It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:16 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 27 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2
Author Message
Post subject:
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:37 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:10 am
Posts: 1086
yep old school is still best played with a passive bass.. while the actives are best with metal and heavy rock

_________________
If I Like It...
I Just Do It...


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject:
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:38 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:41 am
Posts: 34
Hey Power,
How do you like your Squire VM. At that price I don't think I can resist getting one much longer.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 9:10 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:26 pm
Posts: 2849
Location: Green Bay, WI
custer wrote:
Hey Power,
How do you like your Squire VM. At that price I don't think I can resist getting one much longer.


I do,I like it a lot. It's got a BadAss II on it, I can't tell the tonal differences, but it looks nice ;) Yeah, I'm that shallow. When I got the '99 it was to be my project bass, hence the Gotoh 201 and the Schaller lite weight tuners...then with some crazy stuff happening this year, I don't really have the cash to do anything else. Now I have EMG Active Jazz on order. Well, enough ranting, back to your question, I luv the VM, luv the sound, the look, the feel. I am thinking of selling it tho. I'm not the kind of guy that gets attached to my basses, except for my '87 - my 1st real bass. If you search, prolly can find me posting pix of all the basses - the VM doesn't have a pg, I don't like the look of pick guards.


Here's a link to one of the VM pic : http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... &start=300

_________________
Rez(# 30916)
'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


Top
Profile
Post subject: Passive Fender vintage noiseless is better than active EMG
Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2010 11:44 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:38 am
Posts: 32
I replaced my cheap Squier bass with two passive Fender vintage noiseless pickups. The sound is so booming and so good, it's way way better than my Dean active bass (EMG HZ pickups) I had put this active bass away in the closet and looking to sell it.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 12:18 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:10 am
Posts: 1086
tonal difference in wood? the VM is brighter than the standard fenders due to maple wood... but then the sound of the VM pickups are a bit dull and the pickups of the Standards are well focused on the Bottom and with a bit of harshness in the treble..

_________________
If I Like It...
I Just Do It...


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Active vs Passive
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:36 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:12 pm
Posts: 6355
Location: Albemarle, NC
custer wrote:
I was wondering what some of you thought of active vs passive pickups.


Actually it is the EQ circuit which is active as a rule and not the pickups. There seems to be a lot of confusion about that.

If I could have ONLY ONE bass it would be passive. Fortunately I am lucky enough to have both.

Which is right for each song is sort of intuitive. Something nobody can teach you or explain in a forum post.

If you are just starting out, go with passive. Most players will be perfectly happy with a passive instrument FOREVER. The most revered star players never owned an active bass at all. It was not a handicap to them. Pastorius, Jamerson, Dunn....not an active among them.

While I do use both, but I do use passive WAY more than active.

Halfway through a live set is a bad time to have the battery go dead on an active bass. Ouch. So I would never gig an active bass without a passive backup for sure. If only taking one bass, take a passive.

I primarily play passive at gigs but will switch-hit to an active on a few songs just to get that clear upfront tone for a change of pace. Yes you can use pedals to get different active-like tonal effects also. But it isn't as much fun as switching instruments.

Some aftermarket pickups allow an active bass to approach an active in sensitivity and clarity, for example the Seymour Duncan Quarter-Pounder variety which are very sensitive.

A split wound Alnico pickup overwound a tad (about 3% or so) in a passive first generation P-Bass works best for me on 90% of the stuff my band plays. BUT we play primarily old school R&B, Classic Rock and even some Classic Pop stuff. So that custom split coil innovation is my main pickup. I use Sprague Vitamin-Q caps in all my passive basses and recommend them as probably one of the best upgrades you can do on a passive bass for real old school tone for just a few bucks.

On a few of the funk and classic rock songs I find the active sound works better than passive. And as already pointed out active basses do offer improved clarity. They also have tremendous sensitivity. What most if not all active basses lack is the organic and earthy rhythm and blues tones that are time tested and true.

I use a Whirlwind Selector A/B/Y pedal to switch between basses at gigs. I cut the instrument's master volume on an active bass to just a little over half volume to avoid using the amp's active/passive switches or jacks and so I don't have to tweak the compressor. My active bass does have a master volume control with a pickup blend pot thankfully. I think it sounds better to cut the instrument's master volume than to pad it down by using an active input circuit pad. Just my opinion though and I have no scientific or technical evidence of that.

