Active electronics - How do you use yours??

[Highfox]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1338551570' post='1676177']
Yet another thread where we're being told we can't do what we want with our gear. ffs!
[/quote]

Don't take any notice of it .. I don't

Having just gone back to using an active bass (after having thought I don't like them anymore lol)
With the 2 eq Ray I'm using, I find the sweet-spot (depends on what sound I have in my head at the time) slight boost on the bass from what I hear as neutral/flat and the treble boosted just slightly more. That's with flats and I adjust from there to make sure I cut through how I like.

[charic]

Erm... with the ACG it's a bit hard to explain...

So.. like this

[attachment=109199:HowGreen.png]

[brensabre79]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1338551570' post='1676177']
Yet another thread where we're being told we can't do what we want with our gear. ffs!
[/quote]
Who's saying you can't do what you want Chris?
I thought the idea was for people to impart the benefit of their experience and knowledge to others.

This isn't a regime, you don't need permission or approval to do what you like with your gear.

If you want to connect a 3 pin mains plug to your strings and plug it in, or see what happens when you soak your speakers in petrol and turn them up really loud then go ahead fella! And if you want to get an active bass and turn all the knobs up to full you can, and people will advise you otherwise, and one day you'll discover why and tell others, and they will probably react like a spoiled teenager who doesn't like being told what to do

[chris_b]

Don't worry about it. You haven't read my previous comments and so you've missed the point of this comment.

[garethfriend]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1338559831' post='1676370']
Don't worry about it. You haven't read my previous comments and so you've missed the point of this comment.
[/quote]

Apologies chris b, your original post read like "people who use EQ are trying to compensate for having bought the wrong gear", looking again today it reads more like you just prefer not having to use it. I have encountered that attitude from some people though, sorry if I've lumped you in with that crowd by accident, my comments are not directed at you specifically.

[Twigman]

Not ever had an active bass.

The bass I'm building atm has a P-retro in it...or will have when I find a small enough screwdriver to connect the pup and earth......so I am yet to discover the loys of active EQ.
The main reason I am doing it is so I can change tone drastically from song to song without having to tweek the amp. which is often at the back of the stage and relatively inaccessible

Edited June 1, 2012 by Twigman

[ead]

I generally run my amp EQ pretty flat and then for the Overwater I use a little bit of bass boost with the p/up sweep biassed towards the neck p/up. My new ACG will have the ACG EQ03 5K system which I'm really looking forward to playing with.

[Mornats]

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1338567157' post='1676558']
I generally run my amp EQ pretty flat and then for the Overwater I use a little bit of bass boost with the p/up sweep biassed towards the neck p/up. My new ACG will have the ACG EQ03 5K system which I'm really looking forward to playing with.
[/quote]

Interesting, I've got the same bass as you and I tend to favour the treble being boosted to help cut through and get a bit of string noise in there. The 5khz boost also helps with that a lot. Mind you, it could be down to the amp as to how much you need to boost what on the bass. I played through a 1987 Laney Linebacker and I didn't need as much high end boost as I do with my Ashdown 220 Touring.

[drTStingray]

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1338555243' post='1676283']
if you want to get an active bass and turn all the knobs up to full you can, and people will advise you otherwise, and one day you'll discover why and tell others, and they will probably react like a spoiled teenager who doesn't like being told what to do
[/quote]

Well I've been playing just on 40 yrs, and haven't owned a passive bass since about 1979 - I have dabbled with vintage Fenders occassionally.

I have a number of basses and my 2 band Stingray regularly gets gigged on full bass boost and almost full treble boost - it's the sound I want to hear for the type of music I'm playing. Played in a fairly laid back way with an amp set almost flat, it sounds excellent IMO - very warm and fat. If I attacked the bass a la Flea it would probably be too much. As you reduce the EQ on the 2 band Ray, the mids boost - another type of sound is available doing that - I liken it to the bass sound on the Shine album by Average White Band.

Apart from my 2 band Ray, I tend to start with basses at centre detent and then adjust 'by ear', dependent on room, genre, number of pick ups in use, coil tap selection etc etc. Some need a bit of mid boost to overcome too scooped of a natural instrument sound.

