Best passive Musicman-style pickup?

Seymour Duncan Basslines.

 

You might want to look at the Carvin Pup. Not sure about the demensions though.

http://www.carvin.com/products/single.php?ItemNumber=HB4&CID=BKT

Mike

 

Nordstrand!

 

+1 ... yes!

Mo'

 

Delano. www.delano.de

 

Delano is what I just chose

http://delano.de/english/index-eng.html

 

I've got a Nordie in my LeCompte...it's nasty!

 

i vote kent armstrong. every player i've turned on to him absolutely loves his pu's. i have 3 dan armstrong basses with his pickups in them. one of them has a custom built humbucker.

 

Where do you buy delano pickups in the USA?

 

I'm having mine built into a Bee Bass "Worker Bee". Here are the specs.


I'm not sure if Fred sells them outright. You could shoot him an email.

 

It's my understanding that whether a bass is active or passive has to do with whether you've got an onboard preamp. Pickups either need a preamp to boost the signal or are hot enough to run without it, but the term is not ever (accurately) applied to the pickup itself. Is that a proper assumption? Anyone?

In the case of the Nordstrand, it's hot enough that it doesn't need a preamp. I ran one passive in a Modulus Flea 5 for a while and it sounded great.

 

You sir, have a PM.

 

Pickups can be either active or passive. EMG, Seymour Duncan, and others make pickups which have built in battery powered active preamp circuitry. Any such pickup is considered active.

An active bass is one which has some kind of active electronics which require power.

Thus, an active bass could have:

a) active pickup(s)

b) active preamp

c) either a) or b)

d) both a) and b)

 

I know that they make systems which include a set of pickups and a preamp which is in the electronics cavity. But that doesn't mean that the pickups themselves are active. It just means the bass is active. That's what I meant by pickups which have low output vs pickups which have high output (and thus need no onboard pre).

 

Nordstrand MMs are passive pickups.

 

Nordstrand gets the vote for me.

 

Most amplifiers use multiple stages of gain circuits, each stage having a different purpose. But each stage is a powered amplifying circuit on its own. My understanding is that "active pickups" have a powered circuit which is a buffer/gain stage before the rest of the preamp.