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Do I simply prefer passive?

#21
My experience with an active bass is that i end up playing with the eq too much and still walk away mostly un happy OR super happy with the sound until the next time i pick it up.
Maybe too many options to have on hand.

passive is A-Ok for me and a heck of a lot less frustrating to get what i like but there are more factors to that too like pickup type and definitely placement of the pickup(s).

besides, all my amps have a pre amp built in
 
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#23
I had an enemy of good is better moment on a bass. I put in Delano he/s5s. Had a gear passive tone. One day I lost my mind and cut in a battery box and added a audre preamp. Big mistake. Took the tone from awesome and organic to emg sterile. I had a John East preamp in it when I bought the bass. That was probably better that the audere I put in it, but I never really like the tone of that either…
I now own two basses, neither have a built in preamp.
I’m kinda haunted by the sound of that passive delano 5 string, that’s been on my radar for a while now.
 
#24
-Asdfgh- said:
I have an active bass, but also a number of passive ones and various external preamps. I find I can easily dial in a tone I like with the passive instruments, but find it more of a faff with the active. My first bass was active, so it's not like I'm that much of an old fogey, although IIRC that just had a simple passive tone. I've also owned a couple of Westone Thunders (IA and III) and a Fender Cowpoke that I was fine with. Have I just BECOME and old fogey (don't answer that..).
Click to expand...
My L2500 never sees active mode (no battery)
Ripped the horrible pre out of my Cort.
My Dolphin is pure active.
I despise most pres, but adore Audere. Those are like an on board eq (especially the 4 band)
I get along with both passive and active, straight into the front of a Mesa WD800, or a Two Notes CabM +.
 
#26
I definitely prefer passive, and it shows in what I generally choose to play - passive PJ bass, or other Fender style basses.

I do have a few basses for which the preamp is part of their signature tone - Stingray 5, Ibanez ATK, Heartfield DR5. The character of those basses is kinda built around the preamps for me, and I tend to play them specifically for those tones. They're all pretty versatile, and can cop a passive bass type of tone as well, but I don't often use them for that purpose.

In addition, I do use preamp pedals at times, ranging from a Sans Amp BDDI, Joyo American sound, Boss GE7B (Brown case), Aguilar DB 925, among others. With the pedal preamps, I don't really miss having an onboard preamp for the occasional times that I want that kind of coloring on a passive bass. Yeah, I can't tweak on the fly as much, but honestly, those little tweaks are audible when playing alone or in headphones, but live, not so much, at least in my experience. Before some of you jump on this, I'm not talking about tone full open or fully closed; I'm talking about the tiny tweaks we are prone to do in the middle of a song. I do it too, but the overall difference for the audience or the band is pretty negligible.
 
#27
-Asdfgh- said:
I have an active bass, but also a number of passive ones and various external preamps. I find I can easily dial in a tone I like with the passive instruments, but find it more of a faff with the active. My first bass was active, so it's not like I'm that much of an old fogey, although IIRC that just had a simple passive tone. I've also owned a couple of Westone Thunders (IA and III) and a Fender Cowpoke that I was fine with. Have I just BECOME and old fogey (don't answer that..).
Click to expand...

If you're using passive basses with "external preamps" the lines are blurred. If those preamp were installed directly in your bass there would he zero difference... and your bass would then be active. The only thing keeping your basses passive is a cable between the bass and preamp

It seems to me you don't really like stacked preamps. Your active basses running into your preamp pedals or rackmounts or whatever wind up stacking preamps.
 
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#28
pbass2 said:
I don't think preferring passive basses is an "old fogey" thing at all, in fact rather the opposite these days. The sound of passive P's, Mustangs, retro shortscale hollowbodies, etc are far more prevalent in the trendy kid's music today than any kind of active bass sound...
Click to expand...

Yes, in the last couple years pre-pandemic, most young bands I saw used a short-scale bass with what sounded like flats.

(A bad tubby sound IMO :cautious:)
 
#30
I purchased a Sire V3(?), lefty, MM, fiver, and I find that I leave the switch on "passive" all of the time. My custom-build is passive, also. I still have two other "actives" but I leave them in the center detents 100% of the time. To answer your question - I do. Not sure about you, though.
 
#31
woodyng2 said:
I simply do. (Prefer Passive). The fewer controls, the better, too.
I have one bass that has no controls, passive hb wired direct to output.
Click to expand...
I'm also a fewer-controls-the-better guy who prefers passive mainly for that reason, but I couldn't go quite that far. I like a volume control and simple tone control on the bass for when I switch back and forth from fingers to pick, which I do often (sometimes within the same song). When I switch to a pick I generally need to both lower the volume and darken the tone a bit, and vice-versa when I switch back to fingers.
 
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#32
Passive is just fine.

If it's an active rig, I want real low impedance/active setups like EMG, Bart, Alembic, etc. The advantages are obvious, especially with EMG.

