馃攳
"Passive Vs Active Basses" - In Conversation with Master Luthier Chris May of Overwater basses - YouTube
Channel: Scott's Bass Lessons
[6]
Scott: But what are some of the advantages?
Like, what if somebody came to you and said,
[9]
"I want to buy a bass. I want you to make
me a bass. I'm not sure about active or passive
[14]
basses." What do you think? What is your initial
thing you'd say to them?
[18]
Chris May: One of the things that we... Obviously,
with an active bass, what you can do is you
[23]
can add. You could only subtract with a passive.
So a passive tone control just rolls off treble.
[30]
That's all it does. Also, if you have two
volume controls, for instance, like on a jazz
[36]
bass, they interact with each other because
they load. One is loading the other pickup
[40]
and everything is interacting with everything
else. So you turn one completely off and the
[44]
whole bass goes off. So that's the disadvantage
to it. There is obviously a sound that you
[53]
can get from a passive bass because of those
things, that makes it unique. And we have
[58]
our ears, a bit like the alder and maple,
are kind of tuned to that. With an active
[63]
bass you've got various advantages. Obviously
you can add stuff. You can select the frequencies.
[68]
You can do all that stuff. But you can also,
more importantly, you can buffer things so
[73]
that you can stop things interacting with
each other. So you could have one pickup with
[79]
full treble on and one pickup with full bass
on if you have that type of controls on. And
[84]
they wouldn't react to each other. They just
run in parallel.
[87]
Scott: Are there any disadvantages to active
basses?
[91]
Chris May: I don't think so, actually. [inaudible
00:01:34].
[94]
Scott: Maybe the only disadvantage is that
you can't get a passive tone out of it. [inaudible
[96]
00:01:38]
[96]
Chris May: Well, you can because you can because
you can have [inaudible 00:01:38].
[99]
Scott: [inaudible 00:01:39]
[100]
Chris May: One of the really interesting things
that we do is to use a passive buffer. Or
[105]
an active buffer in a passive bass. So basically
you've got a perfect bass.
[108]
Scott: Active buffer, passive bass. Right,
carry on.
[110]
Chris May: Right. So all the controls, a bit
like an old Valve amplifier, the tone controls
[114]
are actually passive. But obviously there's
an active preamp because it's all powered.
[121]
So you're using passive controls, but you
use it through a buffer preamp which lowers
[126]
the impedance, adds a bit of gain. By lowering
the impedance means you don't get the loss
[130]
through the cable. You get a better quality
signal. We build instruments for a lot of
[136]
the more old school players who prefer that
type of tone control, but are looking for
[142]
a much better sound to signal [inaudible 00:02:25].
[145]
Scott: Yeah. You know, I was going to say
actually, that I actually, and now this is
[149]
because I'm a bit of a plug in and play kind
of guy. And because of that, part of me actually
[157]
prefers a passive bass. And it's not really,
I don't think, because of the sound. I think
[161]
it's like a mental thing. I just think, "I
just plug in and play."
[164]
Chris May: Well, the really important thing
with me, and one of the things that we've
[167]
tried to develop more. And when we work with
a guy called John East on our electronics,
[171]
and John makes a lot of retrofit circuits,
which are basically circuitry to go into existing
[177]
basses that don't sound all that. And it's
to hearten them up a bit. So his circuitry
[180]
Scott: Is he the guy that did . . .
[182]
Chris May: The Jay Retro and all [inaudible
00:03:04].
[184]
Scott: Jay Retro, right. Great circuits, actually,
so check them out if you haven't already.
[188]
John East.
[189]
Chris May: But John's, because he's putting
them into sort of indifferent instruments
[192]
a lot of the time, he's trying to add a bit
of something. A bit like EMG pickups have
[196]
got pre-EQ. That's great in that sort of setting.
For our sort of situation, I prefer when it's
[205]
in the middle, when it's flat it's flat, so
all you're hearing is the bass . . .
[209]
Scott: The wood.
[210]
Chris May: . . . and the wood of the bass,
and the position of the pickup.
[213]
Scott: [inaudible 00:03:34] of like where
it is on the actual bass.
[214]
Chris May: Because obviously you've got a
lot of tonal difference between one pickup
[217]
and another pickup just because it's the sonic
register of the position on the string. So
[224]
that's something I think, on a good quality
instrument, when you don't want a lot of pre-EQ.
[229]
And that in a way solves your problem. All
you want to do, the sound guide, the amplifier,
[236]
that's got plenty of EQ on it. All you want
to be able to do is just make minor adjustments
[242]
to the room, to the band, to the tune, whatever
goes on, the room fills up with people, you
[247]
know.
[248]
Scott: Yeah. Like, I do sort of like prefer
the psychological side to a passive bass.
[254]
But the actual... what happens, generally,
is when I'm working with engineers, is they
[259]
kind of moan about passive basses a lot of
the time. You know, excess noise, especially
[264]
with jazz basses and things like that. You
know, I could talk about this for ages. Which
[268]
is why I think the active/passive buffer circuit...
[271]
Chris May: Well, it's also, you combine it
with. Because you talk about noise. As soon
[275]
as you start using actives or amplification
within the bass you amplify the noise as well
[282]
as the stuff you... It amplifies the stuff
you don't want as much as the stuff you do.
[286]
So you then get drawn into the whole shielding,
hum-cancelling, sort of field of operation.
[295]
So you get, I mean our pickups are all wrapped
in copper gauze so they're completely shielded.
[299]
The single-coil pickups have got ghost coils
so there's a hum-cancelling effect, when actually
[303]
Scott: What's a ghost coil?
[304]
Chris May: A ghost coil is a second coil,
a bit like a humbucker, you know.
[308]
Scott: Oh. So they go underneath you to [inaudible
00:05:10] this?
[310]
Chris May: Yeah. They could be anywhere actually.
But as long as they're wired and parallel
[314]
with the main coil.
[316]
Scott: I think I've seen this. I think I've
seen two basses with a pickup in the back
[319]
or something like that. I can't remember [inaudible
00:05:21].
[321]
Chris May: Yeah. Well they really do go all
into the same pickup. But that coil has no
[325]
magnets, no pull pieces associated with it.
So all it's doing is cancelling hummers, not
[332]
actually creating sound because it doesn't
have any magnetic field.
[335]
Scott: It's just cleaning it for engineers.
[336]
Chris May: It's stopping the noise. Yeah,
exactly. Yes.
[339]
Scott: This is something that you probably
won't, if you haven't worked in studios before,
[344]
it's a noise that you won't really have heard.
Like, I'm sure when you plug in your jazz
[347]
bass, if you put it in the back pickup and
listen to it carefully you'll hear a buzz.
[352]
But if you're aiming at working as a professional
bass player, when you do get in studios you
[358]
will get your ass kicked by engineers more
often than not because you're listening through
[362]
headphones, and then you get the dreaded,
"Scott, there's a bit of buzz on your bass."
[370]
[Whispers] Which is like, oh no. [laughs]
Which is why I generally use active basses
[373]
in the studio, because it kind of gets rid
of that.
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage