Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Passive/active sub bass difference help


Bucket Head
 Share

Recommended Posts

There's no "worse".
One simply does not have a 2-band EQ. The other one does. If you want a 2-band EQ and a Stingray sound... then the active is for you.
If you don't care so much about having a preamp... then the passive may be enough. It will still sound quite Stingray-like (if it has the alnico pickup wired in parallel... it seems some do and some don't... I'm confused about this, Ou7shined knew a thing or two about this).

I'd go for the active one, which is the most commonly found version, incidentally.

Innit?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good question! I always wondered. When MM first introduced the SUB did they sell the passive ones cheaper? And how come they still seem to have 3 knobs? Volume, tone and .......eh something else? Can you boost or cut bass and treble on a passive bass? I didn't think you could (in fact I'm a million percent sure you can't). So what are they for?

Somebody somewhere must know?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='gjones' post='1349620' date='Aug 23 2011, 10:23 PM']Good question! I always wondered. When MM first introduced the SUB did they sell the passive ones cheaper? And how come they still seem to have 3 knobs? Volume, tone and .......eh something else? Can you boost or cut bass and treble on a passive bass? I didn't think you could (in fact I'm a million percent sure you can't). So what are they for?

Somebody somewhere must know?[/quote]


I don't know for sure what they do on SUB basses... but you can have two passive tone controls, like on many G&L basses. Being passive, they're strictly cut-only, no boost. Fitted with different capacitors, they filter out different frequency ranges.

The very first OLP MM2 (Stingray type) were passive and had three knobs: two tone and one volume. They later switched to 2 volumes (one for each coil) and one tone. That's another possibility for the SUB. BUt I do not know which one is the right one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='mcnach' post='1349567' date='Aug 23 2011, 09:46 PM']There's no "worse".
One simply does not have a 2-band EQ. The other one does. If you want a 2-band EQ and a Stingray sound... then the active is for you.
If you don't care so much about having a preamp... then the passive may be enough. It will still sound quite Stingray-like (if it has the alnico pickup wired in parallel... it seems some do and some don't... I'm confused about this, Ou7shined knew a thing or two about this).

I'd go for the active one, which is the most commonly found version, incidentally.

Innit?[/quote]



ahhh yea thats what i was thinking to be honest, will have to get a active one

thanks alot for the advice man ur a dude

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='Bucket Head' post='1350504' date='Aug 24 2011, 05:29 PM']ahhh yea thats what i was thinking to be honest, will have to get a active one

thanks alot for the advice man ur a dude[/quote]


actually, I'm a girl.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='mcnach' post='1349766' date='Aug 24 2011, 12:32 AM']I don't know for sure what they do on SUB basses... but you can have two passive tone controls, like on many G&L basses. Being passive, they're strictly cut-only, no boost. Fitted with different capacitors, they filter out different frequency ranges.

The very first OLP MM2 (Stingray type) were passive and had three knobs: two tone and one volume. They later switched to 2 volumes (one for each coil) and one tone. That's another possibility for the SUB. BUt I do not know which one is the right one.[/quote]

I briefly had an early OLP. It did a fabulous Bernard Edwards (well, as near as I could get) :). I actually preferred the tone to that of my mate's Stingray, and it only cost me £80. If it hadn't been for that bloody forearm contour I'd still have had it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote name='4000' post='1352772' date='Aug 26 2011, 05:33 PM']I briefly had an early OLP. It did a fabulous [b]Bernard Edwards [/b](well, as near as I could get) :). I actually preferred the tone to that of my mate's Stingray, and it only cost me £80. If it hadn't been for that [b]bloody forearm contour [/b]I'd still have had it.[/quote]

Looks like you need a pre EB after all then 4000 :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...