Active vs. Inactive

[Ric5]

I like active basses ,,, but sometimes I like passive aggressive

 

[Robert B]

I prefer passive, but it's for purely aesthetic reasons. With all the active basses I've experienced, the sound was somehow artificial to me. I was unable to connect emotionally with it. It was almost like I was hearing a reproduction of my playing than my actual playing. I found that distracting and it hindered my immersion in the music and my playing. Hard to explain!

 

[Bassdirty]

BTW, let's ditch the "inactive" and call them the industry standard term "passive." "Inactive" makes us sound lazy for using them

Thanks for sayin it Jimmy, was drivin me a lil crazy and I feel like maybe I nitpick a lil too much around here.. sometimes. (in my defense, it's usually for comedic value though.)
Inactive sounds like they don't work at all.

 

[nilorius]

Actually passive pickups with active electronics are more popular and more liked, but you are on your own !

 

[JRA]

is there a reason I shouldn't rule inactive basses out?

as https://www.talkbass.com/members/40hz.73668/ stated earlier: it's a matter of preference. in your case: you don't really have a preference = you have a preponderance of experience with active axes. that said: a good feeling/playing passive ax with the right pickups (for you!) could change your 'reluctance'.

i like 'em all! but i'm currently preferring the passive instruments. their 'simplicity' matches my current mental status. also: no batteries required to be awesome! good luck with your 'activity'!

 

[Bassdirty]

A Fender Rumble 350. I got a buzz that wouldn't go away when I ran direct and was told by a tech that the circuit board was fried. He said the biggest culprit was not engaging the -db limiter but also said that the line out volume was connected to the main volume as opposed to having a separate electrical path/knob which meant that every time I turned the thing on, I was doing damage to the line out signal. This is a problem many combo amps have apparently which is a big reason I switched to a separate head unit. I use the limiter but I also made for damn sure my main volume and line out volume were separated.

Lot of ..interesting things that fella told you.

I must wonder though, the time/times you were "not engaging the limiter" , I would think the amp would sound like absolute poop looonng before you "fried the circuit board". I mean, if you were driving it with that much gain anyway.
Or...maybe I just question everything.

 

[thebreakman]

Get what you like. I personally can't stand active pickups/electronics.

 

[micguy]

Bass guitars are not all that high in impedance. Active electronics may be helpful in some circumstances, but...if you're happy with the sound you get with a bass and a normal length cable before your first pedal (or the amp), there's no compelling reason to put electronics into the bass itself.

Yes, a bass with lower output might mean you have to run the gain knob a bit higher on your amp or pedal. That doesn't (contrary to what some think) mean the amp or pedal is working harder. An amp works hard when it's making loud noises through your speaker - where the controls are is irrelevant.

The biggest thing I hear when trying active basses in the store is that most of them have poorly done on board electronics - often there's a lot of noise and/or the thing is bright to the point of being brittle sounding when the treble is turned up at all. Having controls where some of the range is unusable, and the issue of having to deal with a battery to provide that...not my thing. Maybe it's yours?

 

[Claymore]

+1 on the MFD pickups. They are LOUD
In addition to the L-2000, the Yamaha TRBX604 has a passive/active switch and it will still play if the battery goes dead... Best of both worlds. I'm sure there are other basses as well.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

active = higher output is... wrong, sorry.

It is a myth that some amp manufacturers don't help erase when they label their inputs that way. The truth is there is a huge spread in outputs within each kind, and they overlap a lot. You *can* boost the low end of an active EQ equipped bass to crazy levels, usually, but that's a separate matter (and for someone like me who does not use extreme EQ, it is not something I would ever go for).
I prefer amps with a simple adjustable input gain control.

My two highest output basses were passive, by the way.

Your experiences are different than mine, and that’s cool. But I said “typically”, not “always”...!

I have a Pensa preamp that is so hot, I took it out of my Jazz and have to wire in an attenuation pot. It’s just too much!

my 3-band Stingray is hotter than my passive jazz

sure, more preamps today are designed so that they are more transparent and of equal output to a passive signal, but not always. You can still adjust a Bartolini NTMB’s gain to be hot-as-hell or quieter than passive.

I just want to be loved, is that so wrong?

 

[40Hz]

Get a G&L l2000 and have the versatility of playing active and passive with a broad range of tone

Easily one (if not the) most tonally versatile basses ever produced. Rare is the tone you can’t find in an L-2000. Pretty nice looking bass too.

 

[dkelley]

Wait, what? Why would that be true?

What do you mean by "finger noise"?

Im sure he means that the higher output basses drive the preamp and or comp harder causing some compression, making more finger noise.

Which has nothing to do with active, it's about bass output level and setting the rest of your signal chain accordingly.

 

[rtslinger]

My passive Fender P will take down walls, I would look at them as a good choice for a passive bass imo

 

[ctmullins]

I actually wonder how many bassists pick up an active bass for the first time, habitually dime all of the knobs, then wonder why it sounds harsh....

 

[David Jayne]

So what you're saying is if I switch to a passive bass I don't have to be as careful in my fingering technique?

No, I'm not saying that. I'm simply saying that active basses are typically capable of more treble than passive ones.

 

[David Jayne]

Or use flatwound strings which don't let you loose much of the usual bass' high-end such as Chromes or TI JF344 (unless one has elected "slapping and popping" as his/her main way of playing the bass) ...

I almost never slap or pop but still generally prefer roundwound strings. Playing flats compared to rounds is like playing two entirely different instruments. IMO.

 

[BobDeRosa]

I like the simplicity of a passive. It allows me to focus on the playing rather than having to diddle around with the sound.

 

[Geddy Claypool]

My passive Precisions are noticeably hotter than my active ATKs, and the (passive) Magnabass pickups in my Westone Spectrum GT are hotter than both of them put together! Active doesn't necessarily mean higher output than passive.

Indeed. My passive Skyline DJ5 SCREAMS compared to any other bass I own. I like it because it gives me a lot of tonal options via volume pot control.

But generally speaking, I think it's usually true that active basses have higher output.

 

[jlepre]

The two basses I own have active EMG pickups.

OK someone had to say it. The pickups are PASSIVE. It's the pre-amp that makes the bass ACTIVE.

 

[ctmullins]

OK someone had to say it. The pickups are PASSIVE. It's the pre-amp that makes the bass ACTIVE.

EMG makes plenty of active pickups and quite a few passive pickups.

Or did I miss a joke somewhere?