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Passive + Preamