lot, check the battery every 6 months. Replace it once a year at a minimum. Replace it before a 'high profile' gig or a studio session. Take it out of the bass if you're going to store the bass long-term. If you ARE draining batteries quickly even with the bass unplugged, you have a wiring issue somewhere.

You're talking about $2-3 a pop even for a name brand 9V. Don't skimp. Don't stress. And don't leave the bass plugged in when you're not playing it, otherwise you will definitely drain the battery.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

I have had both and to be honest, I prefer passive. I never have to worry if the battery will die midway through a song or if the circuit board will go bad. I just plug in my passive bass and play worry free.

 

[JazznFunk]

I have had both and to be honest, I prefer passive. I never have to worry if the battery will die midway through a song or if the circuit board will go bad. I just plug in my passive bass and play worry free.

Do you prefer passive because of the tone, or because you don't have to worry about the minute possibility of a battery or circuit board dying suddenly? Batteries will warn you they are on the verge of going bad.... distortion, low output, etc.

I would never discount an active bass just because of the battery thing. However, if the passive bass SOUNDS more like the tone you're going for, that's a very valid reason to go passive. I play active and passive and love them all on their own terms. YMMV.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

Do you prefer passive because of the tone, or because you don't have to worry about the minute possibility of a battery or circuit board dying suddenly? Batteries will warn you they are on the verge of going bad.... distortion, low output, etc.

I would never discount an active bass just because of the battery thing. However, if the passive bass SOUNDS more like the tone you're going for, that's a very valid reason to go passive. I play active and passive and love them all on their own terms. YMMV.

I am quite happy with the passive tone I get.

 

[jglunt]

An idea I got from Jack Read was to run active pickups through passive controls.

Some older Ibanez Roadstars have this setup.

I took the preamp out of a Spector NS-2J and replaced it with a small passive board that converts the controls to 2 Vol, 2 Tone.

I kept the stock active EMG J pickups in.

The bass now has a nice glassy, slightly compressed sound and I can EQ it with an outboard preamp.

I don't know about other active pickups, but when you buy a new set of EMG pickups, it comes with a wiring harness, a passive volume control, and a passive tone control for each pickup. The pots are A25k to accommodate the active pickups, and the enclosed wiring diagrams will show how to run it with only a single tone control for wiring it Jazz Bass style (V-V-T) if you prefer. I have a set of EMG active soapbars in my Jackson Kellybird. I stripped out all the electronics from it, including the active preamp, which was OK but no better than OK in spite of its 3-band active EQ. I installed the active EMGs , and the bass ended up with five holes for pots, so I wired it with a volume and a tone control for each pickup, then I put a B25k master volume in the fifth hole because I prefer a bass with a master volume and linear volume pots. EMG was kind enough to send me a wiring diagram to do this configuration correctly. All the controls are passive, and I can use the individual pickup volumes as balance controls, then adjust the overall output using the master volume. I have no problem with a battery in it because it came with a battery box on the back of the bass. Just so I don't get a slap on the wrist, I affirm that I have no connection with EMG at all. I am simply familiar with them from long-term usage.

 

[JazznFunk]

I am quite happy with the passive tone I get.

Thanks for answering 1/3 of the question at least.