Passive 6 String Basses?

[bassbenj]

Very true! Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to find out that both tone controls on my Harley Benton B550 work in active and passive. However, in passive one of them works from the detent to the end and the other works from the max end to the detent. And yes, it weird like that even if I take out the battery.

That's because passive tone controls only cut, but do not boost. My G&Ls are like that too, Takes a bit of getting used to but not really a big deal.

 

[boombloom]

Arriving tomorrow by big brown truck--a six string fretted lobe (single cut) from Steve Wishnevsky at Wishbass. Neck through. String through. $500. It won't be all shiny and perfect but it will play and sound great. Standard soapbar pickup, but he's aways happy to do add ons. No two alike. Not for everyone, but I am eager to get my hands on it. I have a seven string from him. The low B is "diaper time."

 

[peterpalmieri]

Well sort of. I kind of understand where Jasonmathews is coming from though. My G&L L2500 main axes are active-passive. And tone controls are passive. And the main active-passive switch is one the main controls. I'd say I used them about 50-50 active and passive. It's an absolutely great feature. On the other hand my active Ken Smith 6er has an "emergency" passive push pull switch. The bass is really not designed for passive use. When you go passive all EQ quits. So with that bass the deal is if the preamp or battery dies you can limp through or even in normal use, say you want to use a better or "different" external preamp? Fine. Got EQ, pull the knob. Job done. These days some active-passive basses have Bass/treble EQ for active but also a "tone" conrol for passive. That way you aren't left EQ-less Like with my Smith. But with that bass I rarely if ever use it in passive mode, though I really don't worry about a push-pull switch dying. My G&L has a push-pull switch I put on for the OMG mode and it gets used all the time and works fine. Point is as Line6man says, those switches and controls are there to give you different things out of your instrument. They are there to be used if you want what they do. If you don't then you just leave them where they are.

I don't understand where this "emergency passive" idea came from. It's not just for emergencies it is for any time you want to bypass the preamp. Yes it does get you out of trouble when the battery dies but that is not its only use.

 

[jasonmatthews]

I have never heard of this failure being a problem. It's not something I'd worry about.

Why's that? The switch is there so that you can remove the preamp from the circuit whenever you decide that you want to. It's useful for when you want to drive a higher quality preamp, or want to bypass a preamp that is not transparent. You don't have to rigidly adhere to some arbitrary rule that a feature must only be used in emergencies. The feature is there to be used as the player sees fit. And as for the quality of the switch, any decent bass should have a switch that can actually be used. If your switches are so fragile that you are afraid to use them, then you have cheap parts that should be replaced.

On the other hand my active Ken Smith 6er has an "emergency" passive push pull switch. The bass is really not designed for passive use.

I don't understand where this "emergency passive" idea came from. It's not just for emergencies it is for any time you want to bypass the preamp. Yes it does get you out of trouble when the battery dies but that is not its only use.

I'll just quote directly from Ken Smith:

"Active & Passive: If your Battery goes dead during a performance you can lift the Volume control knob to bypass the active circuit. This feature is recommended for emergency use only. The volume pot ‘push-pull’ feature does not have the same durability as a standard toggle switch."

This doesn't mean the active/passive police will come get you if you go passive without having a dead battery, it's just a suggestion from a premium maker who uses the push/pull type of switch. I have some basses with actual switches and some with push/pull; on the ones with push/pull I'm just a little more careful. If you don't care to worry about this warning, then by all means slam that thing up and down. And obviously some push/pull switches will be more heavy duty than others, though I have some doubt that Ken uses cheap parts.

Anyway, to each his own! I can't think of a single time I've ever wanted to be in passive mode.

 

[peterpalmieri]

I'll just quote directly from Ken Smith:

"Active & Passive: If your Battery goes dead during a performance you can lift the Volume control knob to bypass the active circuit. This feature is recommended for emergency use only. The volume pot ‘push-pull’ feature does not have the same durability as a standard toggle switch."

This doesn't mean the active/passive police will come get you if you go passive without having a dead battery, it's just a suggestion from a premium maker who uses the push/pull type of switch. I have some basses with actual switches and some with push/pull; on the ones with push/pull I'm just a little more careful. If you don't care to worry about this warning, then by all means slam that thing up and down. And obviously some push/pull switches will be more heavy duty than others, though I have some doubt that Ken uses cheap parts.

Anyway, to each his own! I can't think of a single time I've ever wanted to be in passive mode.

I owned a Ken Smith bass for quite a while, BSR6GN, I spent 90% of the time playing the bass in passive mode. I thought it sounded better that way. For a long time I had removed the battery and used the push pull as a mute. It was well over 20 years old with the original electronics. I had a few conversations with Ken over the phone, he knew exactly what I was doing and never had any concern.

The tone is different when actively engaged at all detention settings then it is in passive mode.

I do believe Ken loves his preamp and cant imagine why someone would prefer the passive settings other then for emergencies. And he may have in fact designed it that way as many did early on with active electronics. But that is not how everyone uses a bass with active and passive options.

 

[Brother Goose]

Chiming in the passive logic- I know some folks prefer passive when interacting with effects (germanium fuzzes usually).

I'm hung up on the idea of standardization and having a similar output in my basses (feel free to refer to current ads looking to liquidate my active systems in favor of passive setups).

Happy Tuesday!

