Active Bass Electronics

[Rochey]

Guys...

I have an old bass who's electronics have gone to analogue heaven... I think the old pickups are working okay, but i'd like to replace the actual circuitry.

Anyone here know a good place to get schematics for such a circuit... I could probably pcb it up in no time.

Cheers

R

 

[NewYorkDave]

I never liked the sound of active bass pickups. If it were mine, I would use this as an excuse to put in a good set of passive pickups.

But having said that, I believe the preamp circuits of most active pickup systems were fairly conventional single-supply opamp circuits. You could probably design something as good or better than what was used originally.

 

[jrmintz]

[quote author="NewYorkDave"]I never liked the sound of active bass pickups. If it were mine, I would use this as an excuse to put in a good set of passive pickups.[/quote]

I feel very strongly the same way. I have several instruments that came with active electronics and over the years I've torn it all out and made them passive. I have no active instruments left. Active electronics take all the expressiveness out from under your hands and turn it over $0.19 op amps. Get a set of great passive pickups.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[Rochey]

naaah. this bass isn't all that great to start with... it was a cheap Aria i got... the only reason i keep it at the moment is because it's pink and has a sticker saying "ravers suck" on it....

Worst of all, it was like that before I bought it...

Strange what you do as a teenager eh?

I'd like to change the circuitry in it, just to see if I can improve the sound of it a little... kinda like a project... just to see if it can be done

 

[NewYorkDave]

Arias aren't all that bad... The one bass I own is an Aria Pro II I bought used for $150 back in the '80s, and it's actually a nice-playing bass. The pickups and tuning machines are cheesy, though.

 

[Rochey]

sounds about right...

I quite fancy seeing whats possible with a digital processor inside the bass... just to see if it's possible

any idea how much gain i should apply to a pickup's signal to bring it to line level?

Cheers

R

 

[Gus]

here is a fun little circuit under 1ma


http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/npn_boost.gif

 

[clintrubber]

I go for passive basses as well...

... but years ago I tried a discrete circuit from a Fender P-deluxe (or something like that). Let me know if you're interested, can dig it up & scan it. Volume, Bass, Treble and some LPFiltering. I used BC550/560, basically the circuit is a few emitter-followers and a discrete opamp (3-transistors ) for the B & T. Runs on 9V but 18V will be OK as well.


Obviously, I guess an important part of the active sound is the lack of filtering of the 6m cord (et all). Could of course be added.
But while definitely usefull, less controls on the instrument itself makes you play more imho.

Bye,

Peter

 

[moosapotamus]

Here's something...
http://www.albertkreuzer.com/preamp_onboard.htm

Please post results if you give it a try.

~ Charlie

 

[Kev]

sorry to jump on the bsand wagon BUT I too think a good set of passive pickups to suit the positioning of the originals and a set up can turn this into a great work horse bass guitar

Active basses can be good ... BUT I think the bass itself AND the electronics have to be GREAT ... otherwise it is a waste of time and many of the cheap coppies are just no right


Like many of our things in DIY ... if you keep it simple and use good parts to suit the application things will work a treat.
The parts don't even have to be expensive, just up to spec.

The sum of the parts work out to be of more value than just the sum of the parts. ... :shock:

... does that make sense .... :roll: ... now explain it to me ...


hey Charlie,
that schematic does look cool
if someone does try it, do let us know
I'd also like to know what happens if you up to 18 volts with two batteries

 

[SonsOfThunder]

[quote author="Kev"]The sum of the parts work out to be of more value than just the sum of the parts. ... :shock:
... does that make sense .... :roll: ... now explain it to me ... [/quote] Dunno if it makes sense but I think I just found a new sig... :grin:

Peace!
"non-moose" Charlie

 

[Guest]

I think the bass itself AND the electronics have to be GREA

Gotta agree with you there. Whatever it is, the one should complement the other. I just don't think that I've heard a Fender with active pickups that I like. They always seem to sound better passive. However, my old Spector sounds insane with the EMG's and the stock Spector E.Q. Those bases have a very unique tone, and I don't really think a different combo would give you the same character. Everyone who's thumbed their nose at my non-passive pickups and non-Fender bass has always been surprised at how good it sounds. Of course, I run the damn thing wide open all the time. I can't quite seem to be happy unless everything's turned up all the way...that might be a problem... :grin:

Zach

 

[Rochey]

heya guys...

this isn't a really good bass at all really (compared to my current workhorse)... I just fancy doing a project just to see how it sounds compared to how it used to.

