Mine are run passive. They somtimes don't seem to be quite as high in output as my jazz single coils but maybe just because they have a different accent (less of the high mids that catch the ear). There is loads of bass though which might be because of the particular type that I have.
I am no great expert on pickups though and yuo shuoldn't make a judgment based on my word allone. But I don't think you will be dissapointed with Villex.
EDIT:
If you go here:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endID=34564944
You can hear some of my bass playing. I forgot to vary my pickup selection so both are full on for all the tunes which makes some of them sound a bit too big perhaps. Anyway, it should give you a reasonable idea of what they sound like. They are in a Yamaha TRB1 5 string which is a bolt on with a big neck pocket... made of ash, (I think). I told the producer to keep the compression down and he complied. Don't know if that is a good thing but it is how I like it.
There are also some clips here recorded into my crappy soundcard:
http://johnkeatesart.com/
Click on "music" at the bottom left. You will notice that I play very hard most of the time which often gives that "snap" sound.