I would be more worried about using an 18 volt pre amp with the bass boosted fully eg a Warwick - my Bongo would send people running to the toilet..........(cue for the bathroom equipment jokers....) having had their bowels vibrated - the bass boost is seriously that strong - I would probably lose speakers on a regular basis as well.

I've played loads of passive basses but just don't like them as much - all of the guys I liked in the 70s, and who recorded using Jazzes and Precisions (eg Nate Watts on Stevie Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life) - played them through studio preamps (Alembic in his case) so they're really not passive bass sounds at all..............and to the guy who said you get the same sound by turning your volume up with the bass EQ set on centre detent, as by fully boosting everything, well you're wrong because on many basses the individual EQ settings of treble and bass (and mid if available) interract - yes it is correct that once you get there there's nowhere further to go, but so what...........and this is only in terms of boost anyway - you can always reduce though - and the idea of cuttting EQ can also produce some great tones.

Having got used to active basses over so many years, I find the idea and reality of a passive bass of the F variety rather limiting - great for a couple of specific tasks but not terribly flexible.................which is of course the reason why so many of the quality bassists of the 70s such as Jack Cassidy experimented and switched to active basses - or pumped up their 'passive' basses in the studio (Jaco's recorded bass sound is another example). My favourite bassists of all time are Bernard Edwards and Pino..........who used Musicmans (I know Pino has gone over to P basses but his tone is fantastic, much of which comes from his extraordinary skill - I believe the live sound with JMT is as much TI flats and Ampeg as it is P bass also!). The fact I can get myself to sound a bit like these guys is part down to the instrument - and yes I've tried to play We Are Family on a P bass - it just don't get close - but a 2 band Ray with flats, and EQ on full boost plus a lot of years practicing, you can.

Edited June 1, 2012 by drTStingray

[scalpy]

Not sure how the actives really work in mine but it's run FLAT OUT!

[stingrayPete1977]

2 band Ray, bass full and adjust treble knob to suit the amp, room and style etc etc. It's the only way

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1338583456' post='1676933']
Well I've been playing just on 40 yrs, and haven't owned a passive bass since about 1979 - I have dabbled with vintage Fenders occassionally.

I have a number of basses and my 2 band Stingray regularly gets gigged on full bass boost and almost full treble boost - it's the sound I want to hear for the type of music I'm playing. Played in a fairly laid back way with an amp set almost flat, it sounds excellent IMO - very warm and fat. If I attacked the bass a la Flea it would probably be too much. As you reduce the EQ on the 2 band Ray, the mids boost - another type of sound is available doing that - I liken it to the bass sound on the Shine album by Average White Band.

Apart from my 2 band Ray, I tend to start with basses at centre detent and then adjust 'by ear', dependent on room, genre, number of pick ups in use, coil tap selection etc etc. Some need a bit of mid boost to overcome too scooped of a natural instrument sound.

I would be more worried about using an 18 volt pre amp with the bass boosted fully eg a Warwick - my Bongo would send people running to the toilet..........(cue for the bathroom equipment jokers....) having had their bowels vibrated - the bass boost is seriously that strong - I would probably lose speakers on a regular basis as well.

I've played loads of passive basses but just don't like them as much - all of the guys I liked in the 70s, and who recorded using Jazzes and Precisions (eg Nate Watts on Stevie Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life) - played them through studio preamps (Alembic in his case) so they're really not passive bass sounds at all..............and to the guy who said you get the same sound by turning your volume up with the bass EQ set on centre detent, as by fully boosting everything, well you're wrong because on many basses the individual EQ settings of treble and bass (and mid if available) interract - yes it is correct that once you get there there's nowhere further to go, but so what...........and this is only in terms of boost anyway - you can always reduce though - and the idea of cuttting EQ can also produce some great tones.

Having got used to active basses over so many years, I find the idea and reality of a passive bass of the F variety rather limiting - great for a couple of specific tasks but not terribly flexible.................which is of course the reason why so many of the quality bassists of the 70s such as Jack Cassidy experimented and switched to active basses - or pumped up their 'passive' basses in the studio (Jaco's recorded bass sound is another example). My favourite bassists of all time are Bernard Edwards and Pino..........who used Musicmans (I know Pino has gone over to P basses but his tone is fantastic, much of which comes from his extraordinary skill - I believe the live sound with JMT is as much TI flats and Ampeg as it is P bass also!). The fact I can get myself to sound a bit like these guys is part down to the instrument - and yes I've tried to play We Are Family on a P bass - it just don't get close - but a 2 band Ray with flats, and EQ on full boost plus a lot of years practicing, you can.
[/quote]

is a "studio sound" really relevant at all? Ultimately it's a coil of wire with a magnet and at some point it goes through something that boosts that circuit. The main difference between an active and passive bass is that happen on the bass and before the cable with an active system.
There is a difference but I that's it, just a difference and not one better than the other

[paul_5]

I use mine as my main tone shaping circuit. The 3 band on my amp is there to compensate for different rooms or whatever.