 

[peterpalmieri]

This is one of my two main basses, it has an Aguilar two band active circuit with a passive tone control. I have the push pull wired in reverse so that in the down position it is passive. I don't normally keep a battery in the bass. So for most purposes this functions as a passive bass. After years of trying to find my voice, it is just so uncommon to find a passive 6 string bass with flats I had two made and I couldn't be happier.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Here is the other one. Passive for the magnetic pickups and an active piezo with a toggle switch. Ironically I'm on my third toggle switch, again pulled out the battery and bypass the piezo.

 

[bassbenj]

I don't understand where this "emergency passive" idea came from. It's not just for emergencies it is for any time you want to bypass the preamp. Yes it does get you out of trouble when the battery dies but that is not its only use.

Sure if you want an external preamp it works fine, but I'll say I HAVE used it when the battery inexplicably died (was one I just bought too!) Saved the day. I think ALL active basses need this "emergency" feature! HOWEVER, playing the gig in passive with zero EQ gave a feeling of helplessness! And even worse I was playing into a DI at the time so not even amp knobs to use. I can really see why makers often put a tone control on basses like this that switches in when you go passive. A primitive tone knob would be enough to feel like you have some control. I mean that's what my passive basses have, right? I do have an nice external preamp with lots of exotic EQ but truthfully I never use it with the Smith. And the Smith tone in passive really doesn't do much for me the way some of my other passive or switchable basses so. So I can dig the "emergency" thing. And yeah it works for external preamps too, but I've never felt inclined to switch back and forth from active to passive all the time the way I do on my G&L L2500 basses.

 

[Bob_Ross]

The only reason I'm asking is I have a (somewhat irrational) fear of my batteries dying in the middle of a set.

fwiw I've been playing active basses almost exclusively* since 1982. I have never once had a battery die in the middle of a set. Or in the middle of a rehearsal. Or in the middle of a practice session.

Because long before your battery dies, it starts to die, and you hear the sound get marginally worse and say to yourself "Hmm, that doesn't sound quite right...I know, I'd better change the battery!" and voila, you just bought yourself another 4-8 months before you even have to worry about such nonsense. But if it starts to die in the middle of a set you can still get through the entire set without having to stop or without producing a set worth of totally crap tones.

Because I'm anal I got in the habit of changing the batteries in all my active basses every New Years Day whether they need it or not. But if I simply waited until the batteries started to die I'd still never have one die in the middle of the set...so long as I changed it as soon after I heard those symptoms as practical.


* Okay, one of the basses that I've owned in the past 20 years is passive.

 

[peterpalmieri]

Sure if you want an external preamp it works fine, but I'll say I HAVE used it when the battery inexplicably died (was one I just bought too!) Saved the day. I think ALL active basses need this "emergency" feature! HOWEVER, playing the gig in passive with zero EQ gave a feeling of helplessness! And even worse I was playing into a DI at the time so not even amp knobs to use. I can really see why makers often put a tone control on basses like this that switches in when you go passive. A primitive tone knob would be enough to feel like you have some control. I mean that's what my passive basses have, right? I do have an nice external preamp with lots of exotic EQ but truthfully I never use it with the Smith. And the Smith tone in passive really doesn't do much for me the way some of my other passive or switchable basses so. So I can dig the "emergency" thing. And yeah it works for external preamps too, but I've never felt inclined to switch back and forth from active to passive all the time the way I do on my G&L L2500 basses.

Different strokes my friend. I've been very happy doing an IEM gig with a passive bass and a DI. I find a passive tone control essential while you consider it primitive. It's all good.

 

[dabbler]

To the OP, your price range is above what I've ever paid for a bass. Still, my modus operandi for trying something new has always been to test the waters with something that doesn't break the bank so i can determine what features, dimensions, etc. I like and don't like.

Starting off with an SX Ursa 2 6 would, IMO help you drive out some of your questions with your own hands and ears, helping you make a more informed decision. And it MIGHT just wind up allowing you to start out with a good backup for when you get what you really want.

 

[bassbenj]

Different strokes my friend. I've been very happy doing an IEM gig with a passive bass and a DI. I find a passive tone control essential while you consider it primitive. It's all good.

It is all good, but you miss my point. When you pull the "emergency passive" the EQ totally quits and the Smith does not have a passive tone control. So while it's obviously not "essential" since I finished the gig without it, I certainly did feel its loss and would not want to play passive regularly without a tone control so in that sense it's essential to keep me happy. Sure I do DI gigs with my passive basses. You seem to be saying that I think you can't do gigs with a passive bass and DI. Was not the point. Point was passive bass has tone control but when pull emergency passive on my active it doesn't and I"m there like Timothy B. Schmit with only a volume control. May work for for him with big sound crew, not so much at my low level gigs.

 

[peterpalmieri]

It is all good, but you miss my point. When you pull the "emergency passive" the EQ totally quits and the Smith does not have a passive tone control. So while it's obviously not "essential" since I finished the gig without it, I certainly did feel its loss and would not want to play passive regularly without a tone control so in that sense it's essential to keep me happy. Sure I do DI gigs with my passive basses. You seem to be saying that I think you can't do gigs with a passive bass and DI. Was not the point. Point was passive bass has tone control but when pull emergency passive on my active it doesn't and I"m there like Timothy B. Schmit with only a volume control. May work for for him with big sound crew, not so much at my low level gigs.

When I was playing the Smith the bass was set up and the string choices, my amp, cabs and and or DI were all designed around the thought that I was playing with only the volume and pan. Beacuse I was set up for that way to work their was nothing else needed. Kind of like a Fodera AJ bass that just has an output jack.

When you expect or need those tone controls you end up not being able to live without them and it becomes an emergency only situation.