I picked up the bass today. I put new strings on and added a 9 volt battery connector. The bass sound amazing in passive mode. When I switched to active, all I got was loud buzzing at first. I pressed down on the knobs and all the noise stopped completely. Very quiet. But the sound was much louder. The tone the bass gets is awesome. I felt like a king playing it. The only problem is that I will have to replace the nut. The A string slips at the nut. Somebody messed around with it. It's easy to notice.
With some cleaning this bass will definitely do some damage. I'm glad I bought it!