Simple question on Fender Lyte basses..

[Hammertime3]

Simple question...are all Fender Lyte basses active..i.e. preamp and battery? Never owned an active bass, so what's the advantage, if there is one?

Thanx...

[MrWalker]

Originally Posted by Hammertime3

Simple question...are all Fender Lyte basses active..i.e. preamp and battery? Never owned an active bass, so what's the advantage, if there is one?

Thanx...

I am not sure, but I think all the Lyte basses were active.

You just stated the advantage. You'll have the preamp onboard, meaning its easy to adjust your tone in the middle of the gig if you need to. Alternative would be to do it on your amp. If you go DI you will have a little more control before your bass is messed with by the engineer, unless you have a DI with tone controls.

You also stated the disadvantage, its got a battery. Batteries will eventually get drained, and you don't want that to happen mid-gig.

Some purists want passive, but to me its much the same. I will dial in the tone I want, either onboard or on the amp. It is convenient to have it at your fingertips while you play...

Buying one? I always like the Lyte. A fresh take on an old winner. :-)

[Hammertime3]

I'm looking at one locally. Any idea when they stopped making them? A lot of them I saw when I searched the ads were dated 80's and 90's.

Thanx for the info...I'm an oldie..I never played a bass with more than two knobs.

[EagleMoon]

All Lytes were active. The preamp and pickups were the weak point in them. I've had a couple of them and had them both wired passive. Made the basses sound a lot better. They quit making the Lytes due to issues with the necks (warping) and so-so hardware. They reissued them as the Zone bass, which had a thicker neck and different hardware, but was basically the same bass.

[JimmyM]

Only the pickups are so-so IMHO. The tuners work well and the bridge is fantastic. But the necks are a little flimsy.