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Do you mostly play passive or active basses?

Do you mostly play passive or active basses?

  • Passive - no batteries for me

    Votes: 235 58.3%

  • Active - with either a pre amp, active pups, or both

    Votes: 141 35.0%

  • Carrots with a 9 volt

    Votes: 27 6.7%
  • Total voters
    403
#81
Jim C said:
Curious what the percentages are
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I went decades not owning a Fender, and playing only active basses from Peavey, Ibanez, and Carvin.

Then in 2019 I needed an acoustic for an "acoustic" gig. I had no intentions of buying a Fender, but I walked out the door of my local GC with a Fender Kingman that has a jazz spec'd neck but in short scale.

That purchase led me to buying my first passive Fender. And that American Fender led me to selling off all my active basses except for the acoustic and until last month I owned 7 passive Fenders and the acoustic. I sold off 4 of those passive basses as I was getting ready to take delivery of a custom, passive, made for me, Ferner Fine Instruments of Memphis, bass.

Now that custom bass has rear mounted controls, and plenty of room for active electronics if I ever decide to go that route in the future. But to be honest I really like the option of the bass being passive and using preamp pedals instead. There's just so many flavors of preamps in pedal format to choose from these days that I don't ever see me going active on the bass itself again. But one thing I've learned about basses, never say never.
 
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#82
I used to have a Yamaha BB424 passive PJ, and an Yamaha TRBX604 active HH.

Once I had carefully tweaked the blend and 3 band EQ on the TRBX604, I realised I had been trying to make it sound as much as possible like the BB424.

After that, there didn't seem much point in keeping it 😅
 
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#85
Jim C said:
Curious what the percentages are
Click to expand...
Active. It's both the high-end detail on active electronics as well as the three-band tonal flexibility. It's what both the music requires due to the diversity of music played and if played accurately, as well as the simple logistics of usually needing to stick to ONE instrument for most of a set and so which one allows you to BEST and most accurately play the most music in that set? The answer? For about 70% of my gigs, that's an active 5-string.
 
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#86
There is one category where the decision is really unclear to me - - choice for fretless. There are some who swear having active pre is de facto requirement for a good fretless tone. Yet on the other hand Fender and some others do not put them on their top-end fretless instruments. You cannot buy an Ibanez without one and then you hear of various problems and complaints with the electronics in those instruments. I really do not know the answer to this one.
 
#87
BassicJazzy said:
There is one category where the decision is really unclear to me - - choice for fretless. There are some who swear having active pre is de facto requirement for a good fretless tone. Yet on the other hand Fender and some others do not put them on their top-end fretless instruments. You cannot buy an Ibanez without one and then you hear of various problems and complaints with the electronics in those instruments. I really do not know the answer to this one.
Click to expand...

There is no answer or definitive choice. Often though, having a good midrange and bass control on board helps to dial in/out the 'voice' of fretless really well, especially if it's a deal where you are relying on the back pickup and need to solidify the low end more as a result. Active is usually more desirable for that purpose. Both of my fretless basses are active.
 
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#88
I used to think that active meant better and up to a point all of my basses were active. Then I took time off from gigging (had to be a parent) and when I started playing again I decided that I wanted all passive so I sold my remaining Modulus and picked up an American Pro P Bass. Then I got an American Pro Jazz and after a few months installed a John East on a whim and discovered that I really like an on board pre amp.
 
#90
wboyd68 said:
I used to think that active meant better and up to a point all of my basses were active. Then I took time off from gigging (had to be a parent) and when I started playing again I decided that I wanted all passive so I sold my remaining Modulus and picked up an American Pro P Bass. Then I got an American Pro Jazz and after a few months installed a John East on a whim and discovered that I really like an on board pre amp.
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Those John East pre's are getting lots of love on this board. Super easy to install, but they aren't cheap, $350 for the premium model.
 
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#95
el murdoque said:
Less than ten years ago, I had a sizable collection of basses (well, sizable for a non musician outsider - nothing the TB community would consider even a collection) and what they shared was that they all were active and neck through.
Some buying and selling later, without any intent on my side, all that remained were passive bolt on instruments.
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3 neck through, 2 set neck, 1 bolt-on -- all passive. The one active I owned didn't do it for me sonically. I would have converted it to passive but the neck and my left hand hated each other so off it went.
 
#96
jTrolt said:
How unfortunate. I cannot imagine what went wrong. I've never even had a battery fail mid gig. 60+ shows a year as of late with nothing but blissfully pure tone the whole time.
What kinds of issues plagued you so badly?
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Not battery failure but both pickups and preamps died twice with EMG BQC system, on a Schecter (within 6 weeks, approx, of each other) and just a few days after purchase and replacement, and a preamp on an Ibanez 405.

Ive had one wretched experience recently, with a passive Yamaha BB435 recently... real nightmare.. both pickups died within a few months of each other. Getting parts, matching outputs, parts that fit, was almost impossible and cost twice as much as the instrument with no guarantee I'd enjoy the outcome or without modifying the body...
 
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#98
Heiwa said:
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I’ve seen people trying to use carrots for power
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I learned that potatoes are better for power when I was in elementary school! :D
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But I don't need batteries, vegetables, or anything rechargeable for my basses. I have been playing passive 4 string basses since 2009. I have owned one active 5 string bass (an Ibanez SR 405) when I was a teenager, but I didn't get on with it. I have considered acquiring an active bass as a backup as long as it has 4 strings.
 
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#99
MrAB4003 said:
I learned that potatoes are better for power when I was in elementary school! :D
Invalid Link Removed

But I don't need batteries, vegetables, or anything rechargeable for my basses. I have been playing passive 4 string basses since 2009. I have owned one active 5 string bass (an Ibanez SR 405) when I was a teenager, but I didn't get on with it. I have considered acquiring an active bass as a backup as long as it has 4 strings.
Click to expand...
Is that a potato in your pocket or are you just happy to have a passive bass?
 
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#100
All passive these days, but I did have a few active basses that I can count on one hand. Two Alembics, one Zon that I converted to passive (the other two were passive from new), two Rick Turner Renaissance (4-string and 5-string), and a EBMM Stingray.

All of the other many basses I've owned were passive.
 
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