Active to passive/tapes

[JB_From_Hell]

I was emailing Damian Erskine, asking what he used on his newest release. He mentioned that he’s using totally passive basses now, and it inspired me to pull the preamp from my active bass. I replaced it with a volume, tone, and left the coil split. The bass has a single Delano humbucker in the middle, and the switch selects either coil or both in series.

The bass sounds fatter, all the zingy hi-fi is gone, and the coil split is way more functional now. Previously, it made a difference, but I can really hear the differences between the two coils now.

It’s a naturally bright and clear sounding instrument (swamp ash body, hard maple neck, ebony board), so also on Damian’s recommendation, I ordered a set of D’Addario tape wound strings for it.

 

[Demanic]

As long as you're happy with it. I think that with either my Jackson or Ibanez, both active, I could probably get rid of the zingy hi fi sound just by changing the eq and pickup balance. I suppose that flat wounds would eliminate any string squeak.
But if I did that, I wouldn't ever be able dial the zingy hi fi back in.

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[JB_From_Hell]

Even dialed in for a dark sound, that hi-fi thing was always there, which I believe is the nature of a preamp.

 

[Demanic]

Like I said, as long as you're happy with it. I am more than a huge fan of different tones for different players.

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[JB_From_Hell]

The hybrid fretted/fretless I’m getting from Frank has the Fishman Fluence bass setup, so I’m really excited to check that out. It has modern and old school voicings, so I agree about different tones for different players.

 

[donaldr]

Even dialed in for a dark sound, that hi-fi thing was always there, which I believe is the nature of a preamp.

Maybe the nature of YOUR preamp. I don't have zingy hi-fi thing on my Yamaha.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Even dialed in for a dark sound, that hi-fi thing was always there, which I believe is the nature of a preamp.

The preamp acts as a buffer, so you get more high end from the pickups. Different preamps have different input impedances. Lower impedance gives a more passive tone.

As an aside, I used to make those ramp pickups for the Skjold basses. So I’ll assume one of his basses might have my neo pickups in it.

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[JB_From_Hell]

Spent a couple days with the tape wound strings. Love them. They’re dark and fat, but still clear and articulate. Best of all, they don’t feel gross and sticky like flats. I’ll probably keep a set on at least one bass all the time. They’re expensive ($40), but the dude who turned me onto them said the set on his bass is at least 2 years old and still sounds like when it was new.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Spent a couple days with the tape wound strings. Love them. They’re dark and fat, but still clear and articulate. Best of all, they don’t feel gross and sticky like flats. I’ll probably keep a set on at least one bass all the time. They’re expensive ($40), but the dude who turned me onto them said the set on his bass is at least 2 years old and still sounds like when it was new.

Tapewounds are cool. Brighter in a lot of ways from flats. It’s tapewounds on My Generation and those early Joe Jackson stuff.


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[JB_From_Hell]

Tapewounds are cool. Brighter in a lot of ways from flats. It’s tapewounds on My Generation and those early Joe Jackson stuff.

Interesting. Am I correct in thinking that John Entwhistle was instrumental in the invention of round wound bass strings, with Rotosound?

Anyway, they're so much fun to play... low tension, and they just feel nice. I'm sold.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Interesting. Am I correct in thinking that John Entwhistle was instrumental in the invention of round wound bass strings, with Rotosound?

Anyway, they're so much fun to play... low tension, and they just feel nice. I'm sold.

He was certainly instrumental in the development of Rotosound round wounds. D’Addario claim they made the first round wound bass strings. So I don’t know.

Back in the early 70s I played tuba in a small symphony orchestra in NYC. One of the upright players had round wounds on her bass. I’d never seen that before, but I guess it was a thing.


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[BRHGM]

John used a Danelectro bass on that album. He later switched to a Pbass with Rotosounds.