Passive -Active Aggressive…

[The Real Jake]

Bass Brethren,

I confess, I like the tone of Active pickups - which I realize have greater tone modification than their passive counterparts- I’m thinking of that crisp tone with a touch of tenor, it is especially great for that punchy funk sound that slapping and popping brings out, but I wonder…

Is there a good way to get that sound out of passive pickups?

Though I dig the tone, I dread the idea of that required 9-Volt battery going dead mid-set or being DOA upon a gig.

What’s the best way to get Active tone out of passing pickups/electronics? (Pedals, types of passive pickup electronics, volume-tone settings, amp settings)?

 

[brianrost]

A good pedal to try first is the Sadowsky preamp. This is the same circuit used in the Sadowsky basses. I think it’s a good starting point because the 2 band EQ is easy to understand and musical. Roger reccomends it for valuable vintage basses rather than modifying the bass itself and also for upright bass.

Two versions: the SBP-1 has more features (doubles as an active DI, has a tuner output, a mute switch and a low battery warning LED), while the SBP-2 is more compact.

 

[el murdoque]

FIrst of all, we need to clarify something:

While there are active pickups, they are a lot rarer than some people think.
The vast majority of "Active" basses have passive pickups and an active preamp.

If we're talking about one of those, then it is quite easy. There is a ton of preamp pedals out there. Just find what floats your boat and get it.

 

[Stranger Danger]

Bass Brethren,

I confess, I like the tone of Active pickups - which I realize have greater tone modification than their passive counterparts- I’m thinking of that crisp tone with a touch of tenor, it is especially great for that punchy funk sound that slapping and popping brings out, but I wonder…

Is there a good way to get that sound out of passive pickups?

Though I dig the tone, I dread the idea of that required 9-Volt battery going dead mid-set or being DOA upon a gig.

What’s the best way to get Active tone out of passing pickups/electronics? (Pedals, types of passive pickup electronics, volume-tone settings, amp settings)?

What bass do you have that isn’t getting you what you want tonally?

 

[J Wilson]

I would think find pickups that are voiced in a similar fashion, albeit passive. I put Fender Yosemites in a Squier Jazz Bass, and to me their sound is reminiscent of active pickups, not very old-school lumpy at all. Regardless of pedals or post-Bass shenanigans, I'd think your best bet would be to find pickups that sound like the actives.

 

[mr80htz]

A pedal

 

[OldBlue61]

FIrst of all, we need to clarify something:

While there are active pickups, they are a lot rarer than some people think.
The vast majority of "Active" basses have passive pickups and an active preamp.

My LTD B-204 is a good example of this.

 

[Chrisk-K]

Though I dig the tone, I dread the idea of that required 9-Volt battery going dead mid-set or being DOA upon a gig.

Anything in a passive bass could go dead at any time.

 

[Rickplaysbass]

Man, I've been playing for damn near 30 years and my number one bass has always been active only, no passive bypass. Owned several others during that time. Toured doing 200+ shows for several years. In all that time, I've never had a battery die. It's seriously not that hard to check your battery before a gig.

 

[FullumMusic]

Bass Brethren,

I confess, I like the tone of Active pickups - which I realize have greater tone modification than their passive counterparts- I’m thinking of that crisp tone with a touch of tenor, it is especially great for that punchy funk sound that slapping and popping brings out, but I wonder…

Is there a good way to get that sound out of passive pickups?

Though I dig the tone, I dread the idea of that required 9-Volt battery going dead mid-set or being DOA upon a gig.

What’s the best way to get Active tone out of passing pickups/electronics? (Pedals, types of passive pickup electronics, volume-tone settings, amp settings)?

---

FIrst of all, we need to clarify something:

While there are active pickups, they are a lot rarer than some people think.
The vast majority of "Active" basses have passive pickups and an active preamp.

If we're talking about one of those, then it is quite easy. There is a ton of preamp pedals out there. Just find what floats your boat and get it.

