Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Vaughan
I'm there with the trip back to the shop, you're definitely going to see it as soon as I can pull up the scratch.
There seems to be, for me, a lot of mystery concerning the sound that comes from a circuit and what components or combination thereof make that sound. Eq is eq... is eq,... in that a freq or bandwidth is really an objective idea. But we come up with a circuit to give us a 'pre-shape' eq curve, and that circuit also often adds a 'color' of it's own. Examples: Joe Meek, Trace-Elliot, Ampeg... Honestly, the stupefying number of preamps (both inboard and outboard), amplifiers, rack-mount systems, processors and pedals available is enough to put a knot in my head. And of course now we're talking about pickups...
For years I've steered clear of active stuff just to avoid the clutter of too many items in the gain-chain! But I now have 2 active basses. So the moral is that if it sounds good, it is good- and that's where the thinking stops. Thank God. 
Glad to have the bass, we'll get 'er fixed up. Thanks for the banter Ken, folks! 
Edit: Oh, and about my previous post above concerning the sound of the Burner "passive", I don't know what strings are on it. Maybe it's the strings... |
The Burner Bass and all other Smith Basses are actually made as Passive Basses, with Passive Pickups, Passive Volume and Pickup controls but with an Active EQ that is either Bass/Treble or Bs/Mid/Tr that is mainly colorless, like a graphic type EQ. The Bass can be set flat in the Active mode and have within 95-98% of the exact sound as the Passive Push/Pull (up position) By-Pass sound. There might be a tad 'bleed thru' from the active EQ circuit when in passive bit it is NOT designed at all to color the sound of the Bass, just to EQ it like you would in a studio, boosting or cutting a particular Frequency point with the range above and below the EQ point shaping the sound.