The fender actives I don't like are passive pickups with active eq. All my active basses also have passive pickups, though I am not sure about the Bart mkI on the ibanez. Still like that one the least regardless.Oh and personally, I don't care for passive at all.. sometimes passive pups.. but with a active pre.. like the K-HAZ or a Tone Capsule..
Now it is possible it is the noiseless fender pickups, or that every deluxe/elite I have tried has had dead strings, but then again, this was a different kind of dead.
I like my fenders passive.