Anyone going back to passive basses?

[Britbonic]

I have both and I like both. To me, the active eq is just another tone shaping tool - just like your tone control, volume knob, where you play on the bass and your technique. I don't think there's anything inherently better or worse about active vs passive. I like the simplicity of passive for some things but I also really like the sound of my SR5. I think a lot of the problems occur when the active eq is overused - ie turned up all the way. I can guarantee anytime I play a musicman bass at GC or most other stores that the eq will be turned up all the way - 2 band, 3 band - makes no difference. It's the rental car radio syndrome. Whenever I rent a car, the first thing I do is make the EQ flat on the radio because there's about a 90% chance that the bass, treble and mids will be maxed.

Speaking of Musicman, there's tons of info on 2 vs 3 band, whether it's boost or cut or just boost, etc here on TB and on Musicman forums. IMO and IME the preamp and pickups are an integrated package and while possible to run flat they are really designed to be used with a little EQ boost or cut. I always find you need a little bass and mid boost and neutral or slightly lowered treble. That said I don't think it's a better or worse sound than my passive P and J basses - just different.

[armybass]

Count me in! I was an active EBMM Stingray/SR5 guy for YEARS along with lots of other active brands. I always had a passive bass in my possession but now I have 11 basses and the only active one is my 1987 Ibanez. More than half if my basses wear Flsts now too and almost all.... Save my 1986 Yamaha BB5000..... Are all 4 string basses to boot!

[bassdude51]

Anyone going back to passive basses?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never left!

[MrLenny1]

Not yet.
I own 4 Active basses.
One is switchable Active to Passive.

[RaginRog]

Have been back in passive camp for about a year now...I prefer the simplicity.

[coyote1]

Not a switch per se, as I dig the actives I have. But the Peavey Grind I just got has been a bit of a revelation. Turning a single knob provides a plethora of tonal possibilities; you just can't do that with three separate tone controls.

[chuck3]

I'm playing all passives now, all various Ps. I like the simplicity of having two knobs and that's it, and I like the sound. I use an EBS ValveDrive if I want a preamp.

[Aussie Player]

Originally Posted by GIBrat51

I only have 1 active bass (lefty '94 Alembic); the other 12 are all passive. For the kind of stuff I like to play, passive just sounds better-especially hollow bodies. The Alembic is a wonderful bass, but I bought just 'cause I didn't have an active bass, and thought it would be nice to have one. And it is, but I don't think it works well with my old Marshall amp; guess I need a new one.

I have an Alembic Essence 5 which I play through a Marshall VBA 400 with VBC 12 cab and I would have to spend an aweful lot of money if it was ever possible, to produce a better sound.

[frits51]

"Batteries belong in flashlights." Bill Lawrence

[bassbenj]

I've sort of come back to passives. It was my G&L Tribby that did it. Prior to buying it I was pretty much totally active. I sort of felt that the passive guys were all sort of exagerating about there being something "special" about passive tone. But playing the L2500 tribby which as you may remember has passive/active/high boost switch choices, I suddenly noticed that I was always playing it in the "passive" position unless I wanted some highs boosted. To me it was the awakening that there actually WAS something desirable about passive tone!

Since then I've acquired quite a few passive basses. Mostly they are Jazz and P basses or J and P clones. Most interesting were the 3 SX six string Jazz bass clones I bought. All my other 6 strings are active modern kind of basses. I just got the SX as an experiment to see what I thought of the idea of a passive Jazz Fender clone bass in six strings (without forking out for a Steve Bailey or Low end). As it turned out I positively LOVE how they turned out. I've got one of them converted to fretless, one with rounds and one with flats. I love what EACH of them can do although they are each quite different. All the guys here are putting Auderes etc in their SX-6 basses but not me. I think in that case passive is where it's at!

But I've not drunk the Kool-aid yet! My Fender is a Deluxe Jazz V and I love what it does too, especially the mid control that gives you tones you can't pull out of a passive without changing the Amp EQ.

