Enlighten Me...

[Bent77]

I read on here the other day in a thread in the Amp section about using and active bass thru the passive port on a Hybrid amp (with pre built in at amp). I was under the impression that was a no-no.

Please enlighten me, is this no different than passive bass/pedal pre-amp/input at amp?

 

[Mr. Foxen]

Makes no real odds, active input assumes active bass has hotter output, and it isn't the case. Its just an input pad.

 

[will33]

Don't worry about it. Just because a bass has a battery in it doesn't automatically make It super high output.

I run all mine into the regular input. The label may vary on different make/model amps, but it's the one that sounds the loudest for a given volume setting. I'd only use the padded Input (the quieter one) if your signal is so hot it clips the preamp with the gain set quite low but I've never had that happen with any bass.

 

[Bent77]

That was my initial thought, sometime the BS filter around here doesnt work so well...

 

[mpdd]

if it sounds like nine inch nails when you run the active into the passive input you might want to consider if you want to sound like nine inch nails

 

[Bent77]

I don't currently, but ya never know!

 

[JimmyM]

Active inputs suck and should only be used in a last ditch effort to tame an impossibly hot bass that's distorting the preamp. Number of times this has happened to me in over 30 years of using really hot active basses: 0.

 

[mpdd]

same with me jimmy, just once, it happened at a pawn shop with an active bass and a warwick combo

 

[Bent77]

Sorry, I know better. The effects of the Kool-aid will wear off soon.

 

[el murdoque]

Active inputs suck and should only be used in a last ditch effort to tame an impossibly hot bass that's distorting the preamp. Number of times this has happened to me in over 30 years of using really hot active basses: 0.

Thanks for that message!
I've done more or less the same, but always had a little sour spot in the back of my conscience because of doing so. Like i was not meant to do this, but did it anyway.
I feel like now it's gone ;-)

 

[radioface]

I run active into passive all the time and have never had a problem and I also run passive into active with no problem either.

 

[The Nameless]

Amp manufacturers have been rippin us off for decades. I see two inputs on an amp? I should be able to run two basses into that amp, as an a/b switch. The "active" input is bs, and tho I HAVE run into basses that clipped my passive input; Ovation, Kubicki, Roscoe, MTD, I haven't run into one in a LONG time. Amp manufacturers? Please? Skip the input pad. Skip the resistor. Just gimme two independent inputs, so I don't have to run external switchers.

 

[JimmyM]

Amp manufacturers have been rippin us off for decades. I see two inputs on an amp? I should be able to run two basses into that amp, as an a/b switch. The "active" input is bs, and tho I HAVE run into basses that clipped my passive input; Ovation, Kubicki, Roscoe, MTD, I haven't run into one in a LONG time. Amp manufacturers? Please? Skip the input pad. Skip the resistor. Just gimme two independent inputs, so I don't have to run external switchers.

Then you need two independent preamps in your amp. Nobody is ripping you off, dude. It's impossible to make without driving the costs way up.

 

[The Nameless]

I was bein smart ass. Funny. Apologies. These notes don't always translate humor well. Sorry. Besides, my SWR amps can have two basses plugged in, and both work. As long as I don't play both at once. I have used modded amps, where the two inputs have been separated. I KNOW the technology exists to do this. And with the passive input bein universally panned both here and elsewhere (I know my friends also question the active input), well, I wanna know why an amp manufacturer hasn't done this. I teach out of my SWR amps. Two basses in, one speaker. I can hear em both. Tho not perfectly. I think that two switchable inputs should be included, certainly more useful than a padded input.

 

[The Nameless]

And Mesa puts a switch on a single input, to pad the input. So do many others. A switch that could be used to switch two inputs instead of padding one. It wouldn't drive prices up by much. They're already includin the gear to do it. I am bein smart alec. But? There is truth in this. I don't understand.

 

[will33]

To me, padded inputs always take "something" away from the tone. Even after you bring the gain up to compensate for the volume loss, etc., it's still there.

Technically maybe they shouldn't I guess, but to me they do. You can hear it. Hard to describe...less "open" of a sound sort of.

