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Active/Passive Switch... What Do I Do With It?

C

Crazyfist

Guest
Sep 26, 2011
84
3
#1
Hi everyone,

I got myself a lovely new bass but it has an active/passive switch and I'm not entirely sure what the benefits of it are or how to use it, could anyone help me out? I mostly keep it in passive because when it's switched to active it adds a bit of volume (even with neutral EQ), which is a bit inconvenient since I have to adjust the volume as well as the EQ if I want to use it, any reason why it does that?

Just to clarify "active", when switched on it controls the EQ (mid stack + bass/treble stack) and adds a bit of volume. In passive the EQ is switched off but I can still use the blend pot.
I took the battery out and it works when switched to passive but there is no sound at all in active mode, does that mean the pickups are active/passive too? Sorry if that's a dumb question!

Cheers! :D
 
#3
There are no such things as active/passive pickups. They will either be one, or the other, but not both. In your case, getting audio in passive mode, with the battery removed, means that the pickups are passive.

The volume boost means one of two things. Either you have a gain trimmer that is set above unity, or you have a preamp with a fixed boost. First check for a gain trimmer. If there isn't one, then you might consider adding a trimmer pot to attenuate the output.

In any case, your use of the active/passive switch is atypical. The average player keeps an active bass in active mode, and uses the active/passive switch for peace of mind if there is a preamp failure, or the battery dies. It is also useful for certain gear that does not play well with buffered signals. (I.e. certain vintage fuzz pedals.)
 
#8
Crazyfist said:
I took the battery out and it works when switched to passive but there is no sound at all in active mode, does that mean the pickups are active/passive too? Sorry if that's a dumb question!

Cheers! :D
Click to expand...

You're not alone. I had the same dilemma. When I had someone tell me to check the cavity of my bass whether my pickups were active or passive, I was completely freaking out cause of the extensive wires that popped out on my face.

Without thinking of the "play the bass with no battery" idea I went ahead and did it that way to determine if my pickups were passive and sure enough you answered to your own question.

Would love to see the new bass you got btw :)
 
#13
Crazyfist said:
Hi everyone,

I got myself a lovely new bass but it has an active/passive switch and I'm not entirely sure what the benefits of it are or how to use it, could anyone help me out? I mostly keep it in passive because when it's switched to active it adds a bit of volume (even with neutral EQ), which is a bit inconvenient since I have to adjust the volume as well as the EQ if I want to use it, any reason why it does that?

Just to clarify "active", when switched on it controls the EQ (mid stack + bass/treble stack) and adds a bit of volume. In passive the EQ is switched off but I can still use the blend pot.
I took the battery out and it works when switched to passive but there is no sound at all in active mode, does that mean the pickups are active/passive too? Sorry if that's a dumb question!

Cheers! :D
Click to expand...

The point of the switch is being able to bypass the preamp on the fly, either because the battery has died mid-gig or because the pre colors the sound in a way you aren't looking for at the moment.

If the output is higher than when set in passive mode, their should be a trim pot on the preamp module itself to adjust the gain.

And your pickups are passive, that's the only way they'd work with the battery bypassed ;)
 

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