How do you use an active preamp?

[Woodinblack]

22 minutes ago, Jolltax said:

It makes me wonder how much of my bass am I actually hearing and how much is just electronics

 

Its all just electronics as soon as you put a pickup there. If you want to know how much is your bass, lean the bass against a big box, then you will hear what it sounds like!

 

22 minutes ago, Jolltax said:

e.g.  I wonder how many times I have cranked the treble on active bass without realising I have it turned down somewhere else in the signal chain, probably a lot of the time

 

That was how the original dolby stuff worked, boost the treble so that the treble loss wouldn't be as bad. 

[HeadlessBassist]

 

 

27 minutes ago, Jolltax said:

Just me reflecting again on this thread, if you got an active bass, a preamp / pedals, EQ on your amp (and / or maybe even going into a desk) then most of us are playing through 3 or four stages of  tone / EQ adjustments, its no wonder it gets confusing (for me anyway). 

 

It makes me wonder how much of my bass am I actually hearing and how much is just electronics e.g.  I wonder how many times I have cranked the treble on active bass without realising I have it turned down somewhere else in the signal chain, probably a lot of the time

 

Conspiracy theory : maybe we are all secretly playing exactly the same sounding bass and the only difference is in the electronics and we are being scammed by bass manufacturers 

 

Interesting point, Joltax.

 

I tend to think in terms of there are two sounds with various basses. One is the one you want to hear - the combination of the pickups, strings and the tonal qualities of the body wood/percussiveness of the fingerboard. The other is too much preamp! Some preamps just boost quietly in the background, and others just seem to swamp and overboost everything out of all proportion.

 

Of course, it's all down to the frequencies chosen by the preamp designer and the quality of the components, but it is fascinating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by HeadlessBassist

[spyder]

I previously used preamps in a heavy handed way, I probably ruined my bass sound at every gig. Now I have passive only basses and use very little eq. 5db shelf boost at around 150hz and 3db shelf boost at 2khz. This subtle EQ setting really allows you to hear the natural sound of the bass. Every bass now sounds like an individual instrument instead of a SVT, B15, Aguilar etc.

 

 

[prowla]

On 23/06/2025 at 09:04, RichT said:

Lots of people appear to think that the starting point for active controls is that they should be maxed out, and that seems to be why Stingrays for example have a reputation in some quarters as being ridiculously bright and trebley. They're only ridiculously bright if you turn the treble up to a ridiculous setting! 

 

You should always start with the controls centred and work slowly from there. In practice I usually end up with a slight bass boost, then on a 2 band eq I'll use the treble like a tone control to brighten/darken to suit the song. This often means my treble ends up below centre in a 'cut' poisition. 

 

If you have a 3 band then the Mid control is your "poke through the mix" control. Turn the mids up to be more prominent in the mix, turn them back to sit back inside it. Nothing wrong in changing that from song to song either. When I have a 3 band I do tend more to set the treble once and then leave it alone, and then the Mid becomes my 'tone' control instead. No point in making things unnecessarily complicated. 

 

 

 

I tend to agree:

• Passive controls do cut only, so the max position is neutral for vol and tone controls.
• Active tones tend to do boost and cut, so the neutral position is often half-way and has a detent to locate it.
• Active vols may boost or not, but if you can switch in/out the active circuit then you should be able to find the neutral position.

Also, amps often have separate active & passive inputs.