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Bass Build Research: Passive Neck-Through 5 String String Ray
- Thread starter Evan J
- Start date
Ah I see. So if going passive it may be worth adding the neck pickup?
All depends on what YOU want. There is no right answer, those are just my observations. Even with a preamp the single H is not my preferred sound and I've tried many.
You are looking for a rare bird indeed, again, in my experience. Someone else may chime in who knows exactly where to find what you're looking for.
Or... are you looking to build this yourself?
Yeah my Dad is building it from scratch. It’s his second build and his first one went really well. But he’s not a musician so I am giving him all the specs down to a tee.
THATS a fact.You have a really nice dad
Just throwing out an unsolicited opinion here, I'd consider a preamp with a bypass switch to take the preamp out of the circuit. That way you have both options.
Almost all MM pickups are passive, EMG being an obvious outlier.
Almost all MM pickups are passive, EMG being an obvious outlier.
Thats good thinking. If we’re going to the work to build the thing might as well make it versatile.
Another consideration is, if you're looking for it to sound like a Ray, the preamp is a large part of that sound.
Nordstrand is one of the manufacturers who make a pretty good "copy" of the MM preamp.
Nordstrand is one of the manufacturers who make a pretty good "copy" of the MM preamp.
I'm one of the weirdos who likes MM pickups passive. 2 of my main players are are this style but they are 2 pickups. I don't think just the bridge passive would cut it for me, I always blend the 2. I used Sentell pickups in my last build and they sound fantastic.
Ask him to route the control cavity large enough to fit a preamp and add a battery box. That way you can add a preamp in the future if you want.
I've got a bass with a passive Bartolini MM pickup wired straight to the jack. I think it sounds great. An onboard preamp isn't absolutely necessary to good tone. You could always add a preamp pedal to your signal chain down the road.
You should try out some five string basses to determine what measurements you like best. Get a feel for different neck shapes, scale lengths, etc. Then, look those models up and give those specs to your dad.
I've got a bass with a passive Bartolini MM pickup wired straight to the jack. I think it sounds great. An onboard preamp isn't absolutely necessary to good tone. You could always add a preamp pedal to your signal chain down the road.
You should try out some five string basses to determine what measurements you like best. Get a feel for different neck shapes, scale lengths, etc. Then, look those models up and give those specs to your dad.
I added a J to this passive OLP and it helped the tone out greatly. I did tests to find this position before i broke out the router. I thought It would end up slanted the other way and closer to the neck but this configuration added some low punch that brought this bass to life.
(Sorry, Its not a 5 or a stingray but maybe this will help)
Kiesel offers one. There is an onboard preamp, but you can just bypass it Here's how I'd do it
Custom Bass Builder
Custom Bass Builder
I have passive MM like basses and they sound good to me. I always use an EQ/Filter and a compressor anyway and I prefer less knobs and no batteries on my basses.
If your dad is building it, shouldn't you be giving him the specs that you want, instead of looking for a bass that already exists?