Stupid question about active pickups

[ppg]

I just wondered - what is active pickup good in a bass, when it doesnt have bass/middle/treble knobs, like these EMG JV? If you buy this and put it in your Jazz, you still have only volume-volume-tone knobs, same as before. So why not save some money and buy passive pickups?
I am pretty sure I am missing something here, thats why I call it stupid question

Also, do you have experience with fitting active system into that tiny jazz bass hole in body (the most used type on the front, under the steel plate)? It looks like you can never fit it in!
I was considering doing this and I figured out these two problems Ive described here.
Thanks for advice!

[NateS]

the ones you linked to come with 3 tone control pots, so you would have to install them in the bass as well.

[otis_thick]

I have EMGs along with the stacked Bass\Treble unit. Active EMGs alone are buffered to your amp head THEN you use the EQ\Tone controls on the amp head to set your tone. If you want to control the initial tone from your bass you need to add EMGs tone circuit(s)

Read this http://www.elevation-music.com/guqu.html

and this

http://www.emgpickups.com/pdfs/faq/E...-Questions.pdf

Test on Friday

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[line6man]

Um, this has nothing to do with saving money.

I've always thought the concept of having active pickups with a preamp was totally pointless, but that's what active pickup fans do when they want onboard EQ.

Usually you just run active pickups with passive controls, or you run passive pickups with a preamp.

[JTE]

Active pickups are so the PUP designer can tailor the sound at the pickup with less regard for how hot the signal is, because they're using the pre-amp to boost the output. So they can wind the PUP to have a desired sound even if that winding causes it to be a very low output. And they can wind a single-coil sized pickup, use the pre-amp to build in an EQ that emulates a single-coil and give you a Jazz bass PUP that dosen't buzz. Or, they can give you a very clean and pristine signal that doesn't degrade as it goes through the wires to the controls. When Wickersham and Turner were experimenting with the original Hagstrom pickups on Casady's and Lesh's Guild Starfire basses, they found that even two inches of cable capacitance audibly altered the sound. That's why they put pre-amps right in the PUP housing.

And some players quite like the sound of active PUPs and the versatility of an active EQ circuit with them. Some don't. It's not about "better", it's about what works for YOU. I will say that in most cases it seems a good active PUP going into a good passive control circuit is better than a good active PUP going into a bad active control, but that's because it always comes down to the weakest part of the chain.

John