I'm NOT a fan of traditional, passive, high impedance pickups ganged to an active tone setup. It does offer that 'bailout' switch between active and passive: You could probably run the switchover with two different tones, but usually it's a way for grown men suffering from the 'Mortal Fear of a 9v Battery' syndrome to leave themselves a safety net. I just find that often (especially in user-modified axes, not really carefully considered, engineered combinations by the builder) that slapping an aftermarket active system in an existing bass boosts mostly noise (sometimes never heard BEFORE the preamp install) and offers me no real advantage if not done correctly.

I played active basses for years and was never once caught out by a dead battery, except once when I took a newly purchased used bass straight to a gig WITHOUT putting a new battery in it. All of mine I changed every 4th of July and Christmas, never had a problem.

I think in general guys are walking back to passive, which is fine.
 
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#34
On my active/passive basses i've found that it's quicker to dial in a good tone in passive, but the best possible tone is usually in active mode. In the past I've thought that I didn't like active basses, but then after getting one I realized that I just don't like how many people choose to EQ their active basses (over-hyped highs). If anything, I normally leave the lows and highs flat, or even cut the highs a bit, and boost the mids, giving me a "passive but slightly more middy" sound. My favorite active/passive basses are ones that keep a similar output and sound in passive and the active mode set flat. The Yamaha BB734a is a great example.
 
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#36
SmartSelect_20200320-110623_Chrome.jpg
 
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#37
-Asdfgh- said:
I have an active bass, but also a number of passive ones and various external preamps. I find I can easily dial in a tone I like with the passive instruments, but find it more of a faff with the active. My first bass was active, so it's not like I'm that much of an old fogey, although IIRC that just had a simple passive tone. I've also owned a couple of Westone Thunders (IA and III) and a Fender Cowpoke that I was fine with. Have I just BECOME and old fogey (don't answer that..).
Click to expand...
Faff? I like that!
 
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#38
Well, if you do prefer passive basses - then you do. There's certainly no shame in it; and it doesn't necessarily make you an "Old Fogey", either. Although, at 71, considering the music I like to play - and the large herd of passive basses I have? I suppose a case could be made that I might be one. Anyway...

I've been playing bass since I learned how on a friend's '68 Rick 4001 - in 1968. I had a decent bass herd before I got my first active bass, sometime around 2005 or so. There was a spot in my herd for one (long story), so I went on eBay one day, to see what kind of 4-string lefty active basses they had. A '96 Alembic Epic popped up first. The price seemed right - so it's mine now. It didn't get played much, since it sounded... well, like something I didn't much want to play. Not the case any more (another long story), though. For reasons having to do with my "Bass Herd Rules", I've since acquired 2 more active basses ('15 G&L Custom Shop Tom Hamilton ASAT Bass, and a '20 EBMM 4HH Stingray Special), but they're greatly out-numbered by the 22 passive basses I own. And, through it all, my #1, go-to bass has always been my '73 Rick 4001. Which, combined with what I prefer to play on it, kinda does make me an Old Fogey... But, I'm a happy one - as long as you stay off my lawn...;)

As for playing an active bass in passive mode/without a battery? Well, it's your bass; you do you. In my case, all 3 need a battery to work; I can only turn the active stuff off on the G&L ASAT Bass. With the Alembic and the 4HH Stingray, it's "Battery & Active" - or "no sound for you, Ace". Since I had the Alembic for years before the other two, playing one passive was never a consideration. Besides, in passive mode? The ASAT sounds... well, I'll just say that it's very, very obvious it's in passive mode - and that I need to flip the switch back to where it belongs - like, Right the #@!* Now!...:facepalm:

Constant fiddling with the controls? Yeah, that's a constant temptation, I suppose. In my case, I've managed to keep it to a minimum - or, at least no more than I fiddle with controls on my passive basses. Which, TBH, is - not much... With the Alembic Epic, it has their basic electronics package; Volume; Bass tone; Treble tone; and (Balance) Sweep. Very effective, and very simple. OTOH, I still need a cheat sheet for the many knobs and switches on my passive Gretsch Broadkaster... As for the ASAT Bass and the Stingray Special? I did all my fiddling around with the controls when I got them, and found what I wanted to hear from each of them. So, aside from an occasional slight tweek, the controls tend to stay where I have them. One of the few benefits of having so many basses (which, if you're wondering, are outweighed by the drawbacks), is that they can be specialists. The controls don't have to be adjusted all the time... A very good thing, really. Trying to remember which knob or switch does what, on 25 very different basses, is... frankly, kinda hard...:rolleyes:

So... if you prefer passive basses? Good on ya; lots and lots of us do. And, we have perfectly good reasons for doing so; even if some of us are Old Fogeys...:whistle:
 
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#40
-Asdfgh- said:
I have an active bass, but also a number of passive ones and various external preamps. I find I can easily dial in a tone I like with the passive instruments, but find it more of a faff with the active. My first bass was active, so it's not like I'm that much of an old fogey, although IIRC that just had a simple passive tone. I've also owned a couple of Westone Thunders (IA and III) and a Fender Cowpoke that I was fine with. Have I just BECOME and old fogey (don't answer that..).
Click to expand...
Yup. I do too...by far.
 

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