Not that I could hear anyone else play and say, "hey, I can hear you're using a padded input" or anything, but if I'm the one playing the bass and working the amp, I can tell. Little more "cloudy" sound and feel, less clear.

 

[BurningSkies]

To me, padded inputs always take "something" away from the tone. Even after you bring the gain up to compensate for the volume loss, etc., it's still there.

Technically maybe they shouldn't I guess, but to me they do. You can hear it. Hard to describe...less "open" of a sound sort of.

Not that I could hear anyone else play and say, "hey, I can hear you're using a padded input" or anything, but if I'm the one playing the bass and working the amp, I can tell. Little more "cloudy" sound and feel, less clear.

And for this reason, running (especially a passive bass) your instrument with it's volume control all the way open or close to that, and running your preamp to as close to clipping as possible (unless you like the sound of that clipping) is a good thing.

For the past year and a half I played with a guitarist who mostly borrowed my Twin. His tone was generally awful. Later on, he even had to borrow my guitars for gigging (long story there) and his tone was awful even though I have a couple guitars that really have the tone of the gods (I have independent verification from multiple guitarists who have borrowed for recording/important gigs).

Anyway at some point after a month or two of hearing 'general guitar suck' I went over to him and asked him to show me what he was doing with my amp and his signal chain. What he was doing was running my 135w Twin with the Master volume ALL the way up, the preamp on it about 85% of the way up...and running the guitar with only the barest amount of signal. Which makes sense given the Twin can knock down walls and break glass. So, when I asked why he was doing it that way, it was because that's what he had always done, and he liked to have it 'down at the guitar'. That practice, I said 'lets try this' and I turned his guitar all the way up and the amp down to reasonable levels. The whole band noticed how much better it was...even HE did. And commented on how much more fun it was to play with good tone.

...Then the next time we played he went back to his old set up and I died a little bit inside, and gave up on him.

 

[Winfred]

Just like the other 99% of what you read about music gear, it's marketing BS.

 

[static0verdrive]

Many don't realize but it has more to do with impedance than anything. Most of the time an active bass has a different output impedance compared to a passive bass. In any case, it's still true that you want to use the "passive"-labeled input unless it clips. This applies to mics going into a mixer too! You always want to have your input levels as high as possible without clipping - most sound checks are pretty much pointless unless you play your instrument (not amp) as loud as you will ever play so that the sound guy can do two things: adjust inputs as high as possible without clipping, and get everyone's output to wherever they need to be related to one another. This way you can turn down if you want, but at your loudest/rocking-est, you still aren't overloading any mics/amps/whatever to where they clip.

 

[BurningSkies]

Many don't realize but it has more to do with impedance than anything. Most of the time an active bass has a different output impedance compared to a passive bass. In any case, it's still true that you want to use the "passive"-labeled input unless it clips. This applies to mics going into a mixer too! You always want to have your input levels as high as possible without clipping - most sound checks are pretty much pointless unless you play your instrument (not amp) as loud as you can so that the sound guy can do two things: adjust inputs as high as possible without clipping, and get everyone's output to wherever they need to be related to one another. This way you can turn down if you want, but at your loudest/rocking-est, you still aren't overloading any mics/amps/whatever to where they clip.

This is true. We have a hand drummer who has decided he needs 5 mics on his rig. He uses a sub mixer because he's realized that no one wants to give the percussion player 5 lines on the board. He complicates matters by confusing 'expensive' mics for 'good for live use' mics and often shows up with very nice studio condensers and the like that are not suitable for loud stages. Now, I can almost never get him loud enough in our mix, he feeds back the minute you get him near a decent volume, etc. I discovered that he was running his input trim as low as possible ("If I touch those I get feedback") and then has all his sliders set near zero on the mixer...all lines set the same no matter what mics are being used. He then told me he mostly uses the EQ knobs for his volume! No wonder no one can hear him. He also gets mad if I tell him that we need to set him up in rehearsal with the whole rig so I can show him how to work it properly. Instead, I run a separate 57 out front and take sound from that.