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Do you prefer simple or complex controls on your bass(es)?

Ideal onboard electronics setup

  • Simple Active

    Votes: 92 17.9%

  • Simple Passive

    Votes: 341 66.5%

  • Complex Active

    Votes: 60 11.7%

  • Complex Passive

    Votes: 20 3.9%
  • Total voters
    513
#81
Simple passive has never left me wanting for more.

I have had a G&L L-2000 (fretless) since 1997. It was my main (only, actually) bass until 2007, when my dad died, and I inherited three of his basses. It has a ton of options. Series coils or parallel coils, passive/active/treble boost, either pickup or both. I never knew what any of that crap did when I got it. I just moved them all around till the thing sounded good to me, and I've left it there ever since (yes, 23 years).

I looked up the controls at some point, maybe 10 or 12 years ago, and it turns out I had been playing the bass the entire time with series coils, neck pickup, and passive, with the treble knob all the way down and bass knob all the way up. And to think that I had been periodically replacing the battery all those years! :rollno:
 
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#86
I’ve had an Alembic with the Europa electronics...not overly complex but powerful and deceivingly sensitive. I’ve also had a P that was wired straight to jack(no knobs). I prefer simple, 2V over a blend, I like both passive and active.
 
#89
I used to always want every inch of control possible, especially when I started modding stuff and designing circuits for effects and all that kind of stuff. Now after several years, I REALLY appreciate a simple, well thought out, and especially WELL-TUNED set of controls.

With too many options I’m always playing with them, and a huge percentage of the options sound terrible, whereas things where it’s simple but great sounding throughout the range of controls **does the thing where a chef kisses his fingers**

My fender dimension bass is one of my favorites in this way- instead of a pickup blend or v/v like I ALWAYS go for, it just has a 5 way switch, and the EQ is really subtle and musical (really, seriously a good preamp). I never would have chosen a 5way where they just slap the pickups together, but it works fantastically, you just get 5 differently voiced Basses, and you just get to go play.
 
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#90
Simple.
B.jpg
 
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#93
I prefer simple. I bought my first active bass (a Spector) 2 weeks ago and returned it today. Wanted to love it but I just cant. Everything about the guitar is great but I dont want to tear out active electronics to put in passives in a new guitar. Especially a Spector! Funny this is I replaced it with a simple Fender Mexican Vintera 50s PBass. 2 knobs 1 pickup. I'm happy again.
 
#94
For me, you'll NEVER be able to do as much as the amp or the board. Variety does matter as does hand position but I've never found that I change up a lot after finding a few good sounds...maybe others do...
 
#100
scuzzy said:
disclaimer: This thread is a great excuse to post a pic of my favorite basses.

I believe that the majority of the folks on this forum will likely say simple, ala Precision bass with a volume and tone, or simply a volume, or perhaps straight to the jack. I have one p-type bass, and I do love to play it on occasion due to it's simplicity and versatility within that simplicity. But although I own and enjoy playing several passive basses, I still default to basses that are primarily active, with the ability to go passive.

I think that I now have my primary 4 basses. They are all 4 active with passive options. I would group them into "boutique" -style 4 and 5 string, and more "traditional" (non-coffee table) -style 4 and 5 string.

View attachment 3801052

Between these 4 basses, there are....
  • 10 pickups
  • 23 knobs
  • 14 switches
  • 8 batteries
  • 38 pickup combinations
All can go from active to passive. 3 out of the 4 have a passive tone control, which has proven to be a very useful thing. One of them, the passive tone control works in active or passive mode.

It has taken quite a bit of exploration and tweaking to learn each up to this point, and how I can utilize their potential. I certainly have more learning to do. I primarily play at church and at home. Playing at church is comparable to playing in a cover band (but with less booze) so you never know what bass or amp might show up on a recording. Versatility has been good for my mental state, as I like to sound as close to the recording as possible, although I'm sure most people don't know or care.

So what do most of you prefer?

Simple Active - no switches, simple 2 band EQ or similar
Simple Passive - no switches, tone control
Complex Active - Lot's of knobs and switches
Complex Passive - Lot's of knobs and switches
Click to expand...
Is that you, Billie Gates old boy?
 
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