[drTStingray]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1338588155' post='1677059']
is a "studio sound" really relevant at all? Ultimately it's a coil of wire with a magnet and at some point it goes through something that boosts that circuit. The main difference between an active and passive bass is that happen on the bass and before the cable with an active system.
There is a difference but I that's it, just a difference and not one better than the other
[/quote]
You are right but I also think it's relevant because we develop our own sound and style generally from influence of other people - usually their recorded sound, seldom, if ever, their live sound.

I hadn't intended to start an active v passive discussion as this thread was all about how you use your on board EQ. My preference is to have one, but that's all it is - my preference - I also know I can get sounds (nice ones to my ears) out of my basses that are as much down to the basses as the playing. All that said I've heard great things about more recent passive bass tone and tone control (Warwicks; MM Big Al/Reflex to name a few) - I must try some of these. Don't get me wrong, I have a big soft spot for the P and J - just not a big enough one to spend a lot of money on one at the moment - I occassionally see a vintage custom colour one for sale and think...........hmmm one day, maybe!

[BigRedX]

AFAIK MusicMan are pretty much unique in the mass-produced bass market in having pre-amps that are designed specifically for the instruments that they go in. Everything else appears to use generic circuits that may or may not suit the basic raw sound of the bass.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1338634004' post='1677386']
AFAIK MusicMan are pretty much unique in the mass-produced bass market in having pre-amps that are designed specifically for the instruments that they go in. Everything else appears to use generic circuits that may or may not suit the basic raw sound of the bass.
[/quote] a good point and often forgotten.
I used to have a active wooden status bass- wonderful bass but sounded so so warm that I bought a p bass for more punchyness- but I imagine the warmth in the tone was built in to balance the sound of their graphute based basses.
Warwick also has eq points, esp on the 2 band that i think would have be developed as part of the design process for their sound. I stuck a glockenklang 2 band in my streamer for a while, a respected bit of kit and it did what it was designed to do really well-being sounded crap in my streamer!

[chris_b]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1338633292' post='1677378']
....I hadn't intended to start an active v passive discussion as this thread was all about how you use your on board EQ....
[/quote]

Last year I got my first passive bass in 25 years. The Lull has custom wound SD pickups and is louder and punchier than my active Lakland. I guess that's what you would expect from a Precision. It's taken me a year to get used to the difference but I still miss the dynamics of the Lakland.

[Mornats]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1338634004' post='1677386']
AFAIK MusicMan are pretty much unique in the mass-produced bass market in having pre-amps that are designed specifically for the instruments that they go in. Everything else appears to use generic circuits that may or may not suit the basic raw sound of the bass.
[/quote]

The John East pre-amp in the Overwater Aspiration series was specially designed for this range of basses.

[ezbass]

My SUB, Ibby and 'Berg are all 2 band, I boost the bass just under a 1/4 turn and adjust the treble to suit the song/room. This works for all 3 of them.

[ead]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1338576730' post='1676778']
Interesting, I've got the same bass as you and I tend to favour the treble being boosted to help cut through and get a bit of string noise in there. The 5khz boost also helps with that a lot. Mind you, it could be down to the amp as to how much you need to boost what on the bass. I played through a 1987 Laney Linebacker and I didn't need as much high end boost as I do with my Ashdown 220 Touring.
[/quote]

Each to his/her own I suppose maybe it's also to do with the style of music in the band I play with, just needs a little bit more bottom end I feel.

Fretless sale just fell through too (not a person from on here I don't think), so marginally hacked off as I had just sold the Audere pre I was using which was rather groovy. On the up side I've acquired an ACG EQ02 on a Jazz plate to slot in to get used to whilst waiting for my ACG bass to be built.