Like many of us I own a few basses, both passive and active. I really prefer passive, but this very very much depends on having a suitable input with high impedance (1MOhm+), and a decent instrument cable. The classic old Ampeg and Fender tube amps have high impedance inputs, that were taylored for the Ps, Js, Ricks and EBs that were ususally played through them.
To my ears, most basses with active preamps just have the tone of that preamp all over them. Even if it is a good tone, it is a color that is always there. The well known Bartolini active sound as heard on many $3K+ boutique basses from the 90s......kind of compressed, and "burpy" sounding (whatever words describing tone ever mean).....an excellent hi-fi, punchy tone. But also it is a tone that stands apart from the other instruments in the band, and in those over used words, a tone that really "cuts through the mix".
I go for a tone that has flavor and punch, but also really blends well with the other instruments, and is felt as much as heard. The kind of supportive tone that sits below the guitars...the kind of tone that is best appreciated when you stop playing, and everyone realizes what is missing. Understatement. I also just like the more low-fi, almost acoustic sound of just trying to capture the string/wood vibration more primitively. When I hear a P bass through an all tube head, I hear and feel strings and wood. When I hear a Fodera or an MTD through a modern solid state head, I hear preamp dominating. The strings and wood are there, but behind the lens of the pre.
The preamp in an old G&L L2000e I have is very transparent. Really it is just a signal/volume boost where the tone stays almost the same with or without the (bypassible) preamp. It is a good bass to use when at a jam night or when using an unfamiliar backline because I can get a similar tone regardless of the input impedance on the rig.
But this is just my opinion.
. Active pups wont make it any more easy to dial in your sound, and active preamp can.
