Is it just me??

[Dust2Dust]

There is a certain elegance to traditional passive pickup setups.

This

My preference has nothing to do with sound, it's about my OCD won't put up with a battery door on my bass

If I need boost, I get it from my pedals

 

[Lance Bunyon]

Two different animals.
With an active bass I'll never find a moment I can't cut through live.
With a passive bass I'll never hear that squeal that tells me I boosted the treble to Venus.
I've grown to not hate preamps as much as I used to.
ABGs all have preamps.
I currently have four basses with 18v preamps. Only three are active/passive. One of those won't work without the preamp connected tho (EMG bass expander circuit).

I prefer active/passive over a non defeatable preamp.
At this point, it would be foolish to rule out a bass just because it has batteries. Worst case scenario it can always be gutted to passive only.

 

[thmsjordan]

I tend to prefer passive but a Sadowsky preamp is pretty darned nice and one of the few preamps I really love.

 

[Ggaa]

Both basses started as active. As the preamps conked out or got noisy I yanked them out and didn't replace them. Doing fine with passive. Onboard amp overdrive does seem to sound better with active though.

 

[B-Mac]

Lots of EBMM Stingray owners would have a problem with this.

 

[Deleted member 365158]

I prefer passive… not necessarily a straight up P though.

 

[ScottfromCalgary]

I’ve been playing bass for 45 years, it’s now my full time profession. In that time I’ve had a lot of basses. In my current stable I have 18. Of those 4 of them are active. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not a fan of active electronics. I’m a meat and potatoes passive P bass guy. Anyone else feel the same?

I’m with you man. My holy grail turned out to be an AVRI 63 Precision. It’s my forever bass and I just bought a second one today! Been through so many basses and I only play precisions now. To each their own, but I’m with you

 

[MegaSwing]

Every bass has its own unique appeal. That being said, the simplicity of not dealing with batteries is no small deal.

 

[Maxi Funkl]

No absolutely not

 

[Nashrakh]

I’ve been playing bass for 45 years, it’s now my full time profession.

Let me guess - you're retired?

 

[PBandJazzBass]

Similar mentality here, though I’ve been favoring a J bass recently. I also prefer passive and consider myself more “old school” as far as tone. I do own a couple basses with active electronics but only use them in specific situations.

 

[BassyBill]

I like passive basses and I also like EMG active pickups. But I’m not really a fan of complicated EQ or controls on board my basses. VVT or VBT is generally enough for me.

 

[socialleper]

Does anyone? Sure.
Do I? No.
Have have no use for a P bass and I like active electronics with a preamp. Tone control is crucial, and I'm not weirded out by knobs like some of the people here.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I’ve been playing bass for 45 years, it’s now my full time profession. In that time I’ve had a lot of basses. In my current stable I have 18. Of those 4 of them are active. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not a fan of active electronics. I’m a meat and potatoes passive P bass guy. Anyone else feel the same?

Yup. I don't dig'em them either

 

[logdrum]

Get a Filter Pickup. I just tried on my bass. It's like having different capacitors on one control knob.

But good on you playing bass full time

 

[HardNHeavy]

i no need no steenking batteries

 

[themickster]

I’ve been playing bass for 45 years, it’s now my full time profession. In that time I’ve had a lot of basses. In my current stable I have 18. Of those 4 of them are active. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just not a fan of active electronics. I’m a meat and potatoes passive P bass guy. Anyone else feel the same?

I have active EQ and like the wider range I get

 

[Acoop]

I own two Stingrays, but prefer passive basses. ... I never know if I'm listening to the pickups or the electronics but I do enjoy my Stingrays and their pre-amp they're just not my 'go-too' basses. ...

 

[Vincent Van Low]

Let me guess - you're retired?

no he finally found a gigging band...

 

[Dincrest]

I like 24-fret 5-strings, but most of those are active so I have a luthier "de-activate" them for me. Passive soapbars, VVT controls, no batteries, no muss, no fuss.

After having a battery fail on me during a gig once and not having a spare, a screwdriver, or a bypass switch sucked. It also sucked when I went to change the battery in another bass and one of the contacts came out because a cheap one was installed in the bass.