[TimWatson]

Interesting thread. From Day one until recently I've been playing active. Yamaha, Modulus, EBMM, etc, with a few passive P, J, etc. thrown in there. Lately I have noticed my P-bass is my favorite, ousting my beloved SR5 as my Go-To. I dropped in a P-Retro (awesome preamp) briefly. It got great tones at all extremes of settings and retained that P sound. But as soon as I kicked it back to passive it returned to perfect. And my overdrive pedal seems to prefer passive. Even set flat, the active circuit seemed to take away from the warmth and organicness even though the tone didn't technically change. So I took it out and I'm not looking back. Passive P is my favorite and the custom P/J I'm having built will be passive too. My passive Franken-Jazz is everyone else's favorite. My SFX Micro-EQ pedal does a better job of making EVERY bass I have sound active than any internal preamp I've tried. So that's what I'm sticking with. I also end up using my fingers more for tone, too.

[chadds]

I hear something wonderful in passive basses. I hear a different kind of wonderful from actives. Here I'm generalizing because I actually like the basses I know.

Each type fits a different music and setting so that is how I use each.

The passive requires accentuation from the rig while the active needs nothing. YMMV. This is live when the folks are dancing because the rhythm section won't give up!

Recording? You've got a studio's worth of eq and signal processing to get whatever you want.

A G&L L1000 is the most forward, active sounding, passive bass I've ever played.

[Thumpinshelton]

I was just debating this very topic with myself last night. I have been playing my Lakland 55-01's in passive mode a lot recently. I have just really enjoyed the more earthy tones I have been getting. I looked today and I am considering buying the Nordstrand Big Singles to put in one of my Laklands and having it wired passive with just V,V,T controls.

[Gaolee]

It is official now. The 'Bird's preamp is now sitting on the bench next to it. It's getting pickups, pots, and wiring. No more active bass for me. Probably ever.

[GeorgeBerlin]

On my G&L's (L1500 and L2x00's) I find that with a crystal clear SS amp and extended range cabinets the highs sound quite grainy/spitty in the active modes, and there is quite some random noise added. The opamp chip used is optimized for low power and low voltage but not especially suited to audio. G&L's do all I'll ever need in their passive modes aready, so I don't use active.

[bignote]

I never left passive basses. I guess I am just a stubborn. old school kinda guy.

[wvbass]

Originally Posted by Gaolee

It is official now. The 'Bird's preamp is now sitting on the bench next to it. It's getting pickups, pots, and wiring. No more active bass for me. Probably ever.

If that is an Epi Bird, don't write off actives just yet. That would be like saying you don't like ice cream because you have only tasted pickle-flavored ice cream.

Having said that, I have been on a passive kick for a while, and have been tempted to do this to my Epi Bird.

[FrednBass]

Originally Posted by bassdude51

Anyone going back to passive basses?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Never left!

there

[marchone]

Originally Posted by two fingers

It's passive, but not your grandfather's passive bass.

That comment made me smile.

Active electronics were developed for good reason. Prior to their existence, during the mid-60s players boosted treble (and consequently mids) with roundwound strings, full tone rollup and ever greater amplification. Like that Jamerson sound? It was fine in the studio with an engineer to tweak it but live it was almost always lost in the mix with double bass drums and louder and louder guitars. P-basses were the worst live. Some of those '60s recordings were muddy too. Using flatwound strings in a live mix mostly didn't work.

Listen to John Entwistle from the mid '60s to the mid '70s to see how he was pushing the envelope to get more mids out. I don't know his setup on Live At Leeds but it sounds like a modern active bass to me in retrospect.

You want best of both worlds? Run your vintage passive bass through a preamp/EQ pedal.

I have a 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass with one single coil and a Spector NS-2 JA-R with two single coils. Best of both worlds IMHO. The only downside to the Tele without a DI is sometimes I get a hum depending on the room and what's around me.

[mokkat]

I bought a used Warmoth with Big Singles and the 3-band Bartolini preamp in it. Yanked the preamp after a while and put in CTS pots and an orange drop, and now the thing sounds amazing