DI box for recording w/active pu's?

[abarson]

I may be getting all mixed up, so some advice would be welcome.
Passive pickups are supposed to be high impedance, right? In order to record with them, you typically use a DI box to lower the impedance to match the mixer's input.
My bass has Bartolini pickups with a preamp, which I assume is already providing the lower impedance. Shouldn't I be able to go direct to the mixer's input? Why does the engineer insist that I go through the DI?

 

[eb76]

Active electronics have more impact on output volume (measured in dB) where impedance is more a measure of voltage and resistence (measured in ohms). So the end result of having active electronics is hotter output, but the impedance is still not matched to mic level. This is a half-assed explanation, but it's the long and short of it.