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Active or passive what's you preference?

#63
I'm kind of shocked at myself, but I think I may almost be turning into a passive guy...

I grew up playing an Alembic, active Yamahas and various flavors of Bartolini-powered actives. I LOVED that Bart round low-mid thing. But I got sick of that defined-yet-muffled-in-the-mix tone. Which is similar to what I hear with MTDs and the like. I like my Bongo, but its tone is pretty far from warm.

I now play an NYC Sadowsky 5, which is of course famous for its great preamp. I almost always play it in passive mode. I would like the tone shaping, but something in the mids is lost in active mode. The Sadowsky pre has no "flat" setting. It is boost-only, and with bass and treble all the way down, it is still a bit scooped. I like mids, and in general the mids in a good passive seem a bit more complex, especially in the attack portion of the note.
 
#64
xxfaux_punkxx said:
They're stock p-ups.

Traben t3 active elctronics.

3 band eq

Traben SM Combo Pickups



Invalid Link Removed

theres the link with all the info.
Click to expand...

Yep, they will be passive pups. Active electronics means the EQ, most active basses have passive pups. Only a very few brands make active pups, like EMG, and the new Blackout ones by SD. It doesent really matter though as everyone here is referring to active preamp anyway ;).

Its the preamp affecting your tone not the pups.
 
#66
The last passive instrument I owned I sold in 1981. For me the only advantage to an active bass is a tighter signal down the cord. In fact I don't even use the onboard EQ's. I just set everything on the center detents and EQ at the amp. If I was custom building a bass, I would have one knob, volume only, and the preamp would be nothing but a buffer.
 
#68
I have 4 basses all have passive pickups, 3 have active eq's but the 2 I play most have active/passive switches, either stock or modded to have them and a passive tone control.

For me i love the tone of a passive jazz bass nice growly mids and details but also very capable of warmth with a passive eq used well. i use the eq's to add a modern twist to the tone and add frequencies but about 80% of my playing is in passive mode with passive pickups. I've owned 1 active pickup an EMG MM and it was good and loud, still looking for a bass to retro fit it into sometime, personally i prefer passive pickups and eq for their straight forward working ad good solid tone. I found after a few years of obsessing over more and more complex preamps to get more frequencies that a bass is very hard to eq to sound different from it's innate character and more broad tonal difference can be found in pickup paning and passive tone controls.

That said if I designed my own preamp it'd be pasisve tone control and active mid and treble controls to boost the attack of the bass and would HAVE to have a bypass switch and always available passive tone control.
 
#71
Passive all the way. I like the warmth and natural sound of passive not the hi-fi sound that all of my active basses and most i have played, cheap to high end have had. If i ever find a good active that sounds passive i might change my mind...again, might.
 
#74
I've been playing for 30+x years and have had several actives and passives but have settled on passive basses. Yes its nice to tweak the eq from the bass while performing and get what you want (I particularly liked the John East pre with the sweepable mid) but when you get up a head of steam and start digging in I much prefer the way a passive bass responds. More natural dynamics, more tone in your hands, ______, ______, ... whatever - you fill in the blanks - just seems to work better for me. So I spend a little more time getting set for a gig, getting the eq just right before the sound check, then play.
 
#80
ProfGumby said:
Passive all the way for me as well. I just do not like the way active basses sound when I play them...maybe I'm just an idiot but I always find the sound either tinny or sterile in my hands.
Click to expand...

+1

I agree...I like everything on my bass turned up all the way. If you do that with an Active I think it would sound like garbage. Not because the bass is bad. Just because I like to have everything up and I am too much of a diva to change my ways.

My loss I guess.
 

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