darkandrew Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 (edited) I have four basses, two of them are fitted with active pickups and active pre-amps (a Specter with EMG pickups and tonepump preamp, and a Warwick with MEC pickups and preamp) whilst the other two are fitted with passive pickups and active preamps. It may be just coincidence but both my basses that have active pickups seem to have a softer attack than my passive ones. As I understand it, it's a fundimental part of the design philosophy of active pickups to incorporate a preamp in the pickup itself and I assume this design also incorporates some kind of noise gate which would lead to a softer attack - does this reasoning sound about right? I did think that maybe the neck-through construction of the Spector and Warwick may have something to do with it but one of the other basses is an Aria SB1000 which is also of neck-through construction but has an attack that is so fast you can almost hear it before you actually play it. Edited July 7, 2012 by darkandrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 I have experienced this a lot of basses, but I think it's more down to the voicing of the preamp. I tried a MM Stingray 5, and an active Warwick Streamer 5 and the treble attack was actually way too much for me. The three passive basses I now own all have a nice punchy attack (more than all the actives I previously actually owned) but its more of a midrange attack than a trebley one. I found that MOSTLY active bases that I've tried have a bit of a mid scoop, whereas the passives have a slight treble cut... ...YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Actually, I've just remembered my 6 string Peavey with the passive Seymour Duncans.... That's got the most aggressive/middy attack, and the 3rd most trebley behind the Streamer and the Ray... Glad I'm not the only one who finds passives more aggressive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 my both warwick streamer stage one's I've had with active MEC's and MEC 2 band preamp were very very quick attack. It now has barts in it to mask the brightness of th attack. So don't agree with your synopsis. But I had always put the attack on mine down to the woods used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Thinks.... Active pick-ups have a built in amp to increase the level prior to the pre-amp (with tone controls) right? My experience is that all-passive instruments are more immediate sounding still, but this is masked in comparisons with active instruments by their pre-amp voicings and (sometimes) hotter output. Could it be that the length of the signal path and the components in it are "time-smearing" the signal? The OP mentioned an SB 1000. Aren't they a single pick-up model? I've always found that single pickup basses have a stronger attack, and had attributed this to the fact that these give a more coherent/less "phasey" interpretation of the string's motion. Just kicking some ideas around... Don't all jump on me/burn your Jazzes/rip out your pre-amps. Besides, they give us loads more tonal options... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Does any one know definitively if the pickup part of an active pickup is anything more than just a traditional coil and magnet assembly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 There is no such thing as an active pickup. There are pickups which are designed to be used with an active preamp, and have less wire on the coil so as not to be too hot. There are pickups which are active but they just have the preamp built in to the pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 [quote name='lettsguitars' timestamp='1341762909' post='1723714'] There is no such thing as an active pickup. There are pickups which are designed to be used with an active preamp, and have less wire on the coil so as not to be too hot. There are pickups which are active but they just have the preamp built in to the pickup. [/quote] Surely a pickup with a built-in preamp [b]is[/b] an active pickup? They require a power supply to produce a signal. I think the idea is that they reduce extraneous noise because there isn't even the short cable run from pickup to preamp which is at a high impedance level, it being high input impedance blocks in the amplification chain which are most prone to noise pickup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 I don't know to me an "active pickup" implies that there is something in the string sensing part that is active and not simply that the pre-amp circuitry is in the same housing as the magnets and coils of a conventional pickup - hence my question a couple of posts back. A very short as opposed to a short cable run between the coil(s) and the pre-amp does not make a pickup active in my book. ATM the only true active pickup system I know of is the Lightwave one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 Could it be that high-impedance passive type pickups usually have a peak in the response somewhere in the upper mids which makes the attack more noticeable, while pickups which are lower impedance like many "active" designs tend to have a flatter response which sounds more polite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 The Tone Pump curcuit is well know for it's 'valve sound' like properties. It was designed using FET circuitry that can gently compress instead of distorting or just simply brickwall limiting when it reaches it's peak head room. It therefore sounds a little softer in certain settings, but dropped in the mix with a smidge of eq it sounds amazing straight to PA. i gigged a Euro 6LX at festival straight to DI and the engineer was very pleased. In that case, it was definitely the pre. My two main basses, Shuker customs both feature the same pickups as he Spector but using the standard EMG bass/treble circuit at 18v. 'softening' would be the last word i'd use to describe it! The flat tone is aggressive with lots of mids and top end ting on new strings. The lw end kicks like a mule. Add EQ and i'm pleased the pickups are capable in pretty much any genre. So, to sum up, could be the tone pump in the Spector. Maybe try it without any compression on your amp should you use it and dial in some trebles. Oh and remember that the zero/flat setting on the tone pump is not halfway round the dial like other EQ's. You are boisting both treble and bass by that point. That has the same affect as scooping mids which will soften your bite and attack too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1342250796' post='1732252'] I don't know to me an "active pickup" implies that there is something in the string sensing part that is active and not simply that the pre-amp circuitry is in the same housing as the magnets and coils of a conventional pickup - hence my question a couple of posts back. A very short as opposed to a short cable run between the coil(s) and the pre-amp does not make a pickup active in my book. ATM the only true active pickup system I know of is the Lightwave one. [/quote] I don't see that the Lightwave pickup is any more or less active than a magnetic pickup (whether it has a built-in preamp or not). The Lightwave pickup shines a light on the string and picks up the vibrations through reflection. Magnetic pickups create a magnetic field and pick up the vibrations through current induction. The only "active" pickup is an Ebow. An "active" bass is one with a preamp on board, a "passive" bass is one without. By logical extension, an "active" pickup has an internal preamp, a "passive" pickup doesn't. Seems logical to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fingerz Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 It's just the type of pick up. Usually you find a humbucker type pickup in an active set up. Not 'active' but the type of pickup has more going on in terms of coil design to achieve reduced, or no hum. The only 'active' thing will be the preamp which the pickup (whatever the type) is wired to. Humcancelling, or split coil, stacked coil etc etc pickups tend to have a lower output than your traditional single coil pup and can sound compressed and quiet by comparison. Which is where the preamp comes in to replenish the sound and give you tonal variety. Its normally about quietness with this pickup design. Single coils (commonly left passive) sound brighter and more naturally growly so yes they can tend to offer a sharp response and snappy attack. All very natural. Horses for courses. Preamps are active. But they are separate to pickups. Pickups are various coil wound magnet configurations each offering different sounds, and benefits and downsides. Its about using what's right for you. I think you're talking about humbuckers vs single coil/split coil pickups rather than active vs passive basses. Good stuff. Fgz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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