Poll: Best MM Pickups for an All Passive Wiring?

[jaroh24]

I've noticed a recent interest in having a single MM-style pickup in the Stingray sweet spot position in a completely passive wiring. I'm assuming this is due to the release of the Joe Dart Musicman bass. With that being said, what is everyone's favorite MM-style pickup wired completely passive?

"I can already read the criticism that there’s no active EQ, no pickup this – it’s not versatile. You're not versatile!"

 

[jaroh24]

I guess I misjudged the interest in passive MM wirings. I thought there would have been more replies and votes.

 

[PawleeP]

I guess I misjudged the interest in passive MM wirings. I thought there would have been more replies and votes.

I have a passive setup [for now] Nord MM4.2 in a jazz style bass. Have no other MM Type Basses or pups to compare it to though.

 

[Protagonist]

I have a Kiloton and a passive Sterling Short Scale Stingray. Both come with Alnico magnets.

 

[jaroh24]

I have a passive setup [for now] Nord MM4.2 in a jazz style bass. Have no other MM Type Basses or pups to compare it to though.

That's a good point. I suppose most people don't buy several MM pickups to compare to each other. Maybe I should buy a few and make soundclips for comparison

 

[jaroh24]

I have a Kiloton and a passive Sterling Short Scale Stingray. Both come with Alnico magnets.

The Kiloton comes with the MFD pickups, right? I think they are ceramic

 

[honeyiscool]

I was really disappointed when I tried the Nordstrom 5.4 in a passive wiring. I think that’s where I’d have been much better off with those that are basically dual single pickups, like the Nordstrom Big Man. The Bartolini DL52CBJD3 that I installed in my Lakland gets run passive most of the time and sounds glorious.

 

[Protagonist]

The Kiloton comes with the MFD pickups, right? I think they are ceramic

Interesting. I thought the G&L passives used alnico. They get so much output out of that pickup. Like as much as two of my Fenders combined.

 

[jaroh24]

Interesting. I thought the G&L passives used alnico. They get so much output out of that pickup. Like as much as two of my Fenders combined.

Yep, it says online that they are ceramic. The high output is because of the extraordinarily large magnets in the pickups.

Magnetic Field Design Guitar and Bass Pickups

 

[honeyiscool]

Yep, it says online that they are ceramic. The high output is because of the extraordinarily large magnets in the pickups.

Magnetic Field Design Guitar and Bass Pickups

Even with the steel slug + bar magnet design, there's no reason why you couldn't use Alnico bar pickups. In fact, most guitar humbuckers are made with bar magnets and steel screws/slugs, and you can change tone quite a lot by changing the bar magnet underneath. They chose ceramic for a reason, but there's nothing about the design that says it couldn't be Alnico.

 

[Bass Blender]

I have a friend who has a 4 string Stingray with a blown preamp. He wants to know if there’s a way to convert it over to passive? Even if there’s a pickup change required. Any help or direction from y’all would be appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Geri O]

I have a question for those seeking a passive arrangement with MM-style pickups.

In doing do, are you looking for the classic Stingray tone or something else?

As for Joe Dart's tone, I love, love, love his playing, but I wouldn't consider that MM bass of his as a tone I would try to achieve.

I was working on a friend's Stingray diagnosing a preamp problem and in the course of trouble-shooting the problem, I connected the MM pickup directly to the output jack, no preamp in the circuit.

To my ears, it sounded nothing like a Stingray. And I didn't care for the tone it was delivering while being wired as strictly passive.

Just asking....

 

[walterw]

my vote would be for a classic alnico magnet MM-style pickup but wired in series instead of parallel, that will bring back some missing volume and low end lost with the preamp's EQ boost.

 

[kodiakblair]

Other.

Warman MM4. Ceramic overwound to 13.4K. Kicks out 9 H

 

[mcnach]

I have a question for those seeking a passive arrangement with MM-style pickups.

In doing do, are you looking for the classic Stingray tone or something else?

As for Joe Dart's tone, I love, love, love his playing, but I wouldn't consider that MM bass of his as a tone I would try to achieve.

I was working on a friend's Stingray diagnosing a preamp problem and in the course of trouble-shooting the problem, I connected the MM pickup directly to the output jack, no preamp in the circuit.

To my ears, it sounded nothing like a Stingray. And I didn't care for the tone it was delivering while being wired as strictly passive.

Just asking....

interesting, not my experience at all (shrug)

 

[mcnach]

I have a friend who has a 4 string Stingray with a blown preamp. He wants to know if there’s a way to convert it over to passive? Even if there’s a pickup change required. Any help or direction from y’all would be appreciated! Thank you!

it's just a passive pickup, you can wire it passively, no problem. You can follow any diagram for a single pickup guitar.

 

[Bass Blender]

it's just a passive pickup, you can wire it passively, no problem. You can follow any diagram for a single pickup guitar.

I appreciate the response! I just didn’t know if anyone had tried that & how much (if any) did the sound/tone change. And did they like the change. I’ve got some info to pass along to him but any addition info would be welcomed as well. Thanks, y’all!

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I have a question for those seeking a passive arrangement with MM-style pickups.

In doing do, are you looking for the classic Stingray tone or something else?

As for Joe Dart's tone, I love, love, love his playing, but I wouldn't consider that MM bass of his as a tone I would try to achieve.

I was working on a friend's Stingray diagnosing a preamp problem and in the course of trouble-shooting the problem, I connected the MM pickup directly to the output jack, no preamp in the circuit.

To my ears, it sounded nothing like a Stingray. And I didn't care for the tone it was delivering while being wired as strictly passive.

Just asking....

I had a Modulus FU4 with SD’s that could be set in passive mode, and I think your diagnosis of the tone is pretty spot on. It could sound Ray’ish in the most archaic of ways but it in no way had the balls, zing, or grunt of an active preamp. It was like a cardboard cutout of a Ferrari. Yeah, the outline is there but none of the stuff that makes it fun is.

 

[yodedude2]

best i've ever heard was the ebmm usa sub pickup wired in series. edit: the only others i've heard were early 21st century duncan and bartolini pickups, models unknown, and also an unidentified knock-off built in asia somewhere.

 

[mcnach]

I appreciate the response! I just didn’t know if anyone had tried that & how much (if any) did the sound/tone change. And did they like the change. I’ve got some info to pass along to him but any addition info would be welcomed as well. Thanks, y’all!

The preamp gives you a wider range of sounds, but the basic sound is the same... you just cannot adjust it (at the bass) as much as you would with an active onboard EQ.

I had a bypass switch installed on my Stingray and found out that I tend to play it pretty flat: active/passive there is not much difference. Some people like more extreme EQ which you won't have access to, but remember you can still shape your tone elsewhere (at the amplifier, using external FX units, etc etc).

A passive Stingray with a standard passive tone control and the pickup wired in series is a very seriously punchy and full sound.