Onboard electronics? Any other non-believers here?

[Moos3h]

I meant to post this a while ago, but I recently bypassed all the electronics in my main bass and just run from the pickup straight to the jack. It's a P-Bass copy with a GFS pickup and it sounds absolutely HUGE as a result.

I came to the realisation that almost always, I NEVER touch any of the controls on my passive basses and leave everything on maximum - this is partly why I've never got on with active preamps etc as I have fiddled, but always found myself back at the centre position. (Edited for clarity!)

The flipside to having no tonal control on your bass is it forces your to do it with your fingers - I've got more adept at going from wooly thud to biting attack just with the part of my striking fingers I use, or by changing pick type. I then approach EQ on the amp as EQ'ing for the room and not the instrument.

Any other players here with this approach? I'm not saying we should all ditch our expensive onboard EQ's etc but try it sometime, it's quite refreshing! It's like having nowhere to hide!

Cheers,
James

Edited November 5, 2009 by Moos3h

[xilddx]

[quote name='Moos3h' post='646136' date='Nov 5 2009, 11:56 AM']I meant to post this a while ago, but I recently bypassed all the electronics in my main bass and just run from the pickup straight to the jack. It's a P-Bass copy with a GFS pickup and it sounds absolutely HUGE as a result.

I came to the realisation that almost always, I NEVER touch any of the controls on my basses and leave everything on maximum - this is partly why I've never got on with active preamps etc.

The flipside to having no tonal control on your bass is it forces your to do it with your fingers - I've got more adept at going from wooly thud to biting attack just with the part of my striking fingers I use, or by changing pick type. I then approach EQ on the amp as EQ'ing for the room and not the instrument.

Any other players here with this approach? I'm not saying we should all ditch our expensive onboard EQ's etc but try it sometime, it's quite refreshing! It's like having nowhere to hide!

Cheers,
James[/quote]
Don't take this the wrong way mate, but I think this is down to unfamiliarity on your part. I play with my actives' controls a lot, onstage too. Small adjustments can make all the difference. If you've got your active controls all the way up, you're defeating the purpose of what they're for, you are using them as though they are passive electronics on steroids. Do you also turn all the controls on your amp to maximum?

There are things your fingers can't do to the bass's tone.

[Moos3h]

Sorry, perhaps I didn't make myself clear - my basses are all passives and on those I leave everything up full. On actives, (which I have have owned, but never stuck with) everything is left in the notched, middle position.

I find a tone in your email very slightly patronising (apologies if I am misreading this) but no I don't also turn my amp controls up to the maxmimum too.

My point, which I thought I had already made clearly enough but I guess not was that I am enjoying removing the options for sound shaping from the bass - getting rid of the knobs and switches to fiddle with, and concentrating on make the best noise I can with my fingers, is that so wrong?

[xilddx]

[quote name='Moos3h' post='646158' date='Nov 5 2009, 12:20 PM']Sorry, perhaps I didn't make myself clear - my basses are all passives and on those I leave everything up full. On actives, (which I have have owned, but never stuck with) everything is left in the notched, middle position.

I find a tone in your email very slightly patronising (apologies if I am misreading this) but no I don't also turn my amp controls up to the maxmimum too.

My point, which I thought I had already made clearly enough but I guess not was that I am enjoying removing the options for sound shaping from the bass - getting rid of the knobs and switches to fiddle with, and concentrating on make the best noise I can with my fingers, is that so wrong?[/quote]
Sorry, I think I must have misread your post. I understand now, I thought you meant you bypassed your [b]active [/b]electronics. I wasn't being patronising, sorry, I just meant turning up on-board active controls to full is the virtually the same as turning the controls on your amp up full. Apologies for my misunderstanding.

What you've done is interesting actually, what difference in tone and output were there?

[rapscallion]

Where did you solder your grounding? And does anyone have any info on doing this with a 2 pickup bass?

[Moos3h]

The grounding is all soldered to the sleeve of the jack - I think that's right? Seems just as quiet in terms of buzz as it did before (once I reattached the bridge grounding wire! Doh!)

Although it's hard to say for sure, as I did a string change at the same time, taking the volume and tone controls out of the equation has possibly given an increased amount of volume and high end. Really should have put the old strings back on for a proper A/B test.

