BH12neil Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Hi there, I am very interested in buying one of these pedals but noticed that at the end of the accompanying notes on the Fuzzhugger website the following comments are made; "In Oscillation mode, Fuzz and Texture controls become additional oscillation tuners with the Trip knob being your main oscillation flavor control. For synth bass, roll back on your guitar's volume knob! [i][b]The oscillation mode requires passive pickups[/b][/i]". Forgive me I have only recently started playing and I would be the first to admit I don't understand even basic electronics but I want to learn; my Bass is a Musicman Stingray with double humbuckers and a battery in the bass, I believe that makes it an active bass (doesn't it?) - my question is would the AB Synth fully work in these circumstances? Are pickups different, are some active and some passive? Sorry to ask what may be a stupid question but obviously I need to know before I invest in buying a pedal that may not live up to expectations. Some of the demo's I've heard have been outstanding so I really hope I will be able to make full use of the pedal given the above circumstances. Has anyone else out there had any experience of one of these? Any thoughts, comments, advice, good, bad or indifferent reports to help me along the way would be really appreciated. All the Best BH12neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Yes your bass is active. 'Active pickups' is more often than not a misnomer because the pickup itself is, technically speaking, passive, but typically we refer to the pickups as being active, rather than the rest of the electronics, it's just a figure of speech. But anyway, yes, the output of your bass is coming from an active preamp, and as such the output will indeed look different to the first pedal it reaches. Passive output has typically higher impedance than active (actives lower the impedance to help the signal travel down long cable runs with out losing high frequencies (aka 'Tone suck'). This is overall a good thing. However, as you've just discovered, there are some fuzz circuits out there that are designed to work with passive guitar signals, and they don't always sound very good or work very well with active signals (the Wooly Mammoth is a famous example of this problem). There's really only one solution if you really, really want to use this pedal, and that's to put a device infront of the pedal that will ramp your signal's impedance back up so it looks like a passive bass to the fuzz pedal. [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f36/impedance-buffer-boss-pedals-woolly-mammoth-pot-types-790596/"]This thread[/url] might give you some idea of what would be required. Also bear in mind that any pedal that expects to see a passive pickup at its input is going to be confused if you send your passive guitar signal through another pedal before it hits the picky pedal, because unless the first pedal is true-bypass (or switched off) it will almost certainly drop the signal to low impedance before it passes it on to the picky pedal. Personally I think it's best to avoid these kinds of pedals. There are usually other options out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I used to have an ABSynth and I miss it a lot. It works with an Active bass but in the Oscilation mode it will only react as the builder intense if you roll your volume off on the bass a little. Too hot an input overloads the pedal an while it makes noise still it is thinner and, lo-fi and actually drops in volume. Still a usable sound - but not the intended one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 [quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1334647458' post='1618937'] ... Too hot an input overloads the pedal an while it makes noise still it is thinner and, lo-fi and actually drops in volume. Still a usable sound - but not the intended one! [/quote] Yeah that will be the low impedance at the input - the Wooly Mammoth does the same thing, sounds thin and nasal with actives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 [quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1334651286' post='1618997'] Yeah that will be the low impedance at the input - the Wooly Mammoth does the same thing, sounds thin and nasal with actives. [/quote] The non-oscillating side of the pedal is fine with Actives (mine was anyway). The one I had was a VERY early model (number 21 is think) so I don't know if the current circuit is changed in anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EskimoBassist Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Perhaps it's worth emailing the builder if you've got your heart set on buying one? I'm sure they will do all they can to help you find a solution or perhaps even mod a unit for you to work with actives better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 What we've learned here is 'Wanna use pedals.....get a passive bass' Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 [quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1334778597' post='1621249'] What we've learned here is 'Wanna use pedals.....get a passive bass' Si [/quote] I have just changed the spec of my new Roscoe to include an active/passive switch. I'm currently borrowing a bag of bolts OLP Stingray copy - my octave pedals never sounded so big!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I've been telling you that for ages Active basses are balls, un-neccesary EQ, no dynamics, choke effects.... passive FTW Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 [quote name='Sibob' timestamp='1334779821' post='1621276'] I've been telling you that for ages Active basses are balls, un-neccesary EQ, no dynamics, choke effects.... passive FTW Si [/quote] I won't go that far... and where clean bass is concerned Passives sound very lacking to me - as the one I am currently playing does - but through my Octaves yay. My Moog Freqbox prefers it too... none of the other effects react differently, just the analogue octavers and the Freqbox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Naaa, all passives are different, I just tweeted you the question, but it depends what pickups you're using. For example, Bartolinis sound fantastic with a pre, but passively their output is very low. Get some Dimarzio's or something wound hot into a bass with no pre, it'll blow your head off. I certainly wouldn't base a decent passive setup on the OLP you've got I had an OLP with a Bartolini MM and an East 2 band, that was the only active bass I've ever liked Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 If you want the best tracking from your analogue octaver and pitch-tracking pedals, flatwounds are what really make a massive difference. Although I did once have a Robot Factory Pulse Synth which was a mental little box but it glitched too much with active basses. I guess some effects just don't cope well with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pantherairsoft Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I tried the flat wounds thing with both active and passive and found it to make no difference at all with regards to octave tracking. To be fair it's the tracking that has changed with the passive anyway, it's the tonal change - a hotter input seems to choke the output a little. Id still happily use an active. The difference isn't life changing, but noticable enough to be worth having the option. Plus I can't stand the sound or feel of flats - as such flats are considered an all round fail in my book lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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