Active Preamp? Yay or Nay?

[ericmeyer4]

I'm working on my bass and I can't decide if I should go with the SD tone circuits or not.

What are the advantages/disadvantages?

Bass Specs.

The body is made up of mostly strips of walnut and mahogany. Then some red oak. Then a little bit of maple, rosewood, and white oak.

The neck is made up of maple, mahogany, and walnut with a fretless rosewood fingerboard.

I'm using the 1/4 lb P-bass pickup.

The nut will be rosewood.

Bridge will be mostly rosewood and maybe some maple.

I doubt it will influence the sound any, but the pickguard, covers, etc will be made up of maple.

Tone circuits: yes or no?

[supernosher]

I would go passive because I think passives may give the sound of the wood more.

and by the way the link in your sig doesn't work.

[alex1fly]

I would go passive because I think passives may give the sound of the wood more.

and by the way the link in your sig doesn't work.

it's a bass. wood is not nearly as important to the tone IMO. active tone helps bass do its job better in the mix. do it. if you want to hear the wood, turn the active tone off, or take it out. nothing can hurt by trying it, but i think active tone sounds great when playing with a group.

[NoOnesFang13]

I accedently picked active, but go passive with active electronics... you will not be disappointed.

[ericmeyer4]

Give this a little bump.

I already have the pickup for it the SD 1/4 lb.

The big question is go with active electronics, passive electronics, or some how both.

[ericmeyer4]

anyone have some experience with SD tone circuits?

opinions?

[DrNewcenstein]

Can't say I've used SD tone circuits. I've used older Jackson active bass circuits (the JE2000 bass/treble system) with stock Jackson pickups. It's nice for what it does, but haven't ever used it through a bass rig - usually just an ADA MP-1 on Clean into the computer.

However, I do like the tones of the Duncan Designed bar-style pickups in my other Jackson bass with passive circuitry.
I can only imagine that "real" Duncans sound a lot better, and that active circuitry would offer on-board EQ tweaks and volume boost.


That said, the main purpose of active bass circuitry would be for direct-to-console recording without miking a bass amp or fighting with a preamp - you get signal to tape and EQ it in the mix.