[Moos3h]

[quote name='silddx' post='646165' date='Nov 5 2009, 12:28 PM']Sorry, I think I must have misread your post. I understand now, I thought you meant you bypassed your [b]active [/b]electronics. I wasn't being patronising, sorry, I just meant turning up on-board active controls to full is the virtually the same as turning the controls on your amp up full. Apologies for my misunderstanding.

What you've done is interesting actually, what difference in tone and output were there?[/quote]


No worries matey, have edited my original post to make it a wee bit clearer anyway

[rapscallion]

Sounds cool! Thinking to doing this on my Cort fretless project, maybe throwing in a toggle switch between pickups though

[henry norton]

There do seem to be active and a passive players on the forum. I like both but do think that most players would benefit from playing a single pickup, passive instrument regularly to improve their technique and tone.

It might have been that your original actives were a bit c##p....

Edited November 5, 2009 by henry norton

[ezbass]

There is precedent for this in the guitar world. Blues/jazz genius Robben Ford had his signature Fender guitar p/ups wired straight from the selector switch to the output jack. Tone was altered via the amp and vol was controlled via a vol pedal. His guitar tone was and is to die for. I'm not saying that one way is better than the other (I wouldn't be without my passive tone control) but just that there is precedent among the great and the good.

[simon1964]

On a related point, I read an interview a while back with Mark Hoppus (no, I'm not a fan!) about his Fender signature. That only has a volume knob as he never uses a tone control. He also said that, as he always has the volume on full, his personal preference would have been no volume knob either. Simply an "on / off" switch.

Personally I like having actives as I find it gives a more control when I'm gigging, but I can certainly see your point. When I do give the Precision a run out its quite refreshing to simply plug in and play.

[Beedster]

I ran my Precision PUP straight to the jack a while back, and I found the tone wasn't as sweet as with the pots in the way. I tend to roll volume off by a tiny degree when I play live, it gives me a tone I prefer and a little extra grunt if I need it. I think there are sound theoretical reasons for taking pots out of the loop but, even if you don't use them, they might still add to tone even when apparently fully open?

Chris

[Wil]

My Warmoth strat only has a volume knob (marked "tone", as a Van Halen-ism). I've never liked passive tone controls on a guitar, but find a volume pot indispensible for cleaning up my sound during songs. On bass, I'm a fan of active set ups. Bass tone is a complex beast, and where I find I can compensate for dire guitar tone a lot of the time, on bass I think it's nice to have the options to tweak your low end and mids or curtail some rampant treble.

[Beedster]

[quote name='simon1964' post='646435' date='Nov 5 2009, 05:00 PM']On a related point, I read an interview a while back with Mark Hoppus (no, I'm not a fan!) about his Fender signature. That only has a volume knob as he never uses a tone control. He also said that, as he always has the volume on full, his personal preference would have been no volume knob either. Simply an "on / off" switch.

Personally I like having actives as I find it gives a more control when I'm gigging, but I can certainly see your point. When I do give the Precision a run out its quite refreshing to simply plug in and play.[/quote]


[quote name='Wil' post='646466' date='Nov 5 2009, 05:17 PM']My Warmoth strat only has a volume knob (marked "tone", as a Van Halen-ism). I've never liked passive tone controls on a guitar, but find a volume pot indispensible for cleaning up my sound during songs. On bass, I'm a fan of active set ups. Bass tone is a complex beast, and where I find I can compensate for dire guitar tone a lot of the time, on bass I think it's nice to have the options to tweak your low end and mids or curtail some rampant treble.[/quote]

I wouldn't want to record using actives but I find gigging passive can limit my tone, especially if the room is far from ideal. I gigged my passive Precision last night and much as I love the tone, I had to play around with my amp a lot. When I gig my Jazz with J-Retro I never need to go near my amp

C

[OutToPlayJazz]

I always use the same settings on the bass for every gig, whether it's a passive or active instrument.

The Status basses' eq is usually set at maximum treble & bass with the mids in the flat position. This gives a very sweet sound due to the higher freqencies adopted by the Status preamp.

The Stingray is always on full bass boost, mids flat & a slight treble lift & the Jazzes are always all three controls set to max.

I tend to change my tone between numbers by playing in a different area of the instrument. For example, for upbeat stuff or bossanovas, I'll be playing in the sweet spot in between the pickups & for smoother swings and ballads I'll be playing up over the end of the fingerboard for a smoother and bassier sound. Soloing is usually over the back pickup.

