Pros And Cons Of Passive vs Active Basses | Guitar Tech Tips | Ep. 94 | Thomann
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- čas přidán 16. 07. 2024
- Are active basses better than passive ones? What does active even mean? Are the pickups active? Or the rest of the electronics? Well, it depends. Sometimes both. :)
Let's talk about the most common bass electronic types in this episode of Guitar Tech Tips.
Enjoy!
Gear used: tho.mn/99lrs
Recorded and mixed with Universal Audio: tho.mn/uadx1
Monitors optimised through Sonarworks: tho.mn/sonar
Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:39 Fully passive bass
1:37 Passive pickups with active preamp
2:42 Active pickups
3:25 Swapping passive to active electronics
4:22 Test Ride | Active vs Passive
5:31 Outtakes
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Passive bass + pre-amp pedal is my recomendation. You save money with a passive as you don't have to pay extra for the pre-amp. Then you can use that money for better wood or better craftmanship. Then you go and get a nice pre-amp pedal that you can use on all of your basses.
I also think this way. But how to manage the high impedance of passive bass?
@@rivellehaidar318 there are FET or tube preamps... i.e. Aguilar and Noble
Active EQ was one of the features that convinced me to get a Stingray 5 HH. That thing is like a Swiss Army knife of tones for me!
I love all basses, passive, active, somewhere-in-the-middle-ive, etc... BUT once I got my first Warwick bass with passive PU and passive/active electronics, I knew it was a game changer!
@@user-bp3zx7ow1g Absolutely! I do play many other bass guitars to give different tones and just to mix things up a little bit, but at the end of the day, I'm always drawn back to Warwick, especially their fretless models.
Thanks for the informative overview. And nice bass plying!
Nice bass playing Kris! I bought an Ibanez TR70 with fried electronics and dropped in the EMG Geezer PJ set. It was easy because it was a passive circuit. The only issue I had was replacing the knobs! The EMG pots are 1/4 inch smooth shaft and most knobs are 5-6mm. I finally ended up using amp replacement knobs, luckily they look pretty cool on it. 🤪
Great video as always. I would like to see a video on heavy verses light bass strings.
I appreciate this channel that’s why I’m subscribed with notifications on. I always press like of course. Thank you.
So cool man, thank you so much! We really appreciate your likes and comments!! Cheers buddy! //Kris
I have a book of wiring diagrams from various guitar and bass models, and G&L did have a 2 knob EQ circuit that was 100% passive… but on an S-type guitar… I was able to make it work on an old Japanese project hollowbody bass (kind of like an Epiphone Casino). Maybe not as hot (hard to tell as I was using the old rail pickups on that) but it was definitely different from the original independent volume-tone setup it originally had. (Despite being a bass, pulling the pots and jack back through was not easy (traditional hollow body back with no cavity cover, only way in was through the f-holes and pickup holes.)
Great video
Kris,
Wow, you are a tremendous guitarist and guitar tech. 🎸 You are your own band. Great information as always 👍.
Thanks so much Joe! I prefer having an actual band. There's nothing more inspiring than playing with a real bassist, a drummer, etc. Take care! //Kris
Passive for me. Telecaster bass. 1968 and 1973.
If I was an actual bass player (and not a guitarist pretending to be one, haha) that would be my main choice too. That being said, I'd definitely want a Music Man or anything similar too for that "merciless tone". 😅 Cheers //Kris
thank you man!!
Hi Kris ..love the videos, could you possibly do video on the cables etc ? you mentioned tone can be affected by length of cables etc...i never really thought of that. i am old school, i just plug right in to my amp..no pedals..maybe i should change that ? lol cheers !
Heavy Duty Rock and Roll! Thank you.
Because of the built-in eq’s, I think low tunings are best for active basses. Passive pickups are, in my opinion, best for standard tuning.
Can you please make a video about neck joint pocket cracks? Are they wood cracks or just a laquer and how to fix them? Thakk you very much
How do I test my bass active pickups with multimeter? Does it work the same as passive guitar pickups?
A simple tone bleed can solve signal loss on passive circuits.
