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Going active with a Precision.

LeftyLB70P

LeftyLB70P

May 4, 2005
227
9
54
Athens, Ga.
www.myspace.com
#1
My new employer wants me to go active with my bass. Can those who have added the appropriate electronics offer some input as far as brands, do's/do not's, and anything that you think might be generally helpful. This is a '97 American made Fender Precision that has Bartolini pickups in it. I don't mind digging into the body behind the pick guard as needed - this is a working instrument not a 'collector'. I am thinking that I simply need to buy a preamp and have it installed - is this correct?

Thanks for any help/advice.
 
#4
Let me get this straight... the client is dictating whether you use an active or a passive bass? Sounds like a micro-managing control freak to me, but maybe when you get to a certain level that's how the game is played ? ? ? When I go to the dentist I don't tell him which tool I want him to put into my mouth, I just care that the job gets done right.

That all being said, I put EMG active pickups into my 78 P-Bass years ago and after I finally found a guy to hook them up correctly, it sounds great. No hassles with a belt pack or other outboard stuff, and the battery lasts a long time.
 
#5
lol -- not a client, the owner of the band (who happens to also be the bass player that I am replacing as he retires and moves more into a 'management' type role). The Aquilar is the only thing that I have ever heard people comment on (and it seems that people like them). That's the kind of info I was hoping to hear about. I did think about the outboard option as well.
 
#6
I would go the outboard type if possible. Aguilar DB924 (if you can find one), Sadowsky because it can function as a DI or the Aguilar Tone Hammer. If you plan to go onboard, since you already have bartolinis, I would like at those first, then the aguilar or Sadowsky. Not quite sure what type of tone you are looking for, but that would definitely influence which direction to go.

Also, if you are planning on having an on-board unit, I would make sure that you install a bypass switch and make sure you have a passive tone controls for the times when you don't want the active sound
 
#10
it's probably worth asking the control freak ... oops i mean customer ... what the real requirements are.

A bartolini TC5 will provide a small active boost to drive your amp ever so slightly harder, which would make your bass active without actually changing the controls or tone particularly. But maybe your customer actually has a goal in mind - perhaps for you to have a greater variety of tones available via a mid-range control? Perhaps to have a certain tone, such as a polite mid-scoop? Or maybe he thinks your bass sounds thin and imagines that shoehorning a battery in there will change that? Perhaps you use a wireless rig with poor input impedance and the tone wimps out through the wireless?

Ask. Seek. Etc. Find the problem that needs solving .... or surely, you'll solve a problem that doesn't actually exist?
 

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