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Active Basses: Yay or Nay?

#41
I have both passive and active basses. My preference is for active, though. I like to start with everything flat - bass(es) and amp - and then adjust the amp until I get a tone that works well for the given situation. Then if I need further tweaks in particular songs I can adjust on the bass itself (not that normally do anything radical, usually small adjustments to better fit a song.

I also like the idea of having an active/passive capability on the bass too as a backup but I only have that on one bass right now, a Warwick FNA Jazzman. The funny thing is that I actually like the sound of it passive and sometimes use that as a tonal option. I don't get the EQ when it's passive, but I can still use the blend knob, use the serial/single/parallel switch, and vary my right hand to adjust the tone.

At the moment I only have one passive bass, a Precision V. But I love the sound of it and none of my other basses can really give me that sound, especially since the P is the only one that has flats on it.
 
#43
I sit firmly in the 'meh' camp. I've owned two basses so far, one passive and one active, and both have sounded good. I like the ability to quickly boost the mids for more aggressive stuff with my current active bass but accept that this could be done with an outboard pre or an EQ pedal. So, to sum up.... whatever.

:)
 
#46
I've played active basses since about 1988. Their extremely reliable. 2 things to remember. Don't leave your bass plugged in when your not playing. Inserting the cable in the bass it what activates the electronics and drains your battery. 2. Change your battery once a year. Emg rates a p/j active set at about 3000 yes 3000 hrs of play time ( the bass plugged in). Carry a battery in your case just in case. Your guitarist will probably use it before you. Never had any issues either with electronics or pickups in any of my basses.
 
#47
khutch said:
Active basses come in three flavors, those with active pickups, those with passive pickups and an in-bass preamp/EQ (like the SR605), and I assume there are some that have both active pickups and in-bass preamps. There probably are some exotic pickup designs that need an internal preamp to function well at all but this is not a sign of "weakness", it merely indicates the use of a different technology that may well be very "strong" in most respects. The pickups in an active bass that has passive pickups with an in-bass preamp are typically identical to those you might find in a passive bass. There is nothing weak or strange about them.

The biggest sonic difference between active and passive basses is in how the pickups are loaded. In a passive bass they are loaded with a passive tone control, pot resistances, and a cable to the stage amp that may be quite long and highly capacitive. In a lot of active basses the pickups go right into a high impedance buffer amplifier and they see none of these loading effects (except maybe the resistance of a pan/balance pot) so they will sound different. This is the only real reason to prefer passive over active as far as I can see and you can build (or modify) active basses with passive tone controls before the preamp if you want to recapture that passive sound better.

Sure, an active bass is a bit less reliable than a passive. Adding complexity to a system never increases reliability. But they are so reliable that it makes no difference. As long as you can remember to manage your battery you will be fine and as brain dead simple as that is, it still trips up some owners. Don't be offended if you are one, it is not a matter of intelligence but rather personality and a lot of highly creative people have trouble dealing with mundane details. Albert Einstein was rumored to have trouble doing his income tax returns after all....

Ken
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+1
 
#48
bass12 said:
Convenience of what? Not having to change a battery once a year?
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grendle said:
I've played active basses since about 1988. Their extremely reliable. 2 things to remember. Don't leave your bass plugged in when your not playing. Inserting the cable in the bass it what activates the electronics and drains your battery. 2. Change your battery once a year. Emg rates a p/j active set at about 3000 yes 3000 hrs of play time ( the bass plugged in). Carry a battery in your case just in case. Your guitarist will probably use it before you. Never had any issues either with electronics or pickups in any of my basses.
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Both of these. You gotta wonder how people who have these "issues" tie their shoes in the morning without inflicting life-threatening injuries upon themselves.... :eyebrow::rollno:
 
#50
spector_boogie said:
Both of these. You gotta wonder how people who have these "issues" tie their shoes in the morning without inflicting life-threatening injuries upon themselves.... :eyebrow::rollno:
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Lol +1

Yeah its not rocket science, yet my guitarist can't remember to turn his wireless Mic off once a week after practice lol. A lot of us spector guys are playing 10-30 year old basses with active pickups and electronics (original) with no issues.
 
#51
grendle said:
Lol +1

Yeah its not rocket science, yet my guitarist can't remember to turn his wireless Mic off once a week after practice lol. A lot of us spector guys are playing 10-30 year old basses with active pickups and electronics (original) with no issues.
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My ex-'85 NS-2 wasn't even in great nick, and the pots and knobs and input jack were all dead silent with no scratchiness or noise, etc.. and that bass would be 27 years old this year.
I have an '88 Charvel 3B neck-thru that's the same way and has a full-on active setup. I have had it since '97 IIRC.
 
#52
Chico16 said:
I just received an Ibanez SR605 that I ordered online. I had read many reviews on the guitar as well as the Bartolini pick ups and I had read they were passive pick ups. However, the bass has a battery installed in the back :/ my previous bass was passive, so I have no idea if actives are reliable. Any comments?
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Active?
Not for me.
:)
 
#54
bass12 said:
Convenience of what? Not having to change a battery once a year?
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Of not having to pay attention to a battery at all.

How often will I have to change that battery when I leave my cable plugged into my bass on accident? How often will I have to carry a battery just in case I have one die?Etc.

I'm not saying it's a huge inconvenience - but there is a cost there. For many the cost is small and the benefit large, but there is still a cost.

I'm irritated by having to carry batteries for my wireless too - and I wouldn't bother if someone would just build a passive wireless :hiding:
 
#55
aborgman said:
Of not having to pay attention to a battery at all.

How often will I have to change that battery when I leave my cable plugged into my bass on accident? How often will I have to carry a battery just in case I have one die?Etc.

I'm not saying it's a huge inconvenience - but there is a cost there. For many the cost is small and the benefit large, but there is still a cost.

I'm irritated by having to carry batteries for my wireless too - and I wouldn't bother if someone would just build a passive wireless :hiding:
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Might not want to own a car. They don't make passive ones and they need things from time to time too. Change the battery once a year on your birthday and your good.
 
#58
aborgman said:
I'm irritated by having to carry batteries for my wireless too - and I wouldn't bother if someone would just build a passive wireless :hiding:
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Great idea but it would would suffer loss of highs from atmospheric capacitance.....:D

I like active and passive. Depends on the tone I'm into at the moment. Passive for P's and J's though. But I have this Modulus that's just a monster, and it's active. But I never use it anymore so...guess I prefer passive.
 

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