Pre-amped active pickups

[hhoward]

Hi,
Ive never owned a cheap bass, but i am looking at getting a really cheap and nasty 5 string, i want to home record with it

its my first 5 string, it will have a straight neck though, that is the highest priority, i am looking at ebay

i can set it up better, action wise and stuff, but my question is, can i cover its cheap build quality sound with EMG's or something to give it that growl and punch. ive always hit my bass a lot, hence funk fingers and what ever else is closest at the time i am playing. lol
My basses suffer a lot

HowardH

[bongomania]

Active is not better than passive, it's just different--and it won't cover up a bad-sounding bass, it will just make the bad sounds easier to hear.

If you get a bass that seems like it could sound good "if only" it had a better set of pickups, then sure--upgrade the pickups. But there is no way to know anything like that before you've even tried out the bass. And "upgrading" might mean better passive pickups. Just depends on what works best for the specific bass.

[hhoward]

Thanks for that Bongo
its just that i put EMG's on another better bass, and it got stronger, crunchier and punchier with a LOT more sustain, also i used EMG pots with 2 pre-amps built in.
and judging that the new bass will be made from bolserwood or pine hehe i imagine it will have no sustain
anyway thanks for your input
HowardH