To build off this:

Active Pickups (most commonly but not exclusively EMGs) can be run through passive circuits or active onboard preamps. Active pickups don't have "greater tone modifications." They sound the way they sound. The circuit they run through is either a passive circuit with volume and tone-rolloff control, or an Active Pre that has the tone modification abilities of boost or boost/cut, and frequency selection, etc.

If you're talking about Active Pickups and you want Passive Pickups that sound like a certain set of Active Pickups, it's just a matter of listening to a lot of pickup reviews and finding Passive Pickups that sound similar to your Active pickups.

If, on the other hand, you're talking about Active Electronics and you want a bass with Passive Electronics to sound like one with Active Electronics (Onboard Pre-amp), then just get a pre-amp pedal. Or just use an amp that has a pre-amp section that sounds like what you want. The Pre & EQ section in active electronics is essentially the same as the Pre & EQ on a Pre-amp pedal, which really aren't all that different from the Pre & EQ on an amp. Yes, every manufacturer makes them slightly differently, and different models sound different. But conceptually, you're just putting the same thing (a pre-amp and EQ) in different places: on the bass, between the bass and the amp, or on the amp.

 

[Jefenator]

There is a tradeoff with pickup windings & the theory is that active pickups circumvent that & give you the best of both worlds. But IME the right passive pickup can strike a pretty good balance w/ enough clarity and output for most people's requirements.
I find my passive J bass w/ Lollar single coils has a pretty great modern trebly sound – better than most of my active basses – without having to use any active boost onboard or outboard.
OTOH if you really like your active bass, my advice would be to keep using that. For me, passive bypass for "safety" is a plus – but not an absolute must-have. (I've never used it for sonic effect.) Full-time active bases have proven to be more than sufficiently reliable for me & countless others.
Just change your battery somewhat routinely, learn how to check the voltage & never ever leave home without a spare 9V. If I can manage it, almost anyone can.
This is another thread, but where practical, I'll take the extra backup bass over one passive bass, every time. I've had pots, jacks and solder joints go south in passive basses. (Not to mention strings.)

 

[r_bnks]

And again the dying batteries during a gig...
How long it takes for everyone to realize that if the battery is changed every six month, it'll never die...

 

[MattZilla]

A preamp is a preamp, regardless of its physical location. Chronologically for electric basses, they were first mainly only found inside amplifier units, then some people started putting them into basses with the intent of them being talked to by a proprietary pickup which happened around when rack mount preamps also came along to color up rack mounted power amps, and as far as I’m aware pedal-form preamps came to the scene last.

There are a lot of bassists who are or have used a total of three or more preamps all at once as an always-on signal path. One I’ve seen used by more than a hundred other players: a StingRay into a Sansamp into a GK RB amp.

Pickups can have any type of natural voicing that’ll either accentuate or diminish aspects of the voicing of the physical bass guitar unit. It seems like most pickups designed with a proprietary preamp in mind are intentionally voiced with a dip somewhere between 250hz and 4khz yielding a remaining fat bottom and crispy highs and something unique to that design in that huge range of mids, though some are designed with a big bump in the mids as the priority which makes the highs & lows sound diminished to some ears and refined to other ears.

Of course there are intentionally passive pickups can and are designed with a mid dip or bump and definitely there are preamps available to be bass-mounted, rack-mounted, floor-laid, or amp-enclosed that will accentuate that dip or bump and there are many preamps that have such a strong dip or bump that it counters the opposite dip or bump in the pickup you’re using.

I’m thinking of that crisp tone with a touch of tenor, it is especially great for that punchy funk sound that slapping and popping brings out, but I wonder…

Is there a good way to get that sound out of passive pickups?

That’s pretty much the StingRay sound or Marcus Miller’s ‘77 Jazz Bass with either a Stars or Bartolini preamp loaded in by Roger Sadowsky before he had finalized his own preamp design which could be either bass mounted or floor laid and also works well with passive pickups for doing the thumpy snap & crackly slap & pop thing.

So…

Yeah, get a bass with two coils that can be wired in parallel and send it through some preamp that allows/encourages further mid scoop. It could just be a 1980s Mesa or Ampeg amp head with the bass & treble cranked and the mids cut and any Ultra Hi & Ultra Low switches activated, it could be a brand new John East inboard preamp and you’re plugging straight into the interface hooked to your laptop while recording into a DAW or plugged straight into a brand new QSC or Crown power amp. You could get silly with it and run a G&L L1000 switched to parallel into three BDDI’s one into the next all with the mids at 7:00 and the bass, treble, and presence at 5:00 and then into an SVT 4Pro and max out the smiley scoop on that. I’m honestly really curious how that’d sound live in a mix with either a horn & keys heavy Funk & Soul band and in a distorted guitars heavy rock & metal band.

Can the scoopy thing be done with an Overwound and Midrange-Bumpy (often referred to as being “growly”) single coil bass or O&MB series-wired dual coil bass? Definitely. It likely can also be done to weird mid-heavy active basses too.

 

[OnlyFlats]

OP - check out Lace pickups. I like their alumitones and have used them in 2 bass builds.

 

[el murdoque]

And again the dying batteries during a gig...
How long it takes for everyone to realize that if the battery is changed every six month, it'll never die...

I actually did have a battery die on me during a gig. On a bass with active pickups - so no output at all once the 9V were no more. I do have a spare in every gig bag, though - and re-joined the band before the song was out. A single occasion in 25 years of gigging active basses exclusively.
I made it a habit to write the date of the battery change on the battery with sharpie and replace them once a year.

 

[r_bnks]

I actually did have a battery die on me during a gig. On a bass with active pickups - so no output at all once the 9V were no more. I do have a spare in every gig bag, though - and re-joined the band before the song was out. A single occasion in 25 years of gigging active basses exclusively.
I made it a habit to write the date of the battery change on the battery with sharpie and replace them once a year.

Yup writing the date in the battery is a good idea.

 

[el murdoque]

Yup writing the date in the battery is a good idea.

I use the old ones in smoke detectors where they usually last for another year.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

FIrst of all, we need to clarify something:

While there are active pickups, they are a lot rarer than some people think.
The vast majority of "Active" basses have passive pickups and an active preamp.

If we're talking about one of those, then it is quite easy. There is a ton of preamp pedals out there. Just find what floats your boat and get it.

Bass Brethren,

I confess, I like the tone of Active pickups - which I realize have greater tone modification than their passive counterparts- I’m thinking of that crisp tone with a touch of tenor, it is especially great for that punchy funk sound that slapping and popping brings out, but I wonder…

Is there a good way to get that sound out of passive pickups?

Though I dig the tone, I dread the idea of that required 9-Volt battery going dead mid-set or being DOA upon a gig.

What’s the best way to get Active tone out of passing pickups/electronics? (Pedals, types of passive pickup electronics, volume-tone settings, amp settings)?

Bass Brethren,

I confess, I like the tone of Active pickups - which I realize have greater tone modification than their passive counterparts- I’m thinking of that crisp tone with a touch of tenor, it is especially great for that punchy funk sound that slapping and popping brings out, but I wonder…

Is there a good way to get that sound out of passive pickups?

Though I dig the tone, I dread the idea of that required 9-Volt battery going dead mid-set or being DOA upon a gig.

What’s the best way to get Active tone out of passing pickups/electronics? (Pedals, types of passive pickup electronics, volume-tone settings, amp settings)?

I don’t know if this is the best way, and more than likely this the least cost effective method , but an amp with a more effective EQ section is a solution.

 

[rojo412]

There are a number of passive pickups that do a great job sounding similar in sonic spectrum as the active pickups (usually EMG). While not EXACTLY the same, they tend to contain that crystalline, shiny high with a smoothed out mid and deep low, "almost processed" response.

For me, those have come from Delano, Lace, and the Nordy Zen Blades.
Rarer to find would be Status Graphite stock pickups which were voiced similarly.

 

[logdrum]

While there are active pickups, they are a lot rarer than some people think.

Not rare. - EMG has a big market share. And now Fishman fluence is also coming up. Some active Yamahas and Ibanez have active pickups, and usually those with no passive option are. They also have a big market share