Active basses (Stingray)

[PrimalConcreteSledge]

A friend of mine took out the battery out of his MM Stingray and it still worked. I thought that on active basses 'no battery = no sound'.??
Can someone explain this?
Maybe this is only true for some active basses.

[Jake=Suck]

it probly only has an active preamp in which case it may still work without the battery.

*hasnt posted on mx in months, it feels good to b back*

[PrimalConcreteSledge]

it probly only has an active preamp in which case it may still work without the battery.

*hasnt posted on mx in months, it feels good to b back*

So you are saying that the MM humbucker is a passive pickup, but the bass has an active preamp?

[BenJammin]

So you are saying that the MM humbucker is a passive pickup, but the bass has an active preamp?

That is indeed what he is saying.

By and large most active basses have active electronics and passive pickups. EMG makes genuinely active pickups, iirc, but I think they're the only ones.

[Misanthropic]

so how will one know if the battery dies in a stingray? does the sound change? how?

[Az_Holl]

so how will one know if the battery dies in a stingray? does the sound change? how?
I think Jorge runs his MM passive, so he might be able to tell you if he posts in here.

[Rollo47]

The tone controls wouldn't work if the battery was flat.

[josh3184]

The tone controls wouldn't work if the battery was flat.

bingo. Tis easy to find out, dick about with the controls with the battery in and with the battery out, you'll hear the difference.

[Misanthropic]

but if you have the controls flat (which i usually do) you could just as well use it without a battery?

[Rollo47]

The tone will still be different, unless the preamp is extremely un-coloured, like an Audere.

[Jake=Suck]

Yeah, when you have the battery in the tone will have more color, whether all the controls are flat or not.

[edgebass5]

EMG makes genuinely active pickups, iirc, but I think they're the only ones.

There are others, but not many. Seymour Duncan makes a couple. Bartolini used to. It seems to me that Alembic had a line at one point... other than that... Truly active pickups are pretty few and far between.

[BenJammin]

What would the benefit of active pickups be? I don't understand the point, I guess.

[edgebass5]

What would the benefit of active pickups be? I don't understand the point, I guess.

Active pickups have a lower impedance (i.e. lower DC resistance) which allow them to drive longer cable runs without any signal loss. They're also less prone to external interference... So they say... I've yet to hear a pickup that was quieter in terms of white noise, static, hum, garbage, etc. than Fred Hammond's Darkstar pickups.... and guess what? Its completely passive. :p

[lemoley]

my Schecter Studio 5 has EMG-HZ's and a active EMG pre-amp in it so it should follow what everyone is saying about the 'ray but when the battery runs out the bass runs out

why does this happen to me but no one else?

[lemoley]

Active pickups have a lower impedance (i.e. lower DC resistance) which allow them to drive longer cable runs without any signal loss. They're also less prone to external interference... So they say... I've yet to hear a pickup that was quieter in terms of white noise, static, hum, garbage, etc. than Fred Hammond's Darkstar pickups.... and guess what? Its completely passive. :p

...that has nothing to do with whether the pickup is active or not

it depends on what type the pickup is being used (e.g split-coil etc) unless you have those noiseless singlecoils but they dont count :p

not having a go at you man, you seem to know your **** - just pisses me off when peeps say that....



yeah im sad :upset:

[edgebass5]

...that has nothing to do with whether the pickup is active or not

Two completely different things.

You're talking about 60 cycle hum which is negated (or at least partially negated) by having two coils wound opposite of one another. A truly active pickup (just so we're clear, I'm not talking about something like your EMG-HZ through an EMG preamp which is a passive pickup and an onboard preamp) in theory is less succeptible to RF interference, which is something that occurs regardless if you're using single coils or hum-cancelling pickups.

[edgebass5]

my Schecter Studio 5 has EMG-HZ's and a active EMG pre-amp in it so it should follow what everyone is saying about the 'ray but when the battery runs out the bass runs out

why does this happen to me but no one else?

I can't say this is true for all onboard EMG preamps, but the one I used to use could NOT be bypassed. You couldn't even wire in an active/passive switch. Clearly the MM preamp can be bypassed. It really just comes down to preamp and circuit design.

[lemoley]

thanks for clearing that up with me man :thumb:

[edgebass5]

thanks for clearing that up with me man :thumb:

No stress :thumb:

The one caveat to the whole thing is that the decreased RF interference due to lower DC resistance theory is just that... a theory... I've heard some pretty noisey basses with active EMG's, and I've heard some pretty noisey basses with passive pickups of various types. I think its one of those things that looks great on paper, but there are simply too many real-world variables to be able to make a concrete statement about it.