Active or Passive
 

Which do you prefer? Just wondering... Searched and didn't find a poll.

I tend to prefer the extra flexibility of an active pre. I can easily make do with either tho.

I'd vote for "either" if I could.

I like to play all passive on all my basses. I feel it gives a more woody tone than just pure electronics. And I feel I can be dynamic and expressive in my playing.

+1

I like passive.
No battery to go flt and no badly tuned preamp in my way either.
The tonal flexibility I need is in the playing position, attack etc. So far I have not missed onboard tone shaping tools.

oh man too hard to choose! i like them both so much. but i guess my good old P is my favorite and best sounding bass so passive it is!

For me unless the active electrics do something that your amp can't, I don't really see the point.

On the whole there are far too many design compromises made when you need to fit the circuit into the average bass guitar control cavity and power it from a 9V battery, compared with what you can do when you have virtually unlimited space and power supply in the average amp head.

Most of the advantages I hear regarding active electronics in basses can also be achieved by turning up the input gain on the amp and learning how to use the tone controls on it effectively.

The passive setup has more dynamic response for a livelier feel. The active has natural compression that is more forgiving to technique. Both really, depends on the situation.

I personally prefer passive and to make up for active eq, i just use a passive cut system to add flexibility...i don't like the idea of relying on 9v batteries

Mainly, I like passive. But, I can't imagine my Warwick Thumb sounding so good without its preamp.

My preference would be for an active bass with a passive tone control ahead of the preamp so that you could get either sound. I think some third party preamps offer that but no factory bass I have looked at does. In a perfect world the passive tone pot would be no load and you would have a switch to select 3-5 different tone caps so you could get a "tonestyler" effect too. One of these days I will get around to doing that on my active basses, it isn't that hard to do. I like the sound range you can get from an active preamp, I like the sound range you can get from a passive tone control, I like having tone controls on the bass, and I am not afraid of 9V batteries. ;)

Ken

+1

I play an active bass that's awesome and wouldn't trade it for anything, but I noticed that its easier to find my tone with a passive bass. The ONLY reason I'd choose a passive over active is that it's less knobs to turn.

Keep it Simple
 

Over the years I have found that a good general rule regarding your live rig is to eliminate as many things as possible in your signal chain that can break, go bad, malfunction, etc. Using good quality passive basses just eliminates another battery - never a bad thing. Using passive basses also makes you learn your onboard controls a lot better - searching for the sound you want "naturally".

More forgiving? Then I vote active. My technique needs serious forgiveness!

Mild-hippie = Battery Hate. I prefer passive for environmental reasons but I like the control of active.

I do love the idea of using your instrument cable to power your bass and cannot wait for it to become an industry standard or at least an option.

I was a long time user of active basses and only recently "got" the message of just how woody and responsive passive basses can be.

I now love em'.

Love my active tone, not into that woody stuff. it allow me to dial in my tone perfectly.

I have two active basses, in fact paid $400 for the electronics for one of my Warmoths, but I do prefer the simplicity of my passive basses.