stewa Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Can you hook up a pre-amp on a passive pickup? making it active... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Not sure exactly what you mean, but you can have an active tone control with passive pickups, or active pickups with a passive tone control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosebass Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 [quote name='7string' post='286364' date='Sep 18 2008, 12:31 AM']Not sure exactly what you mean, but you can have an active tone control with passive pickups, or active pickups with a passive tone control.[/quote] +1 on that. there are no passive pickups that can be made active, they must be produced as active pickups. I prefer a passive pickup / active tone (with bypass) set up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 I think most basses that are active tend to be passive pickups with active tone control. Am i right in thinking if you have active pickups and passive tone you wouldn't have as good control of the sound? EG you couldn't have a 3 band EQ etc, in which case i'd go for the passive pickup active tone circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 [quote name='budget bassist' post='286372' date='Sep 18 2008, 12:59 AM']I think most basses that are active tend to be passive pickups with active tone control. Am i right in thinking if you have active pickups and passive tone you wouldn't have as good control of the sound? EG you couldn't have a 3 band EQ etc, in which case i'd go for the passive pickup active tone circuit.[/quote] Active pups require powering to give anything like thier potential output, so you would still need to power to them. Which kinda defeats the object of passive tone control. Essentially your post is spot on..... Although I'd add active pup/active tone control circuit into the mix. This can generate a wonderful hi fi sound! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Most people think that Warwick basses have passive pups because you have a push pull pot to go between active and passive; in fact 'most' (the $$ and one or two others are an exception) Warwick basses need a battery as the pups themselves have a preamp built in that needs juice. Try taking the battery completely out of your bass then see if it works rather than just switching between active / passive. I have a set of Wizard pups fitted in a Warwick, these are truly passive and are connected to an MEC preamp giving active EQ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnt Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 Basically, if you break the signal chain down in to blocks: as soon as the signal goes through a buffer to lower its impedance, it's an "active signal". Whether that buffer is inside the pickup, part of an active tone control, or a dedicated unit: if it's inside the bass, then that's what they sell as an "active bass". It is quite normal to put the signal from an active pickup through passive controls: if you buy an EMG pickup, that's what the standard wiring diagram shows, which is enough to get you going - and it sounds pretty good, I must say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewa Posted September 18, 2008 Author Share Posted September 18, 2008 [quote name='7string' post='286364' date='Sep 17 2008, 11:31 PM']Not sure exactly what you mean, but you can have an active tone control with passive pickups, or active pickups with a passive tone control.[/quote] cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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