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

[rogerbmiller]

It's funny this thread should come up.

I grew up way preferring active. Then I took 11 years off of playing and then about 6 years ago I joined a classic rock covers band. I fell in love with passive basses and accumulated a few.

But then my college band got back together for a 20th reunion so I dusted off my active tone, and now I can't go back!

In fact, I have introduced a GEB-7 into my low-end diet so that my passive basses can sound a little more...I dunno...active?!

 

[jazzyvee]

I prefer passive because there are no battery worries. If I want the sound of an active bass, I can just purchase an outboard preamp and if, it fails, I still have a functional bass.

All my basses are active just because of the brand I chose to use only have active basses. I haven't had any real experience with a passive bass to make a comment on which would suit me best. As for the batteries, I have a 36v dc external power supply for my main basses and if that goes, the bass has two internal batteries running the bass at 18v and if that goes I may as well go home.

 

[slagbass]

Active. That said, the only preamp I use is the Sadowsky and with very little boost. The outboard pre just adds a little "something" to an old Precision and the onboard can take the Jazz into new territory.

 

[CGremlin]

All my basses are active just because of the brand I chose to use only have active basses.

I can't imagine what that brand might be.

 

[Sweet Willie]

I have two of each. I like and play both kinds. I like and play all four of my basses. Life is good.

I'll expand on my short answer.

- I have a 4-string fretless that I intentionally wanted to be a simple instrument -- one MM pickup w/ series/parallel switch, volume and tone knobs. I had an active fretless for many years that I really loved, but found myself wanting to simplify the "tool" in the fretless realm and really focus ever more on what I did with my hands to get sounds that I wanted.

- I have a passive 4-string PJ. I wanted to have a passive 4-string in the stable -- just fits right in a lot of situations (particularly ol skool stuff) and is strung w/ flats. I wanted a fretted bass that forced me to be simpler in my approach to the instrument, and passive seemed right for that. And I really do vary whether I just use the P, or the J, and varying mixes of both, and that gives me a fair bit of variety along with passive tone adjustment.

- I have an active 5-string. I wanted a multifaceted instrument. It has an Aguilar OBP-3 preamp as well as a passive tone and the ability to switch to passive mode. It also allows me to switch the pickups between single coil and humcancelling. I have a lot I can do with this instrument on the fly, and that's what I wanted.

- I have another active 5-string. I wanted an inexpensive backup bass to leave in my office as I was having the occasional need to head out to play on short notice during lunch at a nearby rehearsal studio or after work. I didn't really care that much whether it was active or passive, but wanted a 5-string. eBay offered me an ATK for about $200 -- it was in the middle of the night, the auction was due to end within 20 minutes with only one prior bidder, and I said, "Ok, I'll throw in a bid." I won the auction. It's a terrific bass. I got lucky. It happens to be active. Works just fine for me. If it were passive, it would be fine, too. But it's not.

I prefer to adjust my tone options at the instrument when I play a gig. I prefer not to go back to my amp. Also, I am often playing through amps that are not my own -- at rehearsal studios or backlined gigs. I just want to find a basic sound I like from the "unknown" amp. I understand what the tone or EQ knobs on my basses do, so with amps I know less well, I'm a bit more successful tweaking my sound in these circumstances from my bass -- whether passive or active.

Peace.

 

[rwkeating]

I prefer active pickups. I can take or leave active tone controls.

With an active pickup, you can wind the pickup to get the sound you want without having to balance tone to output (since the active part of the pickup will boost the signal to the correct level.) You can also use a weaker magnetic (so as to not disturb the orbit of the strings) since the active part of the PU gets the signal to the proper level.

Done correctly, I believe an active PU can give you a truer representation of what the bass sounds like or conversely, the PU designer can add as much color as they want. Much more freedom in design.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I don't like the idea of putting batteries into my basses. I like the way a passive j, or a p sounds, and I prefer to have an outboard pre (currently the mxr bass pre) for tone shaping if I need any.

