Batteries or not?

[brianrost]

Keep in mind that most active basses have battery powered preamps, but the pickups themselves are not battery powered. EMG is the best known supplier of battery powered pickups, if your active bass doesn't have them the pickups are probably passive. An active bass with a passive bypass definitely has passive pickups.

The one and only potential hassle with active pickups is bringing spare batteries to gigs, rehearsals and recording sessions just in case. I have two basses with EMGs and I check the battery voltage on both before heading out of the house. A fresh 9V cell usually measures slightly high...about 9.2V is common. Once the battery is down to 8V it's time to swap it out. I twice had weird behavior with the voltage dropping well below 8V with my NS Radius CR5 (once at home, once on a gig), but I'm pretty sure it was the preamp acting up, not the pickups themselves. That's why I always check the voltage.

I use a DIY cable using a TRS 1/4" plug. Just plug it into the bass on one end and a multimeter on the other. No need to open up the battery cavity.

This Steinberger is good to go.

 

[bigdaddybass12]

Me, personally, I like active EQ on a bass. You can easily fine-tune your sound without walking back to the amp or messing with a pedal. I find it really helpful when I play at a jam. I don't like adjusting the hosts amp settings. Plus you can adjust out the mud or boost big lows and add a little punch on top.
Or you are talking about emg active
Pickups without EQ. Ive had those too. It's usually a passive bass that they are added to. Single tone control. To me, not a good route. Active pickup without active controls.

 

[JamesGrant]

My first Warwick 4 string bass had 1 x 9v battery, then I got a 5 string Warwick Thumb with a 18v preamp - two batteries (that bass was horrible to use on a 2 hour set - so heavy!!). Lots of dynamic range to…. input to a compressor (I joke, but not much)

These days I play a 4 string jazz bass and it it the lightest one I could find, with a nice shallow (for a Jazz bass) radius neck, it has the lowest output pickups of any Fender jazz - and in my opinion sounds more natural and versatile than all the active J basses I tried. It was also the cheapest American Jazz bass in the store. Also, once the scratch plate was removed, it looked great. So, ignore the marketing fluff and the random pricing.

But - that's just me - find the bass that you like your tone and playing when you play it! If it's got wizzzyFi9000 pickups or it's a rusty nail wrapped in mains flex, it doesn't matter - if it's good for you, it's good.

 

[Nutmegger2209]

I had a set of active EMG pickups in a jazz bass long ago. As I recall, it was never inconvenient, the batteries lasted a very long time, and it was nice to be free of excessive noise, hiss, etc. I also liked the tone I was getting from them. I would definitely consider them again if I was replacing pickups.

I heard that excessive noise was from not keeping volumes on the pickups, at equal levels?

 

[Nutmegger2209]

My first Warwick 4 string bass had 1 x 9v battery, then I got a 5 string Warwick Thumb with a 18v preamp - two batteries (that bass was horrible to use on a 2 hour set - so heavy!!). Lots of dynamic range to…. input to a compressor (I joke, but not much)

These days I play a 4 string jazz bass and it it the lightest one I could find, with a nice shallow (for a Jazz bass) radius neck, it has the lowest output pickups of any Fender jazz - and in my opinion sounds more natural and versatile than all the active J basses I tried. It was also the cheapest American Jazz bass in the store. Also, once the scratch plate was removed, it looked great. So, ignore the marketing fluff and the random pricing.

But - that's just me - find the bass that you like your tone and playing when you play it! If it's got wizzzyFi9000 pickups or it's a rusty nail wrapped in mains flex, it doesn't matter - if it's good for you, it's good.

I heard the "lightest" is the Hofner violin bass?