This. To the OP - the active bass can be reliable if you make sure the battery is fresh. That said, every active bass I have played under $1000 sounded like crap to me. Personally, I like the flexibility of a preamp but if you're on a budget, I would go passive.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Active Basses: Yay or Nay?
- Thread starter Chico16
- Start date
This. To the OP - the active bass can be reliable if you make sure the battery is fresh. That said, every active bass I have played under $1000 sounded like crap to me. Personally, I like the flexibility of a preamp but if you're on a budget, I would go passive.
Yep, and D'addario HalfRounds. Not quite as bright as rounds, but closer to rounds than flats IMHO. I prefer to think of flats as not dull, but thuddy. Thuddy means "dull but sounds awesome"
Hey, worst that happens is you don't like them and you go back to rounds. And you're out a few bucks.
- Dec 28, 2009
- 2,053
- 1,380
- Disclosures
- Endorsed by K.B. Guitars, Nordstrand Audio Pickups, Von York Strings and Gallien-Krueger Amps.
The first bass I ever purchased with Active pickups was an Ibanez Soundgear SR 500. I still have that bass and it's back up, also a SR 500 that I purchased a year later and have never had a single problem with them in the almost 20 years that I have owned them.
Ever since purchasing them, I have actually preferred active basses to passive ones. And every bass I have bought since then has been active. As far as reliability goes, they are very reliable. Unless your a person who just trashes your stuff, you shouldn't have any issues but even if you are a person who trashes their stuff, a passive won't save you in that department either.
I look at it in the same way as I do 5 string basses. A good choice if you have extra money to spend. If you are on a budget your better off getting a solid passive bass. You can always add a preamp later.
I used to believe that and still do to a certain extent, but if you ever owned a bass like my P Lyte that doesn't like many pickups, you begin to have a little more appreciation for them. But other than the polepieces sticking up way too high, I still like the stock pickups on my SX bass as much as any pickup I've used, so it's not about money. The high polepieces do get on my nerves, though.
Yea or nay...
Looks like nay for me, now.
Hand injury has ended my live playing days, so I'm dumping all my actives.
Actives are convenient for live playing, but they're not for serious DI recording, where EQ is adjusted upstream in a quality panel unit or VST and not in $1.08 worth of marginal onboard circuit selected for prolonging 9V battery life and saving ten cents per unit in production costs.
Looks like nay for me, now.
Hand injury has ended my live playing days, so I'm dumping all my actives.
Actives are convenient for live playing, but they're not for serious DI recording, where EQ is adjusted upstream in a quality panel unit or VST and not in $1.08 worth of marginal onboard circuit selected for prolonging 9V battery life and saving ten cents per unit in production costs.
For the first eight years of the twelve I have played bass, I was a strictly "passive" guy. I had the air about me to think along the lines that "if the bass doesn't sound good passive, it will sound worse active" and stupid pretentious stuff like that.
Then I finally got an active bass (a MIM Fender Jazz Deluxe with 3-band EQ) and slowly warmed up to active-ness, but I never really was "converted" to the active scene until, when I had lots of spare cash, decided for the heck of it, to swap out the Noiseless J P-Ups in the MIM Jazz for EMG's but to keep the Fender preamp.
The bass sounds so ridiculously better and I can dial in so many tones that I honestly LOVE active basses now. I wouldn't say I am a complete 'convert' as I still like passive basses (like my Rickenbacker), but I realized I was missing out for many years.
Then I finally got an active bass (a MIM Fender Jazz Deluxe with 3-band EQ) and slowly warmed up to active-ness, but I never really was "converted" to the active scene until, when I had lots of spare cash, decided for the heck of it, to swap out the Noiseless J P-Ups in the MIM Jazz for EMG's but to keep the Fender preamp.
The bass sounds so ridiculously better and I can dial in so many tones that I honestly LOVE active basses now. I wouldn't say I am a complete 'convert' as I still like passive basses (like my Rickenbacker), but I realized I was missing out for many years.
I'd upgrade the pre, too. EMG's, quite honestly, are the only active pickups I like, and Fender preamps for active pickups are just godawful IMHO.
I will consider it since you mention that it could sound better. I personally think it sounds orders of magnitude better than it did originally, so I am extremely satisfied with that. It would probably be the best-sounding bass I own if what you claim is true.
Well the pickups themselves will give you the biggest improvement, but the preamp on my P Lyte is pretty noisy when you boost. At least I thought so.
My Carvin LB70P has an active/passive push/pull volume knob. J style pu at the neck, MM style bucker at the bridge and piezos in the bridge saddles.
For me, it's all about what you need in the moment. That's why I went with this kind of electronics and pu's.
Last practice I needed to go passive, coil split the bucker and in the next tune, it was active and solo the bucker.
Btw, the pan pots letting me blend them all puts versatility into overdrive (no pun intended).
What I'm trying to say is this. "Good" and "bad" to me don't apply to tone color in and of themselves. It's all about your ears and what you want in the moment.
Active AND passive? Yep!
For me, it's all about what you need in the moment. That's why I went with this kind of electronics and pu's.
Last practice I needed to go passive, coil split the bucker and in the next tune, it was active and solo the bucker.
Btw, the pan pots letting me blend them all puts versatility into overdrive (no pun intended).
What I'm trying to say is this. "Good" and "bad" to me don't apply to tone color in and of themselves. It's all about your ears and what you want in the moment.
Active AND passive? Yep!
If I were to put new pickups into it, I would either try Bartolini or maybe something newer like the Mike Pope Flexcore. They look interesting to me.
Not tried the Popes but I like EMG's better than Barts. Certainly don't mind listening to other people play their basses with Barts, but they just don't quite get it for me like EMG's.
Count me as one of the Yay group.
MIM Jazz Deluxe - the best bass I have owned. totally stock, never a problem, great sound.
MIM Jazz Deluxe - the best bass I have owned. totally stock, never a problem, great sound.
I've never been a fan of active basses.
The whole idea of needing a battery to make you pickup sound good, just says to me it an weak pickup to begin with.
To me, nothing sounds as good as a great passive pickup.
If you dig active then enjoy them.
I've been here for a good while, too, but my recently acquired active P/J is loaded with EMGs and it's lighter than my rather hefty passive Jazz - no biggie until I have to play it for a loooong gig (I like to comfortably move around all night).
The upside to active was revealed to me when playing this newer axe at its 2nd show after I got it. We were more comfortable together, so I let it breathe a little more and after our first set...
...MY GUITAR PLAYER ASKED ME TO TURN DOWN!!!...
Priceless.
Under the caveat that the audience can't hear the difference between a Fodera and a Fender, ya might have somethin' wrong with your rig or ears if all active basses sound the same.
Tone is still in your fingers when you play actives and you can still turn up your amp and play. The idea that tone is no longer in the fingers is purely ignorant.
I don't think Fender was ever known for a well rounded active preamp. I sold my Fender Urge basses because the pre was a little too noisy and hard to control compared to my other active basses. The small cavity and odd routing wasn't quite worth modding IMO.
I never would have figured you for EMGs. I really enjoy EMG P/Js though a Mike Pope pre.
I tend to prefer Barts on fretless basses. They sometimes seem a little too polite if you want a lot of bite in the tone. I prefer them for a velvety smooth sound. On a side note, the basses I have the Barts in could be excessively bright due to the construction I chose with other "normal" pickups.
A lot of people say that to me, but I used EMG's almost exclusively from 84-98 and I've got two basses that always had EMG's. I guess because I like Fender and Ampeg people think of me as some kind of purist, but I'm really not. I even own a (gasp) 5-string...I hardly ever use it
but I have one.
