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I will never buy another "active-only" bass
- Thread starter Greenman72
- Start date
Salud!
I voted "I generally disagree". The battery thing can be a pain, but the onboard EQ is really useful when you play/rehearse in several different spaces every week. I've had passive basses, but all my main axes have always been active.
I voted "I generally disagree". The battery thing can be a pain, but the onboard EQ is really useful when you play/rehearse in several different spaces every week. I've had passive basses, but all my main axes have always been active.
All I care about is the sound the pickup produces. I don't care if it requires a battery or not.
It happens that the tone I find most useful for what I play cones from certain EMG pickups, which are active preamp only.
Coincidentally, there's a benefit to having the preamp built into the pickup itself because the magnets can be a lot weaker, which means that the strings can be adjusted a lot closer to the pickups without causing problems.
I'm truly baffled by the number of bassists who are concerned about battery life. A battery will last 1,000 hours or more and it's easy, virtually trivial, to change the battery once a year, whether it needs it or not.
Of all the things that might fail during a gig, from bad cables, to tuning machines breaking, to amp burning out, to faulty power outlets, etc..., a dying battery in an active pickup is just about the easiest to avoid, and also the easiest to fix if it does happen.
It happens that the tone I find most useful for what I play cones from certain EMG pickups, which are active preamp only.
Coincidentally, there's a benefit to having the preamp built into the pickup itself because the magnets can be a lot weaker, which means that the strings can be adjusted a lot closer to the pickups without causing problems.
I'm truly baffled by the number of bassists who are concerned about battery life. A battery will last 1,000 hours or more and it's easy, virtually trivial, to change the battery once a year, whether it needs it or not.
Of all the things that might fail during a gig, from bad cables, to tuning machines breaking, to amp burning out, to faulty power outlets, etc..., a dying battery in an active pickup is just about the easiest to avoid, and also the easiest to fix if it does happen.
I don't choose basses because they are active.
They just happen to be.
But I do like having a midrange boost.
They just happen to be.
But I do like having a midrange boost.
Its unnecessary weight in the bass. The onboard EQ is redundant once the signal gets to my pedal board. And most importantly, they don't sound good (to me). Yeah, I get the initial rush when you first put it on. But soon afterwards you realize it was just as good if not better as passive.
Me too.They don't know what they're talking about.
If you want to be foolproof, change it every six months.
Never understood the fear of having a dead battery during a set.
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 !
AAAAAAHHH!! Violence! Violence! Please stop!!!
I had a stingray for 30th anniversary edition and it could play Passive but I never tried that.. I had a problem with the preamp and the factory wanted some outrageous price to work on it and it wasn't that old and I ditched it after Ernie (Dropped the) Ball by not stepping up to the plate. I will never go to that corporation again for anything.
I've had 3 extended range basses the 5 string headless model, a trial and proof of concept 6, and then the extended range six that I bought as the go-to. All of which were active.
The only one left is the 18V Schecter Silhouette Studio 6, it was half gutted when I got it which brought the price way down and I replaced the electrics with EMG dc45 and a bqs from EMG. It is' 18 volt and sounds awesome. I don't play it much anymore because it's pretty heavy and I have some injury related challenges.
The go-to FSO P-type also has a passive EMG. And I put passive EMG P/U's in a FSO J-Type.
I have two passive PJ's that have no soul.
And 2 passive hollow bodied.
So it's a mixed bag. Every bass is different, for versatility dependent upon the vocalist or group structure. I'm also not genre specific, I play with Duet's, Trio's, Big Bands, Pits, horns, piano's and the somewhat occasional guitar band, and in my experience a different type of bass is often needed for those esoteric and aesthetic casuals I somehow find myself involved with. Variety is the sous le vie.
I will have to say that my "Swiss Army" bass for all occasions and one that I would use on the proverbial "desert island" would probably be the FSO P-Type with the passive EMGs although the hollow AFB200 is a bit louder unplugged.
I've had 3 extended range basses the 5 string headless model, a trial and proof of concept 6, and then the extended range six that I bought as the go-to. All of which were active.
The only one left is the 18V Schecter Silhouette Studio 6, it was half gutted when I got it which brought the price way down and I replaced the electrics with EMG dc45 and a bqs from EMG. It is' 18 volt and sounds awesome. I don't play it much anymore because it's pretty heavy and I have some injury related challenges.
The go-to FSO P-type also has a passive EMG. And I put passive EMG P/U's in a FSO J-Type.
I have two passive PJ's that have no soul.
And 2 passive hollow bodied.
So it's a mixed bag. Every bass is different, for versatility dependent upon the vocalist or group structure. I'm also not genre specific, I play with Duet's, Trio's, Big Bands, Pits, horns, piano's and the somewhat occasional guitar band, and in my experience a different type of bass is often needed for those esoteric and aesthetic casuals I somehow find myself involved with. Variety is the sous le vie.
I will have to say that my "Swiss Army" bass for all occasions and one that I would use on the proverbial "desert island" would probably be the FSO P-Type with the passive EMGs although the hollow AFB200 is a bit louder unplugged.
D
I stupidly let a MM Bass run out its battery at a rehearsal, and didn't bring a back up. Like I said, stupid. Now I'm much older and more likely to forget about the battery.
No more, one less thing for me.
I have played both active and passive basses and I definitely prefer passive. I don't like the extra weight, or having to worry about the battery all the time. I really don't need an ultra bright sound either. I prefer the vintage sound I get from passive. Yes there are types of music that active will work well with but for me I only play passive now. 
my first active bass had an active/passive switch. within some time I rewired it to active-only.
my current main bass is active/passive, but I never use the passive mode. the previous owner used passive, I don't. I just like the sound better in active mode. this bass also has active pickups, so if the battery is dead and I have no spare, I'm done.
I enjoy both passive and active basses. hey, active basses are pretty good and pretty common, it's like they're on the market for 50 years. if they're still made -- they are better for some folks. if you don't like them tho, it's also okay. I do, but frankly it doesn't matter much to me, if the bass is active or passive. it either sounds good or not.
my current main bass is active/passive, but I never use the passive mode. the previous owner used passive, I don't. I just like the sound better in active mode. this bass also has active pickups, so if the battery is dead and I have no spare, I'm done.
I enjoy both passive and active basses. hey, active basses are pretty good and pretty common, it's like they're on the market for 50 years. if they're still made -- they are better for some folks. if you don't like them tho, it's also okay. I do, but frankly it doesn't matter much to me, if the bass is active or passive. it either sounds good or not.
I generally prefer active electronics as I like having the tone shaping on board. I would say I have a preference to have an bypass switch for passive, but that's only really as an insurance policy in case the battery dies and I don't have another. I can't say that I've used any of the active basses I've owned in passive for any amount of time. I have prefered setups where the preamp is neutral enough in the flat setting that it doesn't affect the tone between passive and active modes.
I've seen a few people mention weight... Looking quickly on google, it seems an Aguilar OBP-3 module weighs 22g, a 9V battery 34 g and a CTS pot weighs 19g. If you add that up for the extra pots and add some for the weight of the wire, unless you are using exceptionally heavy knobs it's probably around 110-120 g added to the bass, maybe 1/4 lbs for those who understand those units better. Most active basses I've seen also have more wood removed for larger control cavities and battery cavities, which would give some offset to the weight difference. It seems pretty miniscule against a bass that likely weighs more than 4 kg / 9 lbs in most cases.
I've also owned passive basses in the past and overall it would be more a matter of the bass as a whole than whether it has an active or passive electronics setup onboard.
I've seen a few people mention weight... Looking quickly on google, it seems an Aguilar OBP-3 module weighs 22g, a 9V battery 34 g and a CTS pot weighs 19g. If you add that up for the extra pots and add some for the weight of the wire, unless you are using exceptionally heavy knobs it's probably around 110-120 g added to the bass, maybe 1/4 lbs for those who understand those units better. Most active basses I've seen also have more wood removed for larger control cavities and battery cavities, which would give some offset to the weight difference. It seems pretty miniscule against a bass that likely weighs more than 4 kg / 9 lbs in most cases.
I've also owned passive basses in the past and overall it would be more a matter of the bass as a whole than whether it has an active or passive electronics setup onboard.
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