active > passive

[scottfeldstein]

Volume knob, roll back if signal 2 hot, roll up if weak. Active volume doesn't change tone (or changes it very little)
Did I miss something ?

So if I dial up the low and high on my bass (not too bad because they are in one stacked knob) I must then also dial back my bass volume while staring at my compressor's meter to make sure that I'm.. nah. This sounds like a lot of work.

I flip the 9-band graphic EQ in on my amp and it's solved.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

So if I dial up the low and high on my bass (not too bad because they are in one stacked knob) I must then also dial back my bass volume while staring at my compressor's meter to make sure that I'm.. nah. This sounds like a lot of work.

I flip the 9-band graphic EQ in on my amp and it's solved.

Of course whatever works for you, a pedal on the floor with what, 10 points of adjustment ? For only one tone change .
Or a palate at your fingertips, that you can adjust from playing position on the fly.
Whatever works for you I guess

 

[scottfeldstein]

...a pedal on the floor with what, 10 points of adjustment ?

I'm not sure what you're getting at here.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I'm not sure what you're getting at here.

Sorry I read eq, missed the amp part. Walking reading and typing at a gig just before downbeat. Same point, not on the floor. Unsure of # of bands in eq, but it's more than 3

 

[scottfeldstein]

Sorry I read eq, missed the amp part. Walking reading and typing at a gig just before downbeat. Same point, not on the floor. Unsure of # of bands in eq, but it's more than 3

Break a leg, bruh!

In any case my point is only that it's really convenient to have a set output level coming out of the bass, as this leaves things like my pedal compressor with a stable input level. If I change the EQ on the amp, it doesn't affect the functioning of my input-sensitive pedals. And it's just about as convenient to flip a toggle switch to turn on my smile EQ as it is to twist the stacked high/low knob on my bass.

In the end, maybe it's just habit. I've been playing for more than 35 years and there are a few things that I'm probably just never going to change. Although I did start getting into pedals after 25 years of never using a single one. So you never know.

 

[mcnach]

Here's one reason I don't like using an active EQ. If I cut something my signal is going to get too weak. If I boost something it's gonna get too strong. Like how am I supposed to set the input on my compressor with that situation?

I guess if your 'adjustments' go from 0 to 100 yes, the level difference will be quite big, but who does that?

Also, do you have the compressor to kick in always?
There are dynamics in playing, most types. Typically lower amplitude signals are not processed, and higher ones get processed by the compressor: the higher the amplitude the stronger the compression.
The compressor is there and will actually help with the differences in level, so I am not sure I understand what problem you have...

 

[mcnach]

I don't get that at all. There’s just as much technology involved in a passive bass as there is an active one. Possibly even more since it doesn’t have the relative ease of more modern electronics circuits (note: transducers, inductors, filters, mag pickups, etc. are all old tech dating back to the first decade of the 1900s) to compensate for any of its shortcomings.

So exotic magnets and string alloy formulations and so on are the norm. Even the wood is sourced from places all over the world, kiln dried under carefully regulated conditions by industrial machiney, tooled with computer controlled milling machines…it goes on and on. There’s nothing “natural” about a bass guitar. It’s a human invention that’s been refined and improved over the little under a hundred or so years it’s existed. They aren’t grown or harvested. They need to be built. Every stage has been crafted with the intent to produce a specific result. And there’s no “honesty” in a physical artifact. Honesty is a human attribute.

Any honesty, magic, or romance surrounding a musical instrument all come from the player. Without the player a bass is just an assemblage of woods, wires, plastics, and metals. So while there can be something you could call “honestly in music,” I think its really all the result of a commitment on the part of the player. and has nothing to do with the instrument any more than “an honest piece of art” can be attributed to the tools used to produce it.

You can be “honest” and “organic” and “pure” with an active bass just as readily as you can be with a passive or acoustic instrument. Because these things are just tools. They’re not the artist’s vision, intent, or execution.

To my mind, the only genuinely honest or true instrument we can possibly play is our own individual voices.

+1000

 

[retslock]

I have active basses but I prefer passive. Less to go wrong. No batteries to worry about and maybe I’m crazy but it seams to me to be a cleaner, less coloured and more transparent sound. I find I just don’t bother with the on board eq. I leave it flat.

 

[Maxdusty]

I pick up a bass, test it out and decide whether I like it or not. At that point, I don't really even think about whether the bass is passive or active, it's more based on the sound of the thing. I do have a slight preference for passive basses for simplicity's sake but then there's still that other side of me that sure loves the knobs and switches of an L2000 too.
One thing about actives, some early preamps make the bass sound a little too modern or sterile imo, almost like it's being coursed through Autotune or some kind of filter. Might work for some kinds of music but horrific for genres like classic rock.