Edit:
I have14 basses that are all passive, but I might get an active one someday. Ideally it should do both.

 

[brianrost]

Five pages later...

I just use my ears and if I like the sound, I don't care if it is active or not. I own both passive and active basses.

 

[BlueAliceOasis]

I'm gassing for basses that happen to be active, but I prefer passive. Passive is simple, passive equals less knobs usually, I don't need to buy batteries, all that good, fun stuff.

 

[drlndrve]

like someone else implied, I like passive until I met .......Roger Sadowsky

 

[saltydude]

Been playing Kubicki's for some time now.
5 on board options. Two active & three passive.

I prefer active 1&2 position mostly for the power, options, strong signal for the petals, etc. but I have on rare occasions used the passive settings.

I recall a few situations in the past when I'm using another's amp at a open mic or party when I just can't seem to tame the active settings. One click and a small volume knob roll and I'm sitting perfect in the mix hitting the strings as hard as I want.

Eta: also I'm surprised at the battery hate. I replace the batteries in my 18V systems out of guilt every 5 months or so and I play at least and hour plus every day..
The batteries usually have enough life left in them to get thrown into a petal or something to die.

 

[ofajen]

Mostly, passive, if it has both Q-filter midrange cut and standard tone control, which, unsurprisingly, all three of my passive basses have.

Otto

 

[DuShauh]

I like active/passive. Two of my basses havea preamp with the typical bass/treble controls, but also have passive rolloff controls typical of most passive basses. And they have an active/passive switch. Totally flexible system, and should a battery die, switch to passive - no problem, and since there's a passive tone control, I can still shape the sound.

That is my take as well. Interestingly, every active/passive bass that i own is set to passive 99.9 % of the time.

 

[Charlzm]

Active. Strange, since I leave everything flat on the instrument. But passive just sounds lo-fi to me.

 

[Herrick]

I prefer passive for the simplicity but I prefer a lightweight smaller body even more so that's why I'm playing an Ibanez Soundgear these days.

 

[BAG]

I like passive purely for the fact that I don't like having to use batteries in anything if I can help it.

 

[Korladis]

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.

I prefer passive.

I don't like lining up too many preamps in a row. I have a tube EQ and a graphic EQ on my amp. I don't need a third EQ on my bass. For me, at a certain point, it just becomes overcomplicated, and too easy to make counterproductive settings.

So I play through passive basses and do all the tone-altering I need at the instrument end just through pickup switching.

Similarly, I don't like "tone" knobs on pedals.

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

Passive. More responsive to technique, more organic sounding, more dynamic range, no batteries to deal with. Why do I want a pre-amp in my bass anyway? I've got one on my amp.

 

[joebar]

Active. Strange, since I leave everything flat on the instrument

a quality instrument quite often doesn't need a boost.

I like simplicity-
a passive P/flats; already a hot signal nowhere to go for it sounds perfect.

however, I own a few actives but I like a relatively neutral sounding preamp that can be shut off.

it seems IME that many 5ers benefit from a preamp for the B string. but there are some great builders out there that are building spectacular passive 5ers (dingwall AB1 and G&L for example), that don't need a preamp to assist a B that already is there.

batteries last a long time if you unplug your bass.

 

[Korladis]

a quality instrument quite often doesn't need a boost.

I like simplicity-
a passive P/flats; already a hot signal nowhere to go for it sounds perfect.

however, I own a few actives but I like a relatively neutral sounding preamp that can be shut off.

it seems IME that many 5ers benefit from a preamp for the B string. but there are some great builders out there that are building spectacular passive 5ers (dingwall AB1 and G&L for example), that don't need a preamp to assist a B that already is there.

batteries last a long time if you unplug your bass.

It seems odd to me that apparently so many 5s have low B strings that are lacking. I have a couple of my 4s set up BEAD, and the low B is fine.