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Pedal that can make passive bass sound active?

#23
Funkinthetrunk said:
Stingrays were one of the original "HiFi" basses in the marketplace and still is to my ears.
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That's why it's so difficult to describe sounds. Often two people will hear the same sound and describe it in different ways.

Clearly what you call hifi is not the same as me, and when you consider that my Stingray sounds pretty much the same when I engage the bypass switch, it makes me think that what you call hifi is just the sound of that pickup at that position, and not the preamp. But the OP may be calling hifi another quality...
 
#24
BogeyBass said:
something simple as a Boss GEB-7 EQ pedal

i guess technically its kinda true a pre with active EQ would make it active.

But there is a slight difference in string tone with a actual active pickup.

its essentially same thing but there can be a slight tone difference than just pluging into a pedal.
active tone has a certain extended response and adds string overtone that a passive pickup wired bass wont get going into a pre.

little extra tone i guess from a pickup going directly to a active pre or pretty much a opamp.

its weird its not much different than pluging into a amp.
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But 99% of all "active" basses out there are just passive pickups with a preamp. Very few actually use active pickups (which may be used with or without active EQ). They are the same as having the same passive pickup plus the preamp in a pedal (with the difference that the additional length of cable will make).
 
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#26
mcnach said:
That's why it's so difficult to describe sounds. Often two people will hear the same sound and describe it in different ways.

Clearly what you call hifi is not the same as me, and when you consider that my Stingray sounds pretty much the same when I engage the bypass switch, it makes me think that what you call hifi is just the sound of that pickup at that position, and not the preamp. But the OP may be calling hifi another quality...
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I guess what I mean by hi fi is that you can hear the notes very clearly. And the adjustments on the EQ are much more obvious. That's the best way I can describe it haha
 
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#28
Hardbassjunkie said:
Is there such a thing? I played about with a sterling ray34 and I enjoyed the hifi sound. It was different then any bass I had. So instead of buying a $1000 CAD bass, is there a pedal that can give me an active sound?
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What you're looking for is an external preamp. I love my MXR M80 Bass D.I.. I use it with active and passive basses, it has distortion, and I use it as a DI when playing live without an amp. I got mine on Reverb for less than $100.

Here's a demo video that can show what it can do, it's what convinced me to buy it.
 
#30
Hardbassjunkie said:
Is there such a thing? I played about with a sterling ray34 and I enjoyed the hifi sound. It was different then any bass I had. So instead of buying a $1000 CAD bass, is there a pedal that can give me an active sound?
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I think you aren't talking about an active bass or an active pedal but about pickups. So basically an active bass well let you fine tune the eq, but you'll never be able to make a pbass sound like a stingray with a pedal.
I assume that you're talking about pickups, specifically humbuckers. Are your basses all jazz or precision basses?
 
#34
well the music man series aren't entry level basses, but they do have the SUB range which I think is around $3-350 new. Check out Reverb I'm sure you could find them much cheaper used.
Never tried them though so I can't say how good they are or not
 
#35
Luke_94 said:
I think that's your issue. You want them to sound like stingrays but they will never be stingrays unfortunately because of the different pickups
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I used to own a sterling by music man ray34ca at the same time as I owned a regular musician stingray classic. The SBMM did a great job and miraculously did not exhibit the dreaded "weak g string" syndrome that a lot of music man basses have.

If you know you want a ray sound I would not hesitate to recommend a ray34

For Sale - Sterling Ray 34

Not my bass but this doesn't cost much more than a good preamp pedal.
For Sale - Sterling Ray 34
 
#38
superheavyfunk said:
My recommendation for this is the Xotic RC bass. A few years back, I bought it for the exact same reason - I wanted a more hi-fi sound out of my passive bass. The RC is super clean... It doesn't do "grit" well but it'll give your bass a nice kick in the pants output-wise, and add a glorious sheen to the sound. It has bass and treble knobs, so you can add more or less "oomph" and "sheen" as you see fit.
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I swear by my Xotic RC on passive basses. To me it's super "transparent"--for example if I use a passive pbass with flats for an old-school sound, it still sounds "classic" through the RC, just that much more "alive"--punchy, detailed--and the EQ is great. It doesn't transform it into some modern boinky active sound. So actually, the RC doesn't sound "active" to me!
I used to use a Sadowsky outboard pre religiously for years on my passive basses. That unit definitely imparts it's own distinct character on the sound(I've owned a Sadowsky bass as well so it was an easy comparison). It's a great sound though - smooth, deep, focused.
 
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#39
An active bass is just a passive bass(very few manufacturers , EMG , one of them-or maybe the only one?-make active pick ups) with an on board preamp, so any preamp, as has ben said before, will do this.
 
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