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Have Araya returned to passive pickups?

#22
You'll have to show me these, because the only EMG passives I know of have "EMG HZ" logos.

emg-35hz.jpg


And the PICKUPS are active, I didn't mean it has an active preamp. Not all active pickup basses have preamps. Hell, the Tommy Stinson and Frank Bello basses have active pickups, but only have 3 knobs.

Also, knowing Tom, both pickups are probably at full volume.
 
#24
You can wire the ceramic pickups passive, it's the use of the battery+preamp that makes them active. The only benefit with a battery but no additional control (ie single pot setup as shown) is that you get a hotter output. Hardly what people would consider an "active" bass.
 
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#26
joeglock99 said:
Hello,

I just watched a few promo clips on youtube for the latest Slayer album repentless. And in a video where they discussed their gear Tom Araya, the basist and vocalist by default mentioned that he returned to P bass style basses. Shortly after that I looked at ESP's website and there's a new Araya signature.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

This one.

And the controll scheme mentions that the pickups are passive. The pickups themselves in the picture look more like humbuckers to me but it ain't impossible that they are a P style type pickup. Keep in mind the link I posted probably is a LTD model, i.e. budget. But could it be possible that Araya uses one like that with those specs but custom built?
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That's the cheap model. The TA-600 and full blown model still use EMG 35DCs. Now he personally may have had them changed out to 35P4s. I've thought about doing this on my TA600. The regular 35DCs are very bright.
 
#27
MarkoYYZ said:
There are passive EMG pickups that have the same "EMG" logo on them.

If it was a 2 pickup active bass, why would you run only one knob?
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The idea is to have fewer knobs to mess with in a live situation In addition, he might have a preferred blend position and/or EQ positioning on the pickups and it wired like that inside of the bass. So, all he needs to do is turn it up and cause chaos. It's a good idea and eliminates variables at a show. I am simply speculating here since I have heard of many pro bass players doing something very similar with their rigs. I can only assume Tom Araya is doing the same thing.
 
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#28
I doubt there's any EQ/blending in his basses, most likely two pickups wired to the volume knob -> output.

Irrc he stated in an interview that he doesn't want his basses to be too complicated.
The first version of his signature basses had 5 knobs, while his personal basses had only one.
The production models have more knobs because not everyone is into the "not too complicated" thingy
 
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#32
Gearhead17 said:
The idea is to have fewer knobs to mess with in a live situation In addition, he might have a preferred blend position and/or EQ positioning on the pickups and it wired like that inside of the bass. So, all he needs to do is turn it up and cause chaos. It's a good idea and eliminates variables at a show. I am simply speculating here since I have heard of many pro bass players doing something very similar with their rigs. I can only assume Tom Araya is doing the same thing.
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I totally agree with this, but it does basically negate MOST of the reason for having an active bass to begin with. A picture of his single control bass from a video is not necessarily going to give us any definitive answers as to what is in the production models - that's all I was saying.

That said, FC Bass posted a video above that illustrates what I said before about having a hotter output with the battery, which does have +/- benefits downstream, especially when distortion is used.
.
 
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#34
MarkoYYZ said:
There are passive EMG pickups that have the same "EMG" logo on them.

If it was a 2 pickup active bass, why would you run only one knob?
Click to expand...

I guess in the metal fashion of the floyd rose equipped single bridge humbucker type guitars it is. I.E. like an Kramer or something like that. Though I don't understand either how to work 2 pickups with one knob...
 
#40
joeglock99 said:
I guess in the metal fashion of the floyd rose equipped single bridge humbucker type guitars it is. I.E. like an Kramer or something like that. Though I don't understand either how to work 2 pickups with one knob...
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I'm under the assumption that he only has a single volume knob, and that both pickups are on full blast. He claims the knob is the "10 knob, that turns everything to 10", so I'm guessing he jokingly means it's either a volume pot or a boost circuit. :p

MobileHolmes said:
True, although they may have an advantage driving long cable runs or something. But I'm thinking any tone shaping (beyond pickup blend) that you would do insde the bass could also be done outside the bass.
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His only pieces of outboard gear is a DBX compressor and a rarely used EQ. His brother is the person that handles all his gear and tones, so I wouldn't be surprised if his brother was the one that gave him the idea to use EMG and has stuck with them since. Tom isn't a super picky person. I mean, he does seem to have his preferences, but all-in-all, he seems to go by his brother's advice, since he's the tech junkie.

I remember in the PG interview, he said he uses a single coil in one of his basses, so I'm guessing he uses the DC-J or DC-P neck pickup.
 
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