Not a poll, but do you prefer active or passive & why,,

[pappabass]

Not a poll, but do you prefer active or passive & why,,
me, I have owned a couple of passive basses. Now I own active models. I prefer active. I like the separate tone controls to get the sound I like. I like the big bass sound with mids cut down, then a little treble for a little punch so I wont get lost on the mix. Of course this varies from song to song, style & location. I like being able to change the sound at the guitar opposed to the amp.

 

[Michael B]

Passive. I feel like i have an extra conflicting eq with active. And I just like the sound of passive better.

 

[blmeier7]

I like the "idea" of an active bass, but I prefer the tone of passive. Passive sounds more natural to me. On the active/passive basses I've owned I would typically play in passive mode.

 

[bezo420]

Actives come out sterile. It's by nature a weak signal boosted by a preamp. They don't capture character and color like a hot pickup. That's why passive pickups and active preamp is the best route for people wanting to go active.

 

[strappa]

i prefer passive

it sounds more natural, more organic
i have a more aggressive attack, so the passive responds better
and when you have good pickups its not necessary to enhance them with an active system

 

[basslicks]

Passive because I'm a huge fan of simplicity.

 

[Midak]

Passive - I just like the bass to deliver its sound and the amp to shape it to my likes.

 

[Robroy]

I find myself conflicted. I like the fact that passive will never have a dead battery. I like that passive limits my tone choices. Yeah, you read that right. I sometimes feel like having all that tone control on the bass as well as the amp confuses things. However, I also really like how I can dial in different tones at the bass.

So I'm a bit neutral. I love a manual transmission on my FR-S, and the automatic on my Silverado Z71. It's about what I'm using it for, I guess.

 

[mikezimmerman]

Actives come out sterile. It's by nature a weak signal boosted by a preamp. They don't capture character and color like a hot pickup. That's why passive pickups and active preamp is the best route for people wanting to go active.

Most "active" basses have passive pickups and a preamp.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Well, i have basses with active pick ups, passive pick ups, and all the variations in between and i like them all, mostly equally. If i really had to choose my favorite is my MIK Squier Jazz with active MEC pick ups and passive controls.

 

[mikeyjm2]

Passive because I'm a huge fan of simplicity.

My take on it too.

 

[garp]

Passive, for all the reasons stated above. However, I own several of both.

 

[two fingers]

Passive right now. I have owned lots of both. Passive seems to "breathe" more. It reacts more to my change in playing style. I am more in control of my tone with my fingers or a pick with a passive bass.

Active basses all seem to have a compressor on them to my ears. They react a lot less to changes in playing.

That being said, I have enjoyed the sounds of many active basses both in my hands and others'.

 

[Doner Designs]

Some basses (like Stingray) need the preamp as an integral part of the sound and to boost low output pickups.

I like to use a preamp with no added gain and which is flat when the controls are at noon. This basically gives you the passive sound with an option to boost/cut various frequencies at the bass.

For my personal basses I like 4 band Audere preamps. Four bands provides control similar to what most amps have, so I'm surprised it's not a more common setup. The controls I use the most are high and low mids.

 

[spaz21387]

I switch it up. My main bass will always be my stingray. But ever since i got the ric 4003 thats been getting alot of play time. I prefer the active eq though. I set my amp flat then eq on the stingrays 3 band pre.

 

[AMJBASS]

Passive right now. I have owned lots of both. Passive seems to "breathe" more. It reacts more to my change in playing style. I am more in control of my tone with my fingers or a pick with a passive bass.

Active basses all seem to have a compressor on them to my ears. They react a lot less to changes in playing.

That being said, I have enjoyed the sounds of many active basses both in my hands and others'.

That has been my experience well. Have owned some great active basses(boutique, jazz style, etc), but I always tend to find they feel compressed. Not true in all cases, but generally yes. I prefer playing passive Fender or Fender style instruments. I just find that you can dig in or vary your hand placement and they tend to be more responsive.

 

[DigitalMan]

Which is better, semi-gloss or flat interior paint?

 

[basslicks]

Which is better, semi-gloss or flat interior paint?

Easy, flat interior paint.

 

[VinnyIuspa]

Tough call. For distortion passive basses are better. I also enjoy the simplicity of it. I don't want to fiddle with the preamp on the bass, the darkglass, and then finally the preamp on the amp itself. On the other side of the coin, my active bongo is better straight into an amp than my passive jazz. Both are good, but I think my preference is for passive.

 

[jlepre]

Active without question for a few reasons. The main one is that when I'm gigging, I can tweak the mids or bass depending on the song. I play in a cover band and we cover a wide variety of genres. My new V7 Marcus Miller has a switch that goes to passive if needed, but I never use it. I kind of have it as a safety net if my battery dies.