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I will never buy another "active-only" bass

I will never buy a bass that can't be switched to passive mode again.

  • I agree 100%. No active-ness for me.

    Votes: 85 17.8%

  • I generally agree. Active electronics aren't that great, and the battery thing is a problem.

    Votes: 99 20.7%

  • No opinion/no response/"six of one, half-dozen of the other"

    Votes: 155 32.4%

  • I generally disagree. Active basses are more fun, because you can do more with them.

    Votes: 93 19.5%

  • I disagree 100%. Active all the way for me!

    Votes: 46 9.6%
  • Total voters
    478
#21
So for those who have basses with BOTH options, what, besides an increase in volume, is the TONAL difference when you go back and forth between passive and active.

We all have pre-amps in our signal chain and it seems to me (naive) these bass mounted internal pre-amps should only change the tone based upon the "flavor" of the pre, right?
 
#23
I prefer passive, but I have 3 that are active and of those only one has a bypass. My turn off is the battery issue, that and if the cable is plugged in the battery is in play. My OCD won’t let me leave an active bass plugged in. When I take an active bass once the set is done I unplug. Just gotta give the sound guy a heads up.
 
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#25
To me it's just a question of where you want your controls. I find it handy to have 3 bands of EQ available at the bass.

But it gets a little weird when I see an active bass going into a pedal preamp going into the preamp section of an integrated amplifier. How many preamps does it take? Some times I just go from my active bass into my power amp. Tone on the bass, power in the amp. Started doing that when I found that most times I was using my preamp with flat EQ settings.
 
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#26
Killing Floor said:
A - don’t you realize preamp in your pedal or preamp in your amp or preamp on your console still counts as a preamp?

B - Leo Fender straightaway added active electronics to his basses as soon as he sold the Fender shop.

C - definitely 1/4 but probably closer to 1/3 of the “for sure P Bass” songs you like were recorded on Alembics and Wals and Rays and Yamahas and other active basses.

just play what YOU like and don’t make mandates
Click to expand...

All probably true, but is any of that relevant to the original post?
 
#30
Turnaround said:
To me it's just a question of where you want your controls. I find it handy to have 3 bands of EQ available at the bass.

But it gets a little weird when I see an active bass going into a pedal preamp going into the preamp section of an integrated amplifier. How many preamps does it take? Some times I just go from my active bass into my power amp. Tone on the bass, power in the amp. Started doing that when I found that most times I was using my preamp with flat EQ settings.
Click to expand...

. . . . prompting questions on TB about how hard it is to get their tone dialed in . . . . . right before recounting The Terror they experienced, the sleepless nights, gripped in Mortal Fear of The 9v Battery, a condition only cured by going back to passive . . . and three preamp pedals.

The only thing I want between me and the amp is Canare cable with a Neutrik at each end: This obviously sends me to the back of the bus, and my sack cloth and ashes will be here any day, doomed to wander the world pedal-less and preamp poor.
 
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Reactions: 31HZ, r_bnks, Turnaround and 1 other person
#31
OIP.jOP2v_IQky9SBbGfP5qKGwHaHa

Right now, MILLIONS of these things are in warehouses, Wally World, Target, the Circle K or 7-11 down on the corner, scheming 24/7 your ultimate embarrassment onstage as to when would be JUST the moment to die on you. Hell, these things are SO unreliable your local Firefighters will give you a free one for the smoke detectors they hand out to watch your home. Consider yourself warned !
 
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Reactions: OldShark, 31HZ, timendous and 4 others
#33
I prefer passive basses for their simplicity. But two of my four basses are Stingray clones with preamps. Neither one has a passive option so I just need to keep and eye on the batteries.

So other than a Stingray, I want all my basses to be passive.
 
#34
The active pre-amps in my basses sound good to me. No need for a pedalboard pre-amp for tone. My pre-amp is transparent and only used to adjust line level when necessary. I use mine to balance three different inputs (active only basses, passive PRS baritone and XLR in via on-board phantom power for my bari-sax condenser mic). If my PRS came stock with an active pre, I'd have zero passive tone control instruments, but alas, GAS has yet to hit that instrument and it will have to remain passive for now.
 
#36
Greenman72 said:
If I can't play it in passive mode, I will not buy it.
(Note - doesn't include basses that are solely collectibles or for "non-playing" purposes.)

Who agrees? Who disagrees?
Click to expand...
Did something happen recently that helped you plant this stake?

Generally, I agree but I do like the couple of actives on hand. One of them is the sole (for good reason) five-string and that thing isn’t going anywhere.
 
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#37
Greenman72 said:
If I can't play it in passive mode, I will not buy it.
(Note - doesn't include basses that are solely collectibles or for "non-playing" purposes.)

Who agrees? Who disagrees?
Click to expand...
I too am a passive bass dude all the way. Nothing against those who love active. But all things considered, I just like passive better.

One weird reason is because with active, I simply can’t stop fiddling with the eq
 
#38
stevensivak said:
So for those who have basses with BOTH options, what, besides an increase in volume, is the TONAL difference when you go back and forth between passive and active.

We all have pre-amps in our signal chain and it seems to me (naive) these bass mounted internal pre-amps should only change the tone based upon the "flavor" of the pre, right?
Click to expand...
some added hiss :roflmao:
 
#40
I’m glad somebody had the silly idea to put amplifier parts into bass guitars.

My favorite bass guitars are just bass guitars with no amplifier parts in them, but some bass guitars with amplifier parts in them happen to have a pretty cool vocal character regardless of what amp they’re plugged into.
 
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Reactions: in tune and BOOG

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