[alexclaber]

[quote name='Moos3h' post='646136' date='Nov 5 2009, 11:56 AM']The flipside to having no tonal control on your bass is it forces your to do it with your fingers - I've got more adept at going from wooly thud to biting attack just with the part of my striking fingers I use, or by changing pick type. I then approach EQ on the amp as EQ'ing for the room and not the instrument.

Any other players here with this approach? I'm not saying we should all ditch our expensive onboard EQ's etc but try it sometime, it's quite refreshing! It's like having nowhere to hide![/quote]

I had an '87 Warwick Streamer with EMGs and the stock preamp. I replaced the preamp with an Aguilar OBP-3, upgraded to 18V power, and added a preamp bypass and pickup switch. I enjoyed the OBP-3 for a while but more and more found I was leaving it bypassed (the EMGs sound much fatter and cleaner on 18V than 9V btw). When I decided on the final details for my custom bass I went with a 4-way pickup switch, passive volume and tone and Q-Tuner pickups. Running straight into an Avalon U5 it is the most righteous tonebeast you've ever heard and your hands really get to do all the talking.

Q-Tuners are expensive and non-standard sized but if you have bass with a pickguard so routing is easy, or are going custom from scratch, I highly recommend trying a passive set-up with them. You can always add a preamp later but I doubt you'll want to.

Alex

[alexclaber]

[quote name='Beedster' post='646453' date='Nov 5 2009, 05:10 PM']I think there are sound theoretical reasons for taking pots out of the loop but, even if you don't use them, they might still add to tone even when apparently fully open?[/quote]

The pots take out some treble as they're a subtle passive lowpass filter (like a passive tone knob). Erno @ Q-Tuner recommends having a bypass switch to get maximum transparency - my thinking is that the Q-Tuners are so extended in the highs that I can live with the pots cutting some treble, just like I prefer old nickel strings for their warmer smoother sound.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='646563' date='Nov 5 2009, 06:53 PM']The Status basses' eq is usually set at maximum treble & bass with the mids in the flat position. This gives a very sweet sound due to the higher freqencies adopted by the Status preamp.

The Stingray is always on full bass boost, mids flat & a slight treble lift & the Jazzes are always all three controls set to max.[/quote]

You must go for a very smooth mid-scooped tone compared to my nasty sounds. And full bass boost through my main rig would bring the ceiling down in smaller venues!

Tone really is so much in the player and the conscious and subconscious decision they make. We are all individuals. (I'm not).

Alex

[Beedster]

[quote name='alexclaber' post='646574' date='Nov 5 2009, 07:04 PM']Erno @ Q-Tuner recommends having a bypass switch to get maximum transparency[/quote]

But what will the switch do to transparency

[7string]

I would love to have just a volume control nothing else on the bass.

However, I usually find a great sound and leave the controls there. My Tyler has a Demeter 3 band eq with switchable centres. Do I know what the frequencies are or the boost/cut?? Haven't got a darn clue. It has an overall gain control as well but I have no idea what it's supposed to do. I just find a setting and leave it.

My Jackson has active pickups and a passive tone control. Very strange, sounds great. The tone goes up blend sticks in the middle and that's it. I have a Charvel electric geetar with active electronics but I don't tend to move the knobs much.

I would love to have simplicity, but I don't want to spoil a great sounding bass for the sake of it.

[alexclaber]

[quote name='Beedster' post='646597' date='Nov 5 2009, 07:19 PM']But what will the switch do to transparency [/quote]

It's like those fancy LCD windows - install the switch on your Precision and it'll do this:



Alex

[waynepunkdude]

I put an on/off switch on this badboy and got rid of the volume and tone knobs, works a treat.

[Marvin]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='646615' date='Nov 5 2009, 07:42 PM']I put an on/off switch on this badboy and got rid of the volume and tone knobs, works a treat.
[/quote]
You also seem to have got rid of your D string.

Possibly going for a Seasick Steve of the bass world?

Or a drop D tuning?

Edited November 5, 2009 by RichB

[tegguN]

who needs strings? Just hit the bass for maximum tone!

[12stringbassist]

Basses have to have lots of knobs!!!

[sdgrsr400]

+1 for OP: and you can leave your bass plugged in, and no faffing around with batteries...