Active Basses

[ratman8]

I rewired my "bass collection" (SGC Nanyo) bass from active to passive, removed the j pickup and put electrical tape over the hole. Now I have a 2-knob, passive, "fancy" P-Bass. The tone is better, IMO, and it's way simpler to control. Also, active EQ tone has kind of a synthetic vibe to it that I don't care for. It's also lame if the bass isn't wired to default to passive; it sucks to go dead when you're playing out (especially at a battle of the bands!).

[md.taylor67]

Originally Posted by Baron

That was the case a few years ago but it has slowed.

There does not appear to be any boundaries with crews. Even when they do shoot a film here, most of the crew are from overseas. I worked on one a few years ago and the crew were from all over the world. They all seem to have a lot of history and work all over the planet.

Hey....you go where the gigs are if you want to stay in the industry (this is why I gave it away).

Baron

My experience with satellite broadcasting was all the great truck operators were Aussies' and alot of the best light techs were also... That was through late 80's and early 90's... They all seemed to travel soooo much!

Back on topic these were my favorite basses to work with at that time... The Kubicki bass is equipped with hybrid passive and electronic circuitry. Choosing between passive and active modes will depend on your requirements. I had a Fender Jazz Bass I played but had a buddy that was going to hook me up with Phil so I could grow up Truthfully I'd still love to own an Ex Factor... Fretless

[Baron]

Originally Posted by md.taylor67

Back on topic these were my favorite basses to work with at that time...

I used to have a blue four string version and it was probably the best Bass I will ever own. It had the most amazing range of sounds and the fastest and most stable neck of any of its peers, at the time. The great thing about that laminated neck was the total consistency of sound on each string for each fret. Not one dead spot appeared in ten years of constant use!

Why did I sell it? I got married and had given away music for a "real" job so I could afford the mortgage and baby stuff. The bass had to go along with my convertible, catamaran, Jet Ski, scuba gear, hang glider and my life

I actually had Stu Hamm play my bass for a couple of gigs. He arrived in town but his bass ended up in Austria, or something (this is Australia!), so the local "Bass Player" shop rang me and asked if Stu could use it. I got free tickets and AAA passes and got my bass signed and got to hang with one of my idols at the time. Pretty cool.

Baron

[brandondrury]

The great thing about that laminated neck was the total consistency of sound on each string for each fret. Not one dead spot appeared in ten years of constant use!

That IS the definition of a great bass!

I actually had Stu Hamm play my bass for a couple of gigs.

That IS REALLY the definition of a great bass!

Great story!!

Brandon

[md.taylor67]

Stu Hamm is the first player I think of when someone says Kubicki Ex-Factor and he's not listed on the players page???

What an awesome story, hope you got a bunch of cash for that baby!

[Brown]

when you plug straight in to record...DI in a studio...which will be quieter...which will have less noise, buzz, humm...active or passive?

[bilco]

Originally Posted by Brown

when you plug straight in to record...DI in a studio...which will be quieter...which will have less noise, buzz, humm...active or passive?

In my limited experience, I never had to worry about hum, buzz or any kind of noise when my Pbass had EMGs in it. I finally decided that I really favor the 60s and early 70s sounds of Pbass with passive pickups, so I took the EMGs out and had a set of passive Rio Grande vintage installed. They are quieter than the original Fender pickups that came in that Pbass when I bought it new in 1988, but they are noisier than the EMGs. When I plug in direct in my home studio, I have to keep some part of my hand touching the strings at all times or there is an increase in noise. Not a lot, but it is there. If I am playing a gig and there is one of those neon beer signs closeby, THAT's when it gets noisy. The Samsamp seems to exaggerate the problem more, even though it has a ground switch on it.

Even though I never had to worry about noise of any kind with the EMGs, I much prefer the sound of a good old Pbass or Jbass with passive pickups. I guess it's because I grew up with that sound. My son's Yamaha 5 string sounds great plugged straight in to any of my preamps, but it is kind of a hi fi sound to me and doesn't fit the style of the acoustic based, singer songwriter stuff I work on.

bilco

[brandondrury]

The Samsamp seems to exaggerate the problem more, even though it has a ground switch on it.

The Sansamp will definitely increase noise if any EQ or gain is being boosted. I seldom find noisy basses to be much of an issue within most mixes I do, but crappy bass tone is something I always fight. I'll take the noise and the tone any time.

Brandon

[Brown]

Interesting...

[spiritquest]

I have active 2 band on my grabber copy bass, which sounded total crap. I got some local guys at the time (ahem many years ago) to fir two yamaha bass humbuckers on it and he was an electronics wizz, so he wired an active circuit.

Why I like active on my bass, is for the main reason, our band plays a lot of covers, and I have some wacky ideas about sound.

The more I am parctice tracks with the guys in the band, and the more songs we throw into the set, the more I find myself making fine tune adjustments to the 2 band and pickup selections.

I am going from Reggae->Pop->Metal kind of tracks in a single set.

I haven't go the time to be resetting and tweaking the bass head settings each time I want to switch. Having the onboard control to dial in a sound and pickup selections help.

Its a lot easier to get the right sound on the amp and then tweak on the bass or on an EQ box. It doesn't need much to slightly alter your tone, roll a little treble/bass on or off - and you can get some interesting varieties to suit the song. It works for me.

However as has been said being able to go passive is a big bonus. The bass I am getting next will have an active / passive switch.