Anyone bypassed active eq on Stingray?

[Retinto]

Hello everyone
If I'm not mistaken, the pickup itself is passive, only eq is active. If this is true, has anyone installed a switch to bypass the eq? this would make possible playing without a battery. I apologise if anyone finds asking this somehow "inappropiate".
I don't use the pick up selector, always have it in parallel, the traditional way of MM and the one I like best, and don't use the active eq that much either, on any bass really. Thought it might be a good mod, and not a difficult one to do. Any thoughts?

 

[CW Zing]

That guy Line6man on talkbass could probably answer that best, I'd like to do it as well

 

[nhbassguitar]

Yeah, I did it on a Charvel/Jackson neck-through I have, and though it made a noticeable positive difference in that case, I eventually restored it to stock because there are so many variables and unknowns in the real world of live performance (human and otherwise) that they always swamped the improvements I heard in my solo practice space. As I looked at the guts of my SR with the little black cover off, hot soldering pencil in hand, the thought that kept coming back to me was this: "What would be the point, taking everything into account?"

I unplugged the iron and screwed the cover back on.

 

[Golem]

I've tried a passive EB SUB. It did NOT follow
me home. That bass is exactly a passive SR.

YMMV.

 

[steevo]

Different pickup in the sub though. I changed the pickup in my usa sub 5 for an sr5 pickup and there was a noticeable difference in tone.
Id like the option of going passive but whether id use it in the real world is another story

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[BrockLee]

The preamp equipped pickups are wound differently. They are only 30-50% the winds of a passive version pickup. They tend to read right around 2k. It will work, but it will be very thin with no power.

 

[Golem]

Different pickup in the sub though. I changed the pickup
in my usa sub 5 for an sr5 pickup and there was a noticeable
difference in tone.

Id like the option of going passive but whether id use it in the
real world is another story

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

IIRC that difference would not exist between an active SUB 4
and an SR 4, IOW very same PU between the active 4-string
basses. OTOH, again IIRC, no EBMM SUB had a ceramic PU.
My EBMM SUB Sterling 4 has an alnico SR 4 PU. A same-era
Sterling 4 would have a ceramic PU. But when you compare
5-stringers, the SR5 of that era had a ceramic PU, so acoarst
that 2003 ceramic SR 5 PU transplanted into an EBMM SUB 5
will change the SUB 5's tone cuz the PU you removed was an
alnico SUB PU. At that time, I believe the SUB 5 was the only
5-string MM to have an alnico PU, which made it a holy grail
for certain players. A few years later, that uniqueness ended
when the SR-5 series switched over to alnico.

Corrections welcomed, but I'm pretty sure thaz the story

----------------------------------------------------------------

I really should fact-check myself and get beyond the "IIRC"
phase. All this SUB stuff isn't just esoterica minutia. It's also
my personal family history .... cuz my EBMM SUB Sterling 4
was built on my birthday and so I can never part from it

You can pick geetar, and you can pick your nose ... but you
can't pick your family !

 

[Retinto]

The preamp equipped pickups are wound differently. They are only 30-50% the winds of a passive version pickup. They tend to read right around 2k. It will work, but it will be very thin with no power.

That's what I had heard too, it's not just an active eq system but a preamp too, and the output of the pick up alone would be too thin and easily lost through a long cable without a proper booster/buffer... It doesn't make that much sense, just don't forget batteries...

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

'
Here's my take.

The standard SR4H (ie with preamp fitted) has a passive pup. The pup is not active. It has an impedance of approx. 1.8K to 2K depending on your measuring device. The only active element is the preamp and not the pup.

I've bypassed the preamp on one of my 2EQ Rays. Going direct to the stock pup (as above) sounds perfectly fine to me!

My understanding is that the American made SUB Bass from 2003-2006 (with the passive option and no preamp) has the same pup as the standard SR4H fitted with preamp (ie 1.8K to 2K impedance).

 

[Retinto]

'
Here's my take.

The standard SR4H (ie with preamp fitted) has a passive pup. The pup is not active. It has an impedance of approx. 1.8K to 2K depending on your measuring device. The only active element is the preamp and not the pup.

I've bypassed the preamp on one of my 2EQ Rays. Going direct to the stock pup (as above) sounds perfectly fine to me!

My understanding is that the American made SUB Bass from 2003-2006 (with the passive option and no preamp) has the same pup as the standard SR4H fitted with preamp (ie 1.8K to 2K impedance).

Did you have to increase gain much on your amp compared to the one that passes through the preamp?

 

[Golem]

Wide open it's about the same but passive
output falls off stoopiddley fast as you dial
away from max output.

This question arises more or less annually,
and the annual answer was always, "MM
basses are active basses". But now a new
answer has arisen. MM will sell you a fine
passive bass if you want one. But it's not
a Ray. SRs are still active basses. You say
you never use the EQ ? You ALWAYS use
it, even if you don't use cut or boost, you
are using its native contour ... true of any
active system. Remove the pre-amp and
you remove that contour. If you bypass it
you will not hear the same sound as you
hear by leaving the EQ pots all on center.

That all-on-center tone is rather immune
to cable impedance and other influences.
The bypass sound will be subject to such
influences. Chances are that even if you
add a bypass switch, you'll still prefer to
maintain a battery in place.

 

[Retinto]

I don't know about MM, I just got mine, but I have owned an active warwick since 2006, and the tone when you bypass the eq is pretty much the same than with it when no boost or cut is applied. Pick ups are active though, that you can't help, so a battery is always needed.
If output of stingrays is not high enough with just the pick up then it doesn't make that much sense, perhaps just for recordind straight to a good preamp through a short cable. Anyhow, as you say, I guess the active contour even with knobs at zero is part of the whole MM mojo.

No por mucho madrugar Dios te ayuda

 

[Golem]

When you bypass the EQ in a Warwick with active
PUs [gold label] the tiny pre-amps in the PUs are
still in the tone circuit and they have their contour.

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

Did you have to increase gain much on your amp compared to the one that passes through the preamp?

I found it slightly louder and had to decrease the gain on the main amp.

 

[Retinto]

When you bypass the EQ in a Warwick with active
PUs [gold label] the tiny pre-amps in the PUs are
still in the tone circuit and they have their contour.

Exactly

No por mucho madrugar Dios te ayuda

 

[Retinto]

I found it slightly louder and had to decrease the gain on the main amp.

That's "odd"? When I compared the output of my stingray with my other basses it was lower, is the preamp output buffered? Wasn't expecting that. Pick up height in all basses are adjusted as brands recommend.

No por mucho madrugar Dios te ayuda

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

That's "odd"? When I compared the output of my stingray with my other basses it was lower, is the preamp output buffered? Wasn't expecting that. Pick up height in all basses are adjusted as brands recommend.

No por mucho madrugar Dios te ayuda

I was bypassing a 1977 Pre-EB black epoxy preamp. That may have had something to do with the passive being louder.