It is odd that EMG has cornered the market. I was toying with the idea of swapping in a set of 5-string active J pickups; I had an old fretless with active EMGs that just sounded otherwordly. A full setup is a bit expensive, though I generally don't really care for/need on-bass EQ. Doesn't EMG do just a vol/vol/"tone" setup for active jazz basses?
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Who makes active pickups?
- Thread starter qersty
- Start date
- Apr 18, 2008
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- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,007
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- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
As the owner of a plunge router, I know how to fix “odd-sized active pickups”.
- Feb 8, 2005
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- Endorsing Artist: Bag End - Dean Markley - Thunderfunk
My favorite pickups are active, but that's not why they are my favorite; I just happen to like the sound.
VFL (found in the highly venerated Cirrus, among others) are active pickups that IMO sound great.
My old Fernandes had J style actives (I still have them in a drawer somewhere) called FGI that had a nice tone as well, a bit grittier than EMG.
Don’t get me wrong, EMGs sounds great, so do most other active pickups that I’ve heard.
However, I will never have another bass with active pickups. From now on I’m using passive pickups with an active preamp that can be bypassed as passive.
When you talk about batteries failing, people usually laugh and say how rare that is. But I’ve had it happen to me at least three times during gigs. The battery failed on the preamp but I had an instrument that was able to switch to passive mode and I was still able to play the gig.
I would not have been able to do that with active pickups.
However, I will never have another bass with active pickups. From now on I’m using passive pickups with an active preamp that can be bypassed as passive.
When you talk about batteries failing, people usually laugh and say how rare that is. But I’ve had it happen to me at least three times during gigs. The battery failed on the preamp but I had an instrument that was able to switch to passive mode and I was still able to play the gig.
I would not have been able to do that with active pickups.
My big worry is that my bass will cut out mid-song, though it's never happened yet. Even though, I almost always bring at least one totally passive bass as a back-up. As nice as my active basses sound, there's something reassuring about knowing there's a P bass 10 feet away off stage left if things go south.
- Feb 8, 2005
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- Endorsing Artist: Bag End - Dean Markley - Thunderfunk
Well arguably yet the thousands of bassists who use EMGs or for that matter play a Stingray seem to be just fine.
Assuming you have a flip-type battery box, it would probably take the same amount of time or less to swap batteries as it would to swap basses. Definitely less to carry.
Don’t get me wrong, a battery crapping out mid-song is a very real hazard but as gig hazards go it’s very easy one to prevent, probably the easiest of them all...about on par with running out of gas driving to the gig.
Guitarfetish has a whole line of active bass pickups and dedicated solderless tonestack stuff for it. At really reasonable prices. IMO the "dipswitch" preamp versions are really interesting. Don't ask me how they sound, but ...
REDactives Bass Pickups
REDactives Complete Plug-N-Play Assemblies
Ah ... occurs that strings crap mid-song. Batteries don't. They make the preamp distort HOURS before they crap. If you go gigging with dying batteries and without spares well then ...
REDactives Bass Pickups
REDactives Complete Plug-N-Play Assemblies
Ah ... occurs that strings crap mid-song. Batteries don't. They make the preamp distort HOURS before they crap. If you go gigging with dying batteries and without spares well then ...
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A bass with passive pickups and a preamp may not sound it's best when run in passive mode, but it does make some sound. The audience might not even notice.
A bass with active pickups and a dead battery (or a bad battery clip, or...) is a useless lump of weight around your neck. The audience (and your band leader) will notice.
A bass with active pickups and a dead battery (or a bad battery clip, or...) is a useless lump of weight around your neck. The audience (and your band leader) will notice.
Never happened to me in 30 years playing active pickups on bass and guitar
+1
Do you use rechargeables? They behave like that. A Bass guitar preamp is the place where eco-friendlyness ends ... if you use alcalines (eg duracell) this won't happen. Period.
- Feb 8, 2005
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- Endorsing Artist: Bag End - Dean Markley - Thunderfunk
+1
Like I said, it’s like running out of gas driving to the gig... easily prevented and your fault if it happens, not a fault of the car or the pickups.
If you don’t like active pickups, fair enough but to act like they should be avoided because the batteries might die on you is a pretty weak excuse IMO.
Absolutely YES, but though the most popular type ir passive pickups + active electronics.
- Apr 18, 2008
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@Rallinger has already covered this, but it bears repeating: batteries don’t suddenly die mid-song. They gradually wane, slowly introducing distortion as they do. So you have plenty of warning. And if your bass has a battery box, changing batteries is super-easy and super-quick.
However, as @FugaziBomb says, best practice is to have spares of everything, including at least one bass that can run passive. Belt and braces.
However, as @FugaziBomb says, best practice is to have spares of everything, including at least one bass that can run passive. Belt and braces.
Nope. Never used rechargebles in my basses. Believe it or not regular batteries die too.
I think Bartolini also makes active pickups, but only exclusively for Pedulla.
From their website:
"In conjunction with Bill Bartolini, we designed our own proprietary tone shaping circuits (exclusive to the Pedulla Thunderbass and Thunderbolt) to work with two active Bartolini soapbar pickups."
I personally own an Ibanez SR800 with active P/J pickups. I don't know who made these pickups but I can't imagine Ibanez going through the trouble of designing and producing these for only a limited line-up. Some said these sound just like EMG's, so they might very well be EMG's with another label.
As a side note, I ditched the preamp on it and instead added a lowpass and highpass filter. Turning these gives the sound either a full hifi tone or a passive bass kind of tone (or anything in between).
From their website:
"In conjunction with Bill Bartolini, we designed our own proprietary tone shaping circuits (exclusive to the Pedulla Thunderbass and Thunderbolt) to work with two active Bartolini soapbar pickups."
I personally own an Ibanez SR800 with active P/J pickups. I don't know who made these pickups but I can't imagine Ibanez going through the trouble of designing and producing these for only a limited line-up. Some said these sound just like EMG's, so they might very well be EMG's with another label.
As a side note, I ditched the preamp on it and instead added a lowpass and highpass filter. Turning these gives the sound either a full hifi tone or a passive bass kind of tone (or anything in between).
I think i have heard that bartolini used to make actives but idk how true it is. The Ibanezes may be some OEM, I found out artec makes cheap EMG knock-offs so may be something similar. OT but whose filter do you use?