I have done the songs I use an active on with a passive bass just fine, but the active bass tones do make them better to me. I'm not sure if the audience can even tell the difference between the sound of the various instruments and have actually had some people ask why I change instruments. Active tones are not my favorite tones by any means, but they are clean, clear and up front.

Another downside of an active bass is that it is very easy to overdo the on-board EQ. Maxing out the instrument's bass or treble is a terrible idea and should probably never happen.

Part of the charm of a passive P-Bass, and to a lesser extent the J-Bass, is that the controls are pretty simple! Even if you get the settings completely wrong on a passive bass, it still will probably not sound absolutely awful. This is not the case with an active bass. You have to get an active EQ set just right or it sounds worse than a passive bass at it's worst. Being just a little off in your settings on an active is a recipe for disappointment and strange looks from fellow players who think you are either trying to upstage them or that you have lost your mind.


Top
Profile
Post subject: weighing in on active
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:42 pm
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:24 pm
Posts: 175
I have played active basses for years now, starting in 1981. I have never worried about a battery going dead on me (I always use Duracells). I don't know how long these batteries last but it seems like over a year of playing an hour or two every day. I have noticed that some active circuits seem to eat batteries faster than others. I have two 9-volt basses; the older one seems to eat batteries much faster than the newer one so maybe the electronics are more efficient? The primary thing I like about active basses now is that I can practice with headphones plugged straight into the bass with a 1/4" adapter, so I don't have to disturb the neighbors.

Overall I think active basses make more sense for tonal control than relying on your amp or some box as you would with a passive bass. With the active bass, you can always cut your boost which is an option you don't have with passive, plus the control to do this is right there on the guitar, not on the floor or on your amp. Passive basses make more sense imho if you always play one style of music (i.e. R&B or whatever) and don't need your bass to wear a lot of different hats.

One last thought on active basses; the only time I've ever had a problem with one was when I was doing a recording session and the bass was too hot for the board. This was an original Stingray and to do the session I wound having to set everything (bass and amp) very flat. I usually play with everything boosted all the way, so that was a big difference in sound.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2010 4:21 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:38 am
Posts: 32
If I fiddled around with the amp knobs I could get my passive bass the sound of an active bass.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 9:08 am
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:26 pm
Posts: 2849
Location: Green Bay, WI
Hey BrotherDave, how've you been?

I agree with Fretless5, I've never had issues with the batteries when gigging. It seems to last apx about 4-5 mos, if I'm unsure, I put new ones on before the show.

_________________
Rez(# 30916)
'89 Power Jazz Bass Special-BadAssIII, EMG P/J
Project PBass-EMG PX, Schaller BM Light Tuner
'05 Aerodyne JBass
'06 Spector Legend Custom Neck Through
VT Bass
Hartke TA5000 w/XL Cabs(210, 410, 115)


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:31 pm
Offline
Professional Musician
Professional Musician
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:10 am
Posts: 1086
if i would be bringing or having just 1 bass.. it's gonna be an ol passive jazz bass.. :lol:

_________________
If I Like It...
I Just Do It...


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2010 7:14 pm
yep


Last edited by 6163asfj on Fri Sep 17, 2010 5:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 9:46 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:05 pm
Posts: 93
Location: Regina, SK Canada
i just bought my first active bass a month or two ago... during practice a few weeks back it started making some horrid crackling noises, which i thought was the jack... took it in and they say they "fixed the jack".... back to practice the next week... same issues with intermittent crackling and then i just started dropping out.... i was playing hard but nothing coming from my rig...what little sound i got was distorted..... grrr!!!

decided to swap out for a new battery and eureka... all my problems went away... thank god this all took place at practices and not at a gig....
from now on i would either take my passive GL to a gig or make SURE i put a brand new battery in the P before a gig....

just a quick lesson learned about actives!

_________________
Fender American Standard Jazz
Fender Geddy Lee Jazz
Rickenbacker 4003

Mesa M6 Carbine head
Mesa Powerhouse 4x10 cab
Mesa Powerhouse 1x15 cab


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 27 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: