Hot Wound Passive Pickups Vs Active

[Sibob]

I was thinking the other day, that fundamentally i'm not particually fussed about having active EQ's on my basses, but for some projects, mostly live, i like the extra grunt and output they afford.
Would it be possible to take a passive bass, and have someone custom wind some pickups really hot so as to get a similar output to an active bass??

Cheers
Si

[EdwardHimself]

well you can buy stock pickups that deliver 25k like the SD hot stack jazz bass pickups, if you wanted custom, you could probably get a very high output pickup, but it will be muddy, and there won't be any EQ to clear it up, but if it's close enough to the bridge it should be fine.

[The Burpster]

+1 on Eddies comments, the 'hot' SD's are pretty damn impressive.....

[alexclaber]

Couldn't you just turn your amp up? Overwinding a pickup gets more output but it also increases the inductance and thus lowers the resonant peak and reduces the treble response. Villex and Q-Tuner pickups are both passive but very high output without mud but I don't know how they do it!

Alex

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='alexclaber' post='34177' date='Jul 19 2007, 03:44 PM']Couldn't you just turn your amp up? Overwinding a pickup gets more output but it also increases the inductance and thus lowers the resonant peak and reduces the treble response. Villex and Q-Tuner pickups are both passive but very high output without mud but I don't know how they do it!

Alex[/quote]

i personally think that having low outputs gives a lack of grunt and punch that "just turning your amp up" can't really fix. I suppose you could use some kind of EQ stompbox.

[Villex_Europe]

Villex passive booster seems to sound like a good suggestion here, as one way of describing it is 'a switch which emulates overwound pickups'.

[url="http://eu.villex.com/boosters.html"]http://eu.villex.com/boosters.html[/url]

So you keep your bass as it is but can turn up the volume on board when you need to cut through.


[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='34182' date='Jul 19 2007, 03:47 PM']i personally think that having low outputs gives a lack of grunt and punch that "just turning your amp up" can't really fix. I suppose you could use some kind of EQ stompbox.[/quote]

[fullrangebass]

My perception of Villex pickups is that they deliver nice, hot output without sounding muddy. I've done reviews of the Villex pickups on two different basses, one in Harmony-central and one on Talkbass, and i've performed and recorded with them. They sound full and balanced with no need for extra output. The use of the tone and the mid-control allow for many sonic colors to shine through. If additional boost and manipulation of the sound is needed then the Villex booster comes in handy. The lot can be combined with any preamp, but trust my word, no need to buy one!!!

[Guest]

[quote name='Sibob' post='34064' date='Jul 19 2007, 11:51 AM']I was thinking the other day, that fundamentally i'm not particually fussed about having active EQ's on my basses, but for some projects, mostly live, i like the extra grunt and output they afford.
Would it be possible to take a passive bass, and have someone custom wind some pickups really hot so as to get a similar output to an active bass??

Cheers
Si[/quote]

You'll be needing Darkstar pickups by the sound of it, they are huge, i have one in a charvel surfcaster and a pair in my nearly complete sg, really they will change your life HUGE output both in scale and range, most people using them go for passive setups as the output is so high but for my second DS bass i have gone for a preamp to be able to CUT bass output.

I am just up the road in banbury maybe we could arrange a test session, be warned anything else after just won't cut it

Edited July 19, 2007 by steve-norris

[peted]

The passive Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounder in my Precision has a much hotter output than the active MECs in my Warwick. I was impressed.

[tonyf]

[quote name='peted' post='34447' date='Jul 20 2007, 07:13 AM']The passive Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounder in my Precision has a much hotter output than the active MECs in my Warwick. I was impressed.[/quote]

+1 for the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders. I swapped the stock pickup out for an EMG I had kicking around but then brought a SD Quarterpounder P in my Fender Mike Dirnt (I know, I know, never happy unless I've got my soldering iron in my hand eh?). The passive SD made such a difference and had a lot more output than the active EMG.

For what it's worth, I've long since left behind the "active pickups are louder than passives". Maybe twenty five to thirty years ago when the first after market pickups came out but there's been so much progress with both types and nowadays it's more a case of "whatever does it for you be they active or passive".

All IMHO, getting my flame retardant hat on... ;-)

T

[Merton]

I have some Schaller PUs in my J copy (all passive), they have a higher output than my 5 string Groove bass in active mode.

[P-T-P]

The Aero's on my DJ5s are pretty loud.

[Sharkfinger]

[quote name='Sibob' post='34064' date='Jul 19 2007, 11:51 AM']I was thinking the other day, that fundamentally i'm not particually fussed about having active EQ's on my basses, but for some projects, mostly live, i like the extra grunt and output they afford.
Would it be possible to take a passive bass, and have someone custom wind some pickups really hot so as to get a similar output to an active bass??

Cheers
Si[/quote]

Does you amp have an input level? Turning it up might go some way to curing your "oomph" problem but if you have your heart set on new pickups then that's only a half-way house, really.

[Delberthot]

My Fender '51 reissue has far more grunt and volume than my Active Yamaha TRB6. I actually have to turn up the volume on my amp when using it and then back down when I put the Fender back on

[s_u_y_*]

At the moment I am personally liking overwound passives to active at the moment. For the stuff my band is playing at the moment, my actives sound too clinical at the moment.