Yeah,thanks Sir for the great insight
Buh please my questions are as follows
1.is it advisable to add a 3way mid switch to an active preamp in my bass?am using an #Artect 3band eq with stacked mid sweep knob with bartolini pickups 2.any need to attach a passive/active switch?
What I don't like about most active basses, besides the potential for failure due to the battery (been there, done that XD), is the the choice of frequencies of many preamps. I consider having the lows central frequency below 80 hz useful only for cutting (at least live) and the highs above 6k completely useless (I often put a low pass filter at 6k!). The mids are a mixed bag: while 800 hz can be useful for boosting and 4-500 for cutting to control boxiness and mud, I simply wish there were more preamps controlling the 1-1.5k hz area, that is super useful for cutting through the mix. The first onboard preamp I really liked is a custom one that I had made according to my specifications (lows at 100 hz, mids at 1k and highs at 4k)
Battery issues assault me constantly… cause I forget to remove the cable just set it in the stand and… start looking for fresh 9 volts 🔋👅⚡️ eeeeouchhh that’s a good one.
Ewektwonics 101
You just need a passive bass for practice to leave plugged in
Nice description. Bear in mind that, generally speaking, bass doesn't really sound right or sit in the mix properly without the low-pass filter being cracked ~ 15%(or more). The problem with active pre-amps is that they do not normally come with a traditional low-pass filter(tone knob).
3 solutions exist: #1 wire in a low-pass filter seperate from the pre-amp. #2 buy an older Schecter bass w. 4 control knobs, they used a B&G pre-amp that had a low-pass filter. #3 get a pre-amp with a built in low-pass filter(hard find). I did get a pre-amp with a low pass from Nordstrand Audio that works exceptionally well.
Side note: my Schecter Elite came with EMG's and, I think an EMG preamp, but it does have a low-pass filter. That is a 4 knob model like all of the older Schecters: Volume, Pickup Blend, Bass Boost, and Low-Pass Filter(tone knob).
There may be a European pre-amp builder or two that include low-pass filters in some of their pre-amps, but I have no first hand experience with any of them.
Oh, almost forgot, one of the European Pre-Amp builders(Delano perhaps??) has an onboard 9 volt powered line booster for passive basses. This is supposed to eliminate voltage loss in passive systems and also has some insane battery life expectancy. Food for thought.
Eh, people make a big deal out of this, but in reality it really doesn't matter that much. If a bass sounds good, I'm not gonna stress over it being active or passive.
That's the spirit! Cheers //Kris
I've been a passive PU/Active EQ guy for the last 24 years, never looked back
Please, more guitar content!!! (Just kiddin' 🤪)
Haha! 👏 So... what if I make a video for guitarists AND bassists? Will someone start asking for more violin content? 😂
Cheers //Kris
How often should I replace the battery on my active bass? I keep switching batteries after one week and maybe 20 mins a day. I make sure to unplug it after every use. Is that normal?
For me the biggest downside of a passive instrument is that due to it's impedance, everything in the signal chain (very cable, every pedal etc.) has an impact on the sound. That makes your sound inconsistent when you are not using the exact same gear all the time.
İ have a question. İ bought a passive jazz bass guitar kit from thomann and switched the pickups with active EMG pick up set. Well the issue is on a guitar amp i can hear it however on a sound interface i get no signal at all. İ use apollo twin x . What might be the problem ? Thank you
You forgot an important difference between many passive pickups and active pickups: noise.
Most Jazz bass pickups are passive single-coils. As such, anytime you use just one of them or a mild blend of the two, you will likely get unwanted 60 cycle hum. Adding a preamp to a set of passive Jazz pickups does not fix the problem.
You can either go with “noiseless” passive pickups (such as the Fender Vintage Noiseless Jazz Bass pickups) or active pickups (such as classic EMG J set).
In my experience, the EMG active pickups are always quiet.
Run both sets and a toggle!
My active bass keeps frying my effects pedals and making a weird ticking noise out my amp
All it takes is that one gig where your new battery dies, interrupting a set, swap it with a new backup battery (also dead)…
I haven’t been comfortable with a active bass since.
Batteries are running out so fast on my active base even if the switch is turned on and the bass is not playing. Is there a way to make the EQ use the batteries only when the switch is turned on?
