Veils Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I recently acquired a rather smashing Mayones Jabba Classic. Honestly, I don't even know what circuit is in it, but it does sound really nice. Now I took it to a friends recently to lay some bass tracks down for him and I just happened to start messing around with the bass in passive mode which is something I never really used to do, to my surprise it sounded absolutely incredible! So much better than with the active circuit engaged! I have recently developed a bit of a thing for stacked pot jazz bass circuits and I can well see myself swapping the active circuit out of this bass to have an awesome old school looking stacked pot circuit. Obviously taste changes for a lot of people over time, but this is one change in taste I never thought I would be subject to. I've now well and truly got the urge to start saving for an early 60's jazz.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I've always found that passive basses sound better & sit in the mix better than active ones when recording. Though I've owned a lot of active basses over the years I ended up going back to passive - I found I spent more time playing & less time dicking around with the tone controls as passive basses just seem to sound 'right' (subjective I know). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spyder Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 After decades of using active jazz type basses I've found the light with a simple passive P. Could be my age.... 50 this year and Im starting to feel like a grumpy old fart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 You see this is what I was wondering? Maybe it's a mellowing out with age thing? Being only 32 I do wonder if I'm getting old before my time I guess I'll just substitute the world "old" for "refined"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sibob Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 There really is nothing better than a passive Precision with flats for a LOT of situations. Look at what Michael League & Pino can do with it, and agreed, sits perfectly in a mix every time. I've just finished tracking an album remotely with my Precision with flats, the mix engineer has commented that he has had to do very very little to my parts after importing them, a little bit of compression and that's it. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) I don't think age has got anything to do with it to be honest, certainly not from a "mellowing out" point of view anyway. I was lucky to get my first really good active bass at the age of 19, when I was still very much swayed by the gear my "heroes" were using at the time. This bass had a passive mode & I preferred the sound of that even then, though because I was playing a lot of slap at the time (it was the early 80s) I found the active circuit useful as well. I then spent years going from one expensive active bass to another, all the time not being really happy with my tone until one day in my 40s I was doing a bit of session work & just could not get a sound I was happy with out of the Zon Basses I was using at the time. In frustration I decided to try a MIM Precision that was in the studio & straight away I got the sound I was looking for. Shortly after that I sold my Zons, bought a MIJ Precision & was happier with my sound than I had been for years. Edited May 17, 2016 by RhysP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Thanks Mr Gary Mac It shouldn't be a surprise to me really I guess. The reason I got into playing bass was a certain Mr Alex James, who is still to this day my number 1 bass hero. Not just the way he plays, but the sound he gets too (I know he's a Precision man rather than Jazz). Now that I think about it, Precisions are the only bass I am yet to experiment with........hmmmmmmm........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuNkShUi Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 [quote name='Veils' timestamp='1463480749' post='3051627'] You see this is what I was wondering? Maybe it's a mellowing out with age thing? Being only 32 I do wonder if I'm getting old before my time I guess I'll just substitute the world "old" for "refined"! [/quote] Distinguished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedoghouse Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Yep, I'm finding that I'm spending more time with my good old-fashioned passive P and 4001 these days :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 I've just had a look at the original ad from when I bought this bass. Apparently it has a glockenklang EQ in it, is it likely to be worth anything to anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 The last two basses I bought with an active eq in them also had a passive/active switch and I always played them as passive. Both had good eq gubbins in that if you centred the eq controls in active when you switched to passive there was no difference in volume and very little in tone. I am currently changing my active Ibanez to passive. To be honest I'm not quite sure what the purpose of active basses are. For eq a preamp pedal or an amp are much better in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Depends what you have the pre amp for... mostly it is level anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 [quote name='Veils' timestamp='1463497381' post='3051820'] I've just had a look at the original ad from when I bought this bass. Apparently it has a glockenklang EQ in it, is it likely to be worth anything to anyone? [/quote] I've just bought a 4 pot Glock 3 band. What is yours? They are reknown for being discreet and being level active v passive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Glad you guys are happy with what you've found. Guys like Pino play a variety of basses in different situations. Alex James famously used an SR5 in the studio! All those great 70s guys like Nate Watts put their P and J basses through outboard pre amps. I'm into my 60s, have been playing since the early 70s and discovered 'fat' sounding basses and extended bass styles - the last thing I want to do is return to passive style basses again as that's what didn't do it for me after the mid 70s. I was watching a famous act on the tele the other night and the bass sound was fat and prominent - it then appeared in shot and it was a Warwick - I thought what a breath of fresh air compared with the inaudible stuff I often hear. I've tried to re-bond with the good old P bass tens of times over the last 10 yrs but it just doesn't do it for me - and I end up over hitting the strings to get the fattest sound I can, especially in a noisy mix with a loud drummer. And I need to spend £3k plus to get what I want......... if not more. So I shall not be returning to passive personally any time soon!! I'm glad you guys have found the sound you want but I always can't help thinking, are you getting the best out of bass guitar - it seems to me to be analogous with having a top of the range GTI type version of a car and turning all the sport features off - or having the heater and air con removed to get back to basics. Each to their own though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1463507174' post='3051932'] I've just bought a 4 pot Glock 3 band. What is yours? They are reknown for being discreet and being level active v passive [/quote] I believe mine is exactly that, 4 pot 3 band. And I did notice that there's little difference in terms of level between active and passive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillento Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1463480393' post='3051613'] I've always found that passive basses sound better & sit in the mix better than active ones when recording. [/quote] + 1000! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drTStingray Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) [quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1463480393' post='3051613'] I've always found that passive basses sound better & sit in the mix better than active ones when recording. [/quote] It really depends what music you play, the level of playing skill and the level of recording/mixing skill. However it really shouldn't matter (and doesn't at the highest level) - so long as you create a professional bass sound then you should be ok. Some people prefer more sound sculpting to get 'their' sound and really an active bass only gives you more tone control - you can mess around with your playing style and the controls to make an active bass overdrive the signal and other things but really it is simply broader tone control at the end of it all. And as we have to accept, some players prefer one type to another, as they prefer one bass type to another - I say thank goodness for variation otherwise we'd all be playing one bass type, in one colour, with flats (for instance) - I don't get enforced choice - reminds me of 60s Soviet block country cars!! Edited May 17, 2016 by drTStingray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twincam Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I prefer passive over active. To me passive is easier to use, not always but they tend to be simpler and quicker to use. Active circuits are often way to powerful, your never going to use the extremes they offer. And I have noticed a lot of passive circuits, bartolini, east uk being two recent ones I've used inject a slight amount of noise into the signal, I have used active basses that have not however including a different east pre so I'm not saying anything bad about that company. No batteries to change and in general passive is more reliable if something is going to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillento Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Passive circuits have one major advantage over onboard preamps: dynamics! In order to achieve the same headroom with an eternal pre, apparently you'd need a 20-27volts circuit to allow for the same dynamics/headroom a real (not bypassed active pre) passive setup. This is one of the reasons, passive basses do sound "better" (or are "better in the mix") on records. The other being that the extreme low and high freq. often pushed/boosted by active onboard preamps are not required in a full band mix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I think both have a place... P with flats, P with rounds and a scooped jazz with rounds are classic tones and the sounds most of us expect to hear from a bass... I still think my Wal sounds head and shoulders above my other basses though in a band situation. Just a personal preference... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twincam Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 [quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1463517426' post='3052061'] I think both have a place... P with flats, P with rounds and a scooped jazz with rounds are classic tones and the sounds most of us expect to hear from a bass... I still think my Wal sounds head and shoulders above my other basses though in a band situation. Just a personal preference... [/quote] I think if active basses are done very well then they can be better than passive basses. In the case of wal they have been doing it a long time with there own pickups etc and for the money they should be better than other passive basses. It's all very subjective, our ears although the same basic design do vary and how our brain processes sound will vary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veils Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 I found last weekend, my first time recording anything with a passive bass (or a bass with active circuit bypassed) and it did indeed sit a lot better in the mix. I'm definitely converted. Now the only problem I have is that I really do favour the stacked pot circuits and I'd love an original Fender with one of these circuits. I'm off to extract a kidney. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 [quote name='Veils' timestamp='1463560369' post='3052238'] I found last weekend, my first time recording anything with a passive bass (or a bass with active circuit bypassed) and it did indeed sit a lot better in the mix. I'm definitely converted. Now the only problem I have is that I really do favour the stacked pot circuits and I'd love an original Fender with one of these circuits. I'm off to extract a kidney. [/quote] I think it's very easy and reversible to change wiring around / get some different pots. I'm going to change my jazz from VVT to Master Volume - Blend - Tone once I've worked out the easiest way of doing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 There are certainly times when a passive bass with flats (eg a nice Precision) sits excellently under the mix and provides a solid foundation for a band. I suppose the same could be said for almost all basses though....if you dial down the treble or use older strings/old flats, again, you can make an active bass sit under the mix, although it may have a different feel to a P bass. However, recently I've found a lot of bands that previously/currently used/use a Stingray (you knew I was going to say that!) and that classic aggressive bite just does something to a band mix that I can't describe. The low mid punches in with the bass drum and provides the thump, but the snarl has character. Back to when I was about 14/15, I first heard a Stingray and that was it, I was sold for life. Very very distinctive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Machines Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 I played a Stingray 5 with no battery. It still sounded fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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