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Passive SD/Music Man tone equals blah?

wyleeboxer

wyleeboxer

Apr 28, 2005
2,240
1,554
Orange County, CA
#1
I have a USA Schecter Jazz bass that I put a MM pup in the bridge position years ago (SD 1/4lb neck pup and SD MM bridge pup), and the tone has never been outstanding and Im not sure if its b/c the bass is passive or if I need to put another MM in the neck position to get some oomph out of the tone? The bass just sounds kinda whimpy with a bit of honk that I can’t get rid of, hard to describe... I was also thinking of replacing both pups with Darkstars and go in a whole other tone direction?
 
#4
What G&L did with the L-1000 is to put a cap on one of the coils so the high frequencies would be single coil and the low frequencies would be series. Check the L-1000 schematics on [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I don't know the answer for your question, but perhaps a <$1 cap could get you what you want...

KO
 
#5
kraigo said:
What G&L did with the L-1000 is to put a cap on one of the coils so the high frequencies would be single coil and the low frequencies would be series. Check the L-1000 schematics on [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I don't know the answer for your question, but perhaps a <$1 cap could get you what you want...

KO
Click to expand...

Interesting, perhaps I can give this a try? I've got an L2000 I could look at, and it sounds pretty good in passive mode, which would be the tone I would be looking for with my Schecter or something like that...
 
#7
G&L basses were made to work passive (in fact, the G&L preamp doesn't really have any EQ, it just boosts everything and lets you turn stuff down with the passive bass and treble rolloff knobs).

music mans, however, were designed specifically to be active only. the pickup is not much by itself (especially in the stock parallel) but works just right with the bass boost from the music man preamp.
 
#8
walterw said:
G&L basses were made to work passive (in fact, the G&L preamp doesn't really have any EQ, it just boosts everything and lets you turn stuff down with the passive bass and treble rolloff knobs).

music mans, however, were designed specifically to be active only. the pickup is not much by itself (especially in the stock parallel) but works just right with the bass boost from the music man preamp.
Click to expand...

See Im wondering if I should go with an active pre-amp (I'd rather not and would I need to use a MM pre to get the most out of the pup?) or is there a pick up that is wound for passive in the Music Man configuration? Nordstrand etc... and would anything else match up properly with the 1/4lb SD neck pup? Im really trying to bring this bass back to life somehow! thanks
 
#10
greenboy said:
The buffering an onboard preamp provides is part of the sound we associate with MM basses. And their specific preamp design furthers that. You can't make a passive capacitance-loaded pickup circuit sound exactly like that.
Click to expand...

+1

The preamp was part of the formula.

Also is the MM pickup an alnico or a ceramic? I found the Duncan alnico MM to be a bit on the bland side. The ceramic has more snap and grind.
 
#11
I believe this one is alnico but I cant remember, its been so damn long when I bought it? Is there any other options, maybe to have a custom wound passive MM pup made? the other option would be to go with some Darkstar pups but thats pricey and Im not sure it would cover the route job from the MM pup?
 
#12
I've got one of SGD Lutherie's pickups and I like it a lot, but it doesn't fit in your existing route. Kudos to David for not constantly pimping his own work in these threads. Carvin has a MM style pickup, but it's an AlNiCo, which is similar to what you have already. I love G&L's MFD pickups, but they aren't the same routing pattern. I suspect that MFD's are pretty much two Jazz pickups in a single shell, BTW. I've Nordstrand Dual Coils in my Skyline 55-01. I need to put in coil splitter switches. Right now they're in parallel and I don't feel like I truly know them yet. Nordstrand does do a MusicMan shaped pickup, so it might work well for you.

Good luck.

KO
 
#15
kraigo said:
I've got one of SGD Lutherie's pickups and I like it a lot, but it doesn't fit in your existing route. Kudos to David for not constantly pimping his own work in these threads.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pimping for me! :D

But as long as you brought it up ... I do have MM pickups now... I just need to update the website... but they are available. 4 and 5 string size models. Same tone as the other styles.
 

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