Anything is an improvement on how it was

Cheers guys...

R

 

[moosapotamus]

You go, Rochey! Do that thing up and tell all about it.

~ Charlie

 

[tony dB]

Sold instruments for a living in the 80's/90' and i always thought the following the worst excuse!
(ad whatever brand basses promobrochure
"with these fine active circuits we upgraded the noisespecs tremendously!"

I never heard an active bass back then what didn't produce MORE noise/hiss than a passive one. :green: even Alembic's, Status', Warwick's and other upper range instruments. Not to mention oscillations etc due to bad construction on cheaper basses.

It was the slappin' era too (thank you Mark King :grin: ), so everyone wanted that crispy highmidrange boosted try the ceiling :wink:

Would be great to experiment though, as the theory behind it wasn't all that bad, only the results :grin:

Go for it Rochey, and keep us informed. Top quality components of today will hopefully produce better results than midclass from the past?

Cheers,

Tony

 

[BR]

Hey R,
I lot guys here are saying that they prefer passive basses, but I guess it really depends on the type of music you play... I have some basses and all of them have active/passive switches on them, but I always end up using them active, because of the type of music I play... funk, fusion etc...
On both my custom basses I used really good pres. I used bartolini pres and eqs on my 5 string and used fender Marcus Miller pre on my 4 string. Needless to say that they both sound spectacular.

My 4 string is an old POC Squier P-bass that I turned into a P-Jazz bass using basslines pickups and the Marcus Miller pre, and I have to say that it sounds better than many $2k basses I've played and it only cost me about $200 worth of parts..

I would really recomend you to just by some nice pickups, (BassLines, Rio Grande, etc) and a nice onboard pre (Bartolini, Fender, Aguilar, Sadowsky, etc...) and you will be very impressed with the results..

I may have an Aguilar OBP1 pre that I could sale you, but I have to find it somewhere in the closed vortex.... if you are interested, pm me...

good luck
Gil

 

[Guest]

I have always used passive pickups, except for one bass I built, my favorite by the way. I wanted to combine piezo and magnetic pickups so active was my best choice. I used Bartolini preamp and pickups so I didn't make the preamp myself. I think you could probably do just fine on a DIY bass preamp if you just use a simple circuit and good components. Unfortunately you will not be able to fit a vacuum tube in there so you will just have to use a transistor.

 

[Gustav]

[quote author="SonsOfThunder"][quote author="Kev"]The sum of the parts work out to be of more value than just the sum of the parts. ... :shock:
... does that make sense .... :roll: ... now explain it to me ... [/quote] Dunno if it makes sense but I think I just found a new sig... :grin:

Peace!
"non-moose" Charlie[/quote]

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts would be a better way to put it, I think. This view is called holism, and is opposed to reductionism. which holds that :shock: The whole is nothing more than the sum of its parts.

For more info check your local library.

I have a 69 precision bass where the pickups died on me at some point. The guy who repaired it put in active pickups, and it hasnt been the same since, and every friggin time it started sounding really bad It took me a while to remember that it had to have its battery changed.
I just got around to ordering some passives online today. Hope I dont screw it up when I have to install them.

Gustav

 

[smallbutfine]

I used to have an SKC Bogart bass (small german company, they made a custom body finish for about 50?...) that had a really impressing active circuit after the bartolinis. This one was built nearly indistructible but didn't sound like "plastic" at all (no l. 42 sound..), finish reads like <german mode> Kohlefaserhals sowie Body aus Ahorn in ein Finish aus Hartkunststoff mit Mikrohohlglaskügelchen gegossen<german mode off>
and yes it sounds awfully good and "organic". The electronics had a real wide range of very good sounds, i would say alot better than most actives of that time (music man, status or whatever).
I once played a (passive) bass that sounded better but was a hell of a dog to play and a hundred pounds of weight...
fender jazz bass 1963
(incredible punch and power - WOW, never heard such PUs again)

 

[BR]

Hey Gustav,
69 P-bass is definetely not bass made to be active. It takes its vintage caracteristics completely away from it. You should look into the Basslines 67/70 series ,I think...
It is a remake of the 67 fender pickups and I believe they make for P-bass or J-bass, in 4 or 5 strings...
I put those pick up in my 5string custom and it sounds amazing... Like I mentioned before, I have an active/passive switch on this bass and it sounds great both ways...
I found bartolini pickups to make bass sounds really generic. In other works, just like any other bass with barts.

peace
Gil