To comment on pickup sounds, in my experience the ACTV-2 is a great pickup especially in the bass. Bob Culbertson plays this exclusively. You can hear Kevin Keith playing some great sounds on his wooden Stick. The EMGs have a warm “crystalline” sound with good mid-range presence.

One option with the ACTV-2 block is that you can easily rotate it 180 degrees so the pickups are near the bridge. This gives extra “growl” which sounds great. (I don’t believe this is possible with the Stickup.) I think the PASV-4 block is the same size so you can ask Stick Enterprises to drill holes to suit both ACTV-2 and PASV-4 so you have the option of swapping later.

The Stickup in contrast has a beautiful “acoustic” tone which really brings out the sound of the strings. It needs a little care with impedance to get the perfect sound but it’s not tricky and there’s lots of experience on the forum here. The Stickup is also well regarded for bass - I believe Greg had an early prototype which combined a Stickup on the bass side and something else for melody? Perhaps he will comment here.

Is it possible to fit the smaller Stickup into the channel for the ACTV-2? You could ask SE what’s possible so you have that option in future.

HTH

Well, I thought I would let everyone know.....I just heard back from stick.com. It seems that they used to have a custom modified version of the Stickup for the 8 string. But they will not be offering this option due to the backlog they have. Therefore, ACTV2 is the only option for the 8 string at this time.

Geo - I have the ACTV2 on my 12-string DBR right now. It's a bamboo that I ordered with the PASV4, and bought the ACTV2 a few years ago - because of Kevin Keith videos (I wish his playing prowess came with the pickup). At some point I will acquire a Stickup - the Tony Levin sound - because I can. You WILL be happy with that pickup on a SB-8.

My 10 string has the PASV-4 and once I got a sound I liked I didn't change anything. The phased pickup settings do nothing for me at all, so they get left alone. My Grand Stick has an ACTV-2 on it and it just sounds amazing.

There's a certain low end growl I miss from the Ironwood instruments from the early 80s.

To be honest I let the sfx SP2 preamp do most of the tone work. I tend to leave the pickups set and then left alone.

After I got my Ironwood #1212 I received a newsletter from Emmett about the 7-string Stick Bass. It was the first instrument, I believe, that was offered with the EMG's. MAN I WISH I BOUGHT THAT ONE. But I was poor bassist that cooked for a living and could barely afford ONE Stick (and another set of amplifiers and pedals) at the time. (and I didn't sound like Tony Levin with the Ironwood anyway). HAHA.

Where are you in the world? Perhaps you can sync up with a Stick player near you. I am in Southern California and would be glad to share some time to show you the differences.

I have played on each for a bit and found them both equally likeable. Active pickups on the Stick will lose a little of the high highs and low lows, which is hardly discernible to the common ears, but the feel will be altogether different.

The attack in the left hand is more exposed with an active pickup as it is more sensitive to touch. One has to strike with intention and accuracy - it is much less forgiving than an electric bass. While the same can be said for a Stickup through a pre-amp, I have still found the ACTV-2 to be my gig ready solo instrument for many years and love the feel.

You could always get a 10-string and pull out a dual bass reciprocal tuning. It is a very clever configuration on the 10 string for Bassists. Just a thought.

Geo - what tuning are starting with?
I say that because I think, at this point, that's all that matters - you're going to love the ACTV2 sound.

Thanks Earthgene,

I have made the difficult decision of cancelling my order. I appreciate you post as it sort of confirms that I made the right decision. ACTV-2 does not seem to be the way to go for me and it would seem that this is the only pickup available on an 8-String at this time. PASV4 no longer exists and modified Stickups are not in the Chapman future. I am saddened!

Sort of had a "Hmm?" moment when you mentioned the 10-String bass reciprocal setup but I reminded myself of the many reasons I prefer the 8-String.........less strings, simplicity, more space between strings from my short stubby fingers, etc. LOL! Again, thank you for your post.

Double bass reciprocal was the plan. Unfortunately, see my reply to Earthgene............

The ACTV2 is great for bass. Listen to Kevin Keiths sound. I use mine A LOT more than the PASV4. In fact I don't think the PASV4 has been on my Stick in two years.