MM Stingray 5 Question -- Passive/Active

[jcadmus]

All you MM Stringray/Stringray 5 owners, is it possible to play those basses in passive mode, or are they active only?

 

Like, my Carvin LB75 has a push-pull knob that lets me choose.

 

Just curious -- considering buying a 'Ray 5 this year.

 

Did a thread search, but couldn't find anything here on the controls.

 

Thanks.

[Rowbee]

I don't know if it's actually the same but aren't the Sterling electronics supposed to be the same as the Stingray 5?

 

If so, then the Sterling definitely doesn't have that facility and the selector just goes through series, parallel and phantom coil settings.

 

Don't know if that helps.

[BenLoy]

There is no setting to turn the preamp off on the Stingray. If the battery dies you're sunk.

 

Having a repair guy install a preamp bypass switch shouldn't be a big deal though. They could install a push/pull pot and wire it up to bypass the pickup straight to the output jack. I've considered having this mod done to my Stingray.

[Gruuve]

I was going to mention what BenLoy just said...but I've actually talked to support at Ernie Ball once about this, and they said this wasn't do-able...I don't think he knew why, but just said it wasn't possible to do that. (Granted, that may have been only that customer support tech's opinion...just because he said it doesn't mean it's actually fact, of course). It's certainly possible that the output from the passive pup's is unusual (maybe really low or with a very odd frequency response?), and that the passive pickup output wouldn't actually be useable without the onboard preamp.

 

Now, that said, if you can find the right wires, pickup a pack of the little alligator clip jumper wires from radio shack and see if you can jumper the pickups straight to the output jack...see what it sounds like without cutting any wires.

 

If you're really after an active/passive bass, I should mention here that the active/passive capability of the G&L L-2500's (both American and Korean-made Tribute) is pretty impressive. The bass and treble tone controls are passive, so they work with the preamp shutoff, as do the neck/bridge/both pickup selector and the parallel/series selector. It has a more vintagey sound with the preamp off, and a more modern tone with the preamp on. It doesn't sound like a Stingray, but it's certainly a formidable bass in it's own right. The only drawbacks IMHO are that's heavy and has a more C-shaped neck profile (I prefer a flatter neck profile).

 

Dave