Passive Music Man??

[onosson]

Some of the American EBMM SUB's were passive. I never tried one (mine was active). Phenomenal instruments, shared the same pick up and electronics as the two band Stingray.

Worth keeping an eye on the classifieds. As they do pop up from. Time to time.

I have one of these, a 5-string fretless to boot. Great instrument and love the tone.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

Stingrays are all passive, the pre-amp is active. I know TBers have removed the pre and run them passive. I thought about doing the mod myself but never got around to it.

The passive OLP basses sound like wet farts in a blanket, nothing like a real Ray in my experience.

 

[wvbass]

Stingray pickups are all passive; the pre-amp is active.

Fixed it for you. Stingrays basses are active. If you put a battery in the bass to make it work, it is an active bass.

 

[gjbassist]

The passive OLP basses sound like wet farts in a blanket, nothing like a real Ray in my experience.

Maybe the one's you have heard but I bet mine would surprise you! When I refinished the bass I totally gutted it and put in a new GFS MM Pro Plus pickup and CTS pots. IMO it pulls off the Ray tone quite well.

 

[ggunn]

Many, many, many a professional working bass player would disagree with this I'm afraid.

I don't mean to say that different pickup positions don't sound different, nor do I say that players do not have their preferences, but if it's simply nodes and harmonics one is considering, these move when notes are fretted. It's not magic; the farther the pickup moves from the bridge (to a point, of course) the more "bassy" it will sound.

 

[Slevage]

There is no "sweet spot". The closer a pickup is to the bridge the more trebly it sounds, but there is nothing magic about any placement in particular.

There is a sweet spot for a MM stingray. Move the pick up and it's not a ray anymore--- sweet is a relative term for any given instrument.

 

[Lo-E]

Some of the American EBMM SUB's were passive. I never tried one (mine was active). Phenomenal instruments, shared the same pick up and electronics as the two band Stingray.

Worth keeping an eye on the classifieds. As they do pop up from. Time to time.

Yup! Mine's active, too, but they did offer passive ones. Very nice basses and very affordable on the used market.
If you want to keep the budget even lower, I believe the Ray 34 basses are available as passives, too. It's not quite a MM, but it's the Squier equivalent in the MM world.

 

[jasper383]

I had a SUB that was passive.

Give me the EBMM preamp any day.

 

[Slevage]

I'm just using that verbiage because it's commonly called the "sweet sop" pup placement.

You are correct. The pickup placement is important to the Ray sound, so it is in that instrument's sweet spot.
I do believe that the MM preamp is part of it's sound, but I think there are passive MM style pickups available.
I'd say , try it for yourself.

 

[laneline]

+1 on the Big Al the passive tones kill, it has a dedicated tone. All buttons up gives you the bridge and middle pup in series for a huge passive tone, instead of ranting on here is Ed Friedland's demo in case you haven't heard it.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I don't mean to say that different pickup positions don't sound different, nor do I say that players do not have their preferences, but if it's simply nodes and harmonics one is considering, these move when notes are fretted. It's not magic; the farther the pickup moves from the bridge (to a point, of course) the more "bassy" it will sound.

I guess for me the the term 'magic' is more of a figure of speech used to imply a certain feeling one gets when hearing something unique and pleasing. Kinda like the 'magic' Andy Johns created in 1971 when he recorded John Bonham's drums for the song "When the Levee Breaks".

 

[73jbass]

Why not give the MM a try before dismissing it because it has a preamp? You dont have to use the tone controls. I never do. But they are there if I need them.

 

[diamondsplit]

G&L basses are built really well especially the early models. I would look into the G&L SB 1 they were great basses P bass on steroids. I like both passive and active I love Fender P basses and I love stingrays. The G&L would be a great alternative and the early eighties are less expensive then a new one

 

[DwaynieAD]

So, I am a passive guy but am interested in the sweet spot pickup position. I like the old Music Man basses and was wondering if they have ever made a passive model? Or if not, is it because the sweet spot isn't so sweet without an on board preamp?

I know the American made SUBS they did had some that are passive models. They are the same as Stingray classics but with a rugged paint job and an ugly as sin pick guard. can be picked up used for less than 500

Some of the American EBMM SUB's were passive. I never tried one (mine was active). Phenomenal instruments, shared the same pick up and electronics as the two band Stingray.

Worth keeping an eye on the classifieds. As they do pop up from. Time to time.

I was beat to it.

I prefer passive instruments, but those American made SUBS are something to behold.

 

[mel0dic.bassist]

Fixed it for you. Stingrays basses are active. If you put a battery in the bass to make it work, it is an active bass.

When I spoke to EBMM customer service, I was kindly informed that the American SUB's were manufactured in the same San Louis Obispo plant and are modeled after the Classics (slab body, sustains for dayyyyyys!!), use poplar instead of ash for the body wood, and have the "custom" textured finish and black satin finish on the headstock/back of the neck. The stock pickup and electronics (if they're active) are also the exact same as "real" 'Rays and are internally wired in parallel.

....Oh, and the aluminium pickguard.

You either love or hate the pickguard. It's about 1/16" thick and quite flimsy feeling. I personally don't mind it, and has inspired me to style mine in an industrial sort of theme. if I could only find some Ric-style knobs (like pictured below) that don't say "volume" or "tone," and completely blacked out hardware, I'd be set. I'm also really glad that the body isn't routed for wiring like a lot of P-basses are, so I can rock it without the pickguard for that oh-so-sexy G&L look.

On the topic of black hardware, I was thinking about getting my existing hardware coated in Cerakote, typically used for coating gun parts. I saw a video on Youtube of some dude who did some other dude's Stingray parts and they have a super sexy matte black finish to them. I'm not a fan of shiny, so this really got my interest and have been trying to find a Canadian shop that would do it for me. Topped off with an OBP-3 preamp, and it's gonna sound massive.

Back on topic, the point I'm trying to make, is that if you find one of the USA SUB's, buy it, buy it fast!!

 

[blindrabbit]

"The first ever active and passive Stingrays offered by Music Man!"

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

VERY cool, first I've heard of these! Nice addition to the line, EBMM!

 

[MrAtomic]

VERY cool, first I've heard of these! Nice addition to the line, EBMM!

Yes, thank you wvbass.

This is very interesting -- a passive Stingray, eh? Why, WHY didn't this exist in 1992 when I, as a pimply-faced know-nothing, carried a wad of cash from my first real job into Sam Ash and bought a Stingray without any understanding of "active electronics"?

And that passive Big Al does sound very interesting, indeed.

 

[blindrabbit]

I've only had a passive USA SUB for a few days now, but I'll share my opinion that it does still have the Stingray/MM snarl to it. Now mind you, I was never one to do much tweaking with my onboard preamp. I know they have a built in sound (the preamps), but not surprisingly the type of pickup and its location has a pretty massive influence on tone.

 

[disssa]

The Reflex & Big Al can both go passive. My Big Al sounds GREAT passive

+1
I love the tone of my Reflex 5HSS, when I play this bass in passive mode...