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Active vs. non-active

C

crazysooner

Aug 12, 2013
7
0
Ft Gibson Lake
#1
Hi Gentlemen,
Before I ask this question please keep in mind that I have only been playing since March 9 in the year of our lord 2013 so I am an infant- but an infant with a rock and roll heart.
So what is the difference exactly between active and non? I know that my Washburn is not equipped with active electronics; it has no battery and has only one knob that doesn't really do a lot. It was givin to me by another Desert Storm veteran and I bought a small practice amp but will be upgrading a lot of my equipment within the next couple of months d/t a modest unexpected financial windfall.
Bearing in mind that I love playing along with the likes of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden and Zeppelin, what recommendations do you have that might aid my progression without spending more than a few hundred? I practice constantly (when not dominating my motorcycle) and really want to be the best I can be.
 
#7
Active basses have a powered preamp that allows you to boost/cut various frequencies ... For instance, Low, Mid, High. Some are more simple and only boost/cut low and high. Some more complex and allow you to shift the point of where the mid frequency is by knob or switch. Passive basses usually have volume and tone control only and in a handful of configurations depending on how many pickups the bass has. Volume and tone. Volume, volume, tone. Volume, pickup blend, tone. These are typical but you'll find all types of cool stuff depending on how much you look.

As far as suggestions and bang for your buck. Do 2 things.

1. Go to a local music store and play a few basses, bro. :) you'll find what you like. Try as many as they'll let you play!

2. Spend some cash on lessons as mentioned above.

PS - Welcome to TB!
 
#8
crazysooner said:
Hi Gentlemen,
Before I ask this question please keep in mind that I have only been playing since March 9 in the year of our lord 2013 so I am an infant- but an infant with a rock and roll heart.
So what is the difference exactly between active and non? I know that my Washburn is not equipped with active electronics; it has no battery and has only one knob that doesn't really do a lot. It was givin to me by another Desert Storm veteran and I bought a small practice amp but will be upgrading a lot of my equipment within the next couple of months d/t a modest unexpected financial windfall.
Bearing in mind that I love playing along with the likes of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden and Zeppelin, what recommendations do you have that might aid my progression without spending more than a few hundred? I practice constantly (when not dominating my motorcycle) and really want to be the best I can be.
Click to expand...

Active pickups might or might not have active tone controls. Active tone controls can boost their frequency in addition to lowering it and in practice you never see passive bass or mids controls. But some active setups only have the same controls as passive basses, e.g. the default setup for EMGs is like that.

Active pickups are always low impedance, that means they don't react to cable capacitance (you need a really ****** cable to hear it) and they don't care about the amp's input impedance. They are also a bit friendlier to wireless systems.

Although there is no theoretical reason for it in practice active pickups are always humbucking and almost always well sealed against feedback.

If you already have good passive pickups and you are after a Harris sound you should probably put the money elsewhere.
 
#11
If you are into Maiden and Zeppelin, then you are looking at the Fender sound - passive, split-humbucking pickup (Fender Precision) for a Steve Harris sound (then add flat wounds and a BadAss Bridge and swap the Fender pup out for the correct Seymour Duncan, and BTW, you still won't sound just like Steve Harris), and either a Jazz bass or pre-1957 P-bass for that John Paul Jones sound (though he went to Alembics late in Zeppelin's career, which are active basses).
 
#12
At the end of the day, whatever you play is what the pickups will reproduce. Some like the versatility and clean tone of active pickups and pres, some like the natural tone of a good passive pickup. I like both and tend to sound the same on pretty much every bass I play, so I'm not picky as long as I can get a sound I like.
 
#13
Sorry jamminology, I should not have been so punchy.
Thank you all for your feedback. I have learned a lot so far. Nothin' but old retired folks out here on the lake so there's no one to rap to about this stuff but the small town of Muskogee is only 40 minutes away and they do have a guitar store. I did play one of their new basses a fortnight or so ago when I was evaluating one of their new Fender amps and I was surprised by how much better it sounded and how much tighter it felt than my
Force 40 which was molded out of one piece of wood.
 

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