Maybe there is a problem with the output-jack so that the bass thinks it's still plugged in? You could take the bass to a luthier or bass-tech to have that ruled out.
I'm not a bass player so I'm not sure what I'm talking about but is it possible to get active pickups and active electronics? I don't know why, just curious
Hey Artur, sure thing! Look at Victor Wooten's first Fodera model many years ago with the EMG's. That was fully active (pickups + preamp). Also Fishman has Fluence pickups for bass, which is again fully active. It's just really not typical to use these. I wanted to grab an "active PU - active preamp" bass for this video and there was nothing in stock at the moment. That's why I didn't really get into that in the video. The vast majority of players prefer passive electronics, or passive PUs with active pre-amps. Cheers //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Ha, so my nerd tingle was right! Thanks for this comprehensive explanation! 💓 I know you've tried to get this unicorn and I know how the supply chain looks right now. Keep rocking! 💪
I would have loved to hear those bass tones without compression.
There is no such thing as a battery issue. The issue is if you can’t be bothered to test it every couple of months. It’s not rocket science.
And more widely, active v passive isn’t really a topic. The “active” bit is just an amplification and EQ section at a different point in the signal path.
And bottom line, the audience don’t notice either way 😊
If the battery dies in a bass with active pickups does it stop making noise completely?
Hi, if it's an "active only" bass, then yes. There are many basses though, that can be switched back and forth between active and passive. Those will still work in passive mode. Cheers //Kris
First! 😏
What? 🤣 your almost as fast as your shipping
It makes no sense demonstrating how a guitar 'sounds' if it is the case that with a twist of a knob is can be caused to sound 'other' than that which you have just demonstrated. Surely the measure of an active PUP is how extremely 'other' it can be made to sound without recourse to the eq section of the amp, unless it is the case (and I suggest that it is) that 'all' of the 'other' is just too comical to stand musical service, in which case one wonders why you would need the active PUP in the first place.
i keep hearing christopher walken
Hi Kris, i have a question (as always) for the next q&a: How to deal with a strat middle pickup? I'm hitting with my pick very often while I'm playing some shreding stuff... and when I'm lowering the pickup down I'm losing some volume and tone. Do you have any pickup/s recommendation or some other tips? Thanks.
Towards the end of the video, it sounded like you were playing a cover version of Joe Jackson’s “Is She Really Going Out With Him” from 1979...the cover version that’s different enough from the original to keep the vid from being demonetized. Sounded good.
Say, your guitar or bass is a videogame boss.. remember.. they consider you a boss too
active sounds squeezed , hi speed, , and jelled... not so free flowing or resonanat...
No more government subsidies for active basses! 😆
MY MAN
The easy answer, based on 25 years as a producer/recording engineer in large studios, as well as a degree in jazz that I didn’t have any use for is this:
Passive basses: sounds good. Usually comes with a great player.
Active Basses: Sound shitty and unmixable and comes with some unmature wanky personality player.
So 25 years and you still haven't learned how to mix? That's what you're telling us here
@@ileutur6863
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Kris I have a bass with active pickups but a passive player with a sore finger will Thomann supply a replacement ( Julia would be perfect !!) 🤪🤪
Seriously .. a good well thought out video
Sorry not been commenting been 🤮 again 🤬🤬🤬👍xx
Hey Paul, I also can't play bass for too long. You know, week guitarist fingers... Haha! Thanks for the comment mate! Cheers //Kris
That's a hella blonde bass.
Ahh man, it's so good! Franz basses are awesome! //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Nice.
Having to depend on a good battery is one more thing to worry about. No thanks.
Take a Glockenklang! They work with and without battery and sound incredible good. You find them in Sandbergs, specific Dingwalls, Human Base, Franz and a lot more! I equipped my passive Warwick Corvette with it and it was the right choice.
i don`t understand the questione about it. What the hell is an activ Bass? ;-)
Let me help you out: active basses are the ones, that go out in the nature a lot, prefer adventure holidays instead of beach holidays. You'll find them in fitness studios in the winter when it's too cold to go jogging outside. 😆 //Kris
active basses are stupid.