PUP Choices

[bareass]

hey all,
I'm building a bass right now, and planning out the Pickups.

i've determined that i would like to go with single coils, with active and passive capabilities.

up until now i've been thinking of the nordstand fat singles, or fat stacks. but have just looked at the Q-tuners.

the Q-tuner website, says that they are passive pups, and me knowing nothing, am wondering can a passive pup still benefit from a preamp?

how do each of these pup (the nordstrand and the Q-tuner) sound in both passive and active configurations?

thanks

 

[FunkMetalBass]

99% of all "active" basses have passive pickups and active electronics.

I have a Nordstrand NJ4SV in my fretless Jazz and when first getting it, I wired it directly to the jack - it sounded wonderful. I installed an Aguilar OBP-3, and now it sounds even better!

 

[bareass]

so the pick ups them self are not active? that helps out... does anyone have experience wth running the q-tuners through a preamp?

 

[Montanamike]

so the pick ups them self are not active? that helps out... does anyone have experience wth running the q-tuners through a preamp?

No but all pups are basically the same construction technique, wire , magnets and poles and since 99% of all pups are passive 99% of all preamps are built to run passive pups. the 1% is primarily a model made by EMG.

Your preamp selection is key to how the bass will sound, more so than any other single factor. IMO

 

[bareass]

I'm planning on using 3 single coils, similarly to the dingwall z-3 (which i noticed after my design was done) but i'm having problems deciding on the pickups, i think the nordys might be physically too big, and the screw placement of the typical single coil, being on the sides, will still take up the same amount of body room.

i want two bridge pickups in the sweet spot and a neck where a jazz woul be.

all the little things that add up when building a bass!