Passive StingRay?

[claybone]

Hey! I just bought a 78 Precision, and IMO, it just levelled all my other active basses (SSD, Warwick, StingRay) in the tone department. So I was thinking, what good would it bring if I convert my StingRay to passive? Has anyone tried bypassing the MM preamp in their 'Ray?

 

[Guinea Pig]

i love my stingray, and wouldn't dare mess with it, not saying its a bad idea but if you already have an awesome toned precision why would you try and get the same tone out of your stingray? It has a sound of its own, I say keep it the way it is.

 

[tplyons]

I often thought about trying to find a way to add a preamp bypass switch on that thing.

 

[claybone]

yeah, that's it!!! a bypass switch! why didn't think of that before? it's a simple mod, right?
... right?

 

[brooklynbassguy]

I believe stingrays have a special low impedance pickup that doesn't work passive, at least the pre EB series did. I've got a passive kingston that rocks...

 

[claybone]

if that's the case, then putting a Bartolini MM pickup, then a bypass switch would be the solution, am I right? Hhhmm.. getting murkier than I thought.

 

[mgmadian]

I had a tech install an active/passive bypass switch in my SR5 a couple years ago... both on the stock pup/preamp, and on the Basslines alnico / OBP3 combo that I replaced them with. The mod to the stock config was tricky, due to the EB circuitboard, but while I liked the passive sound. One the Basslines / OBP3 config, the passive mode was great, similar to what you might expect (slightly warmer, more 'organic',e tc)... highly recommend this mod if you can perform or find a good tech.

 

[claybone]

Great! So, the mod can be done on the stock pickup and circuit! There's a good tech here that ,I think, can do it. Thanks for the great info, greg.

 

[Clorenzo]

My main bass is as Warmoth Deluxe 5 with a Seymour Duncan MM Alnico pickup and an active / passive switch and I've recently put together for a friend a passive Dinky-P with the same pickup (4-string version). These pickups are definitely passive and in fact fairly hot, maybe like a vintage P-bass or so, and they are supposed to be a direct replacement for the originals, so I'm sure those must work ok as passive too.

As for the sound, the difference between active with the eq flat and passive is very subtle, just a touch less treble, so I'm not sure the reason your new P is so much better than your actives is that it's passive, it's more likely a matter of woods and pickups. In any case the mod is cheap and easy, so it's probably worth giving it a try.

 

[razo]

I also have a Seymour Duncan Alnico MM on my 5-string. It sounds perfect, I only had to install an EMG-PA2 pickup booster to raise the output level of the PU. Without the preamp it was way too quiet.