 

[40Hz]

Play something like this and you might understand.
View attachment 3662312

I have.

And I do.

Reverend makes some awesome sounding basses.

 

[40Hz]

I’d rather have a passive bass than an active bass with a lousy onboard preamp. For example, I am no fan of many of Fender’s rats nest preamps. A bad preamp is just a bad preamp. Doesn’t mean that all preamps are bad.

^This.

The instrument only sounds as good as its least capable component. Build quality, pickups, strings, electronics, and the player all have their contribution to make to the overall sound. If any one of those is lacking, everything else suffers for it.

 

[40Hz]

I just play the bass and if I like the way it sounds and feels I could care less if it's active, passive or solar powered.

Right where I am too.

I buy and play the bass, not the specs.

 

[jellymax]

any eq before the DI to FOH should not be adjusted mid-performance. its a big no no. tape those
knobs down if necessary. if you feel the need to twiddle knobs mid-performance, go to your amp.

how many levels of eq do you need?

passive pickups (high impedance) are wound for a hot signal, for best signal to
noise ratio. winding for a hot signal usually compromises frequency bandwidth. means
lo-fi, but hey it works!

in the past, if you wanted to wind a pickup for a high-fi sound, the result would be
a lower output, necessitating a preamp for the signal to noise advantage (the output
of a preamp is low impedance, means you can run a very long cord)

i am hooked on passive single coil pickups. they poke thru the mix. no batteries
to deal with.

j.l.mattox

 

[Jeff Scott]

passive pickups (high impedance) are wound for a hot signal, for best signal to
noise ratio. winding for a hot signal usually compromises frequency bandwidth. means
lo-fi

Too many (false) generalities, there.

 

[mcnach]

Understood, "push" probably wasn't the best word to use there... but then I don't have the best words.

You're very kind

 

[mcnach]

So if I dial up the low and high on my bass (not too bad because they are in one stacked knob) I must then also dial back my bass volume while staring at my compressor's meter to make sure that I'm.. nah. This sounds like a lot of work.

I flip the 9-band graphic EQ in on my amp and it's solved.

wait...

so, adjusting the EQ on your onboard preamp is a problem because of levels, but adjusting a graphic EQ is not?

Is that what you're saying?

Because it makes little sense to me. You're still boosting or cutting whatever band of frequencies you want, which will affect level. Unless... magic, or aliens.

By all means, use what works for you, but that explanation I am having a hard time to understand.

 

[mcnach]

Break a leg, bruh!

In any case my point is only that it's really convenient to have a set output level coming out of the bass, as this leaves things like my pedal compressor with a stable input level. If I change the EQ on the amp, it doesn't affect the functioning of my input-sensitive pedals. And it's just about as convenient to flip a toggle switch to turn on my smile EQ as it is to twist the stacked high/low knob on my bass.

In the end, maybe it's just habit. I've been playing for more than 35 years and there are a few things that I'm probably just never going to change. Although I did start getting into pedals after 25 years of never using a single one. So you never know.

Ah, I think I finally see what you're getting at. Indeed, some pedals respond very differently to different levels (it's often one of their 'features' as it allows you to get different sounds by varying dynamics in your playing), so I guess your set up is sensitive to that and for you it makes more sense to have the EQ after those pedals.

And I got that even without coffee

I actually use the onboard EQ to control the overdrive, kind of. It seems too basic, but I didn't realise it until a few years into playing and using pedals so I'll mention it here and apologies if I'm teaching you how to walk when you already run marathons

What I do is, with whatever overdrive engaged, use the mids control to make the overdrive more or less aggressive. It's not exactly the same as increasing or decreasing the overdrive gain, but it has a very similar effect in practice, so I've been using that to achieve different overdriven tones without changing settings on the pedal on the floor. That is especially effective if the mids control is a semiparametric one like I have on my Stingray, as it gives you a very wide range of sounds. I also sometimes use it to get controlled feedback too, bringing my bass close to the speaker onstage and turning up the mids, and you can ride the feedback simply by turning that control. It works well without being too loud, which is great. Anyway, I digress

 

[5StringBlues]

We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!

 

[phangtonpower]

Most basses have passive pickups with active preamps. I'd rather buy passive basses and off board eqs so I can change things around and experiment with different ones.

 

[Watchootognbout]

hi top guys, i am lurking for a very long time, and now i will post something.
i do not understand why to go for a passive bass today if you can have active and bypass to passive if that is better at the time. not so much more expensive and gives you something back. it seems the correct thing to do for a bass today. why passive??

The a/p switch is there so that if your battery dies while you are playing you can still play in the passive mode until you can change out the battery.
Not so that you can have the best of both worlds.
If it was only active,you wouldn’t be able to play.