I want to get the output of my passive bass to the level of my active...

If all you are looking to do is boost output, without actually changing anything, then you could use an EQ pedal and just turn up the output gain without changing anything else.

Most any effect or stomp with an output control could be used to do this - just depends on whether you actually want to use the effect or not otherwise.

Another alternative would be to cut the output level of the other bass to match that of the passive - could be done onboard or with a box the same way.

I believe there may be "boost" pedals around to do specifically this sort of job...

 

All of those would work. I have also used a Sparkle Drive as a clean boost.

A Bassbone would work well but is expensive. It is designed to match two basses.

I needed more gain from my P bass. I built a small one transistor amp with a trim pot for the gain. I set it for about 10dB boost and closed up the box, Now I have a nice little no-brainer booster.

 

You might try this:



Graeme

 

That'd be the exact thing I was talking about. Think, and a fellow TB'er makes it so...

 

that SD pickup booster is cool but I have heard issues with audible clicking when switching it on and off...

Check out the MXR Micro Amp too. or the Catalinbread Sagrado Poblano Picoso its booster but with good side effects too

http://www.catalinbread.com/poblano.html

 

You could always lower the volume knob on the MM so it matches the P and save some $$$.

 

Sacrilege!! Hissss! Death before turning down the volume

Oh, wait, I misread. I thought you said to turn down the volume on the P. Carry on

 

The BD-2 can be used a a booster (check out pg.7 of the effects manual here)

 

I've been there, and was surprised by the amount of people who seriously recommended to me that I should just turn down my active bass!

What I eventually settled on was the EBS Micro Bass II DI/Preamp box of tricks. I found it to be more fully featured than the BassBone, and with better sounding EQ centres to boot. It also has some really nifty features that are virtually unique in the bass processing world, especially in pedal form. It incorporates the EBS UniDrive overdrive circuitry which is killer-weak-sweet.

I plan to post a review in a few days when I've had more time with it (and a chance to sweep out it's frequency response curves), but suffice to say first impressions are excellent. The extremely high input impedance on the A channel has brought out the best in my passive Corvette, and the extensive level matching means that all my pedals (and my amp) now respond in the same way to both my basses.

The one thing I feel it lacks is a good way of leveling out the clean vs. distortion when using it as a distortion stomp box. However, I plan to always use it as a 2 ch. preamp anyway, so that's not a biggy for me.

 

Yeah, mxr micro amp is simple and effective...

 

doesnt your amp have 2 inputs? (1 in 0 and the other in -10 dB)

 

that might not be accurate enough to "match" levels. Plus, although the OP didn't mention pedals, it doesn't help when using outboard effects.

 

Lowering the volume on the MM won't make it passive.

 

I can't think of a better solution than the Radial Bassbone:
http://www.tonebone.com/tbone-bassbone.htm

Very well made, great sounding piece of equipment.

 

No, but it's still not desirable. Ideally, you want to raise the volume of the softer bass to the level of the louder bass. Running a decent signal into your amplifier is important.

I can! EBS MicroBass II
Some comparisons:
- It runs on a standard 9V 10mA supply compared to 15VDC 400mA for the bassbone. (That's a difference of 5.91W!!! I could just about run my whole pedalboard off that much power!)
- it has a headphone output
- the effects loop uses standard cables not Y inserts
- the A channel input impedance is extremely high - bringing life to older passive pups and piezo systems, (in fact, even the relatively low input impedance of ch. 2 is still more than twice that of the bassbone)
- ch. 2 midrange is parametric not fixed.

Plus, EBS actually list the frequency response of the unit whereas Radial do not, which makes me suspicious. All that added to what I mentioned previously about this device and it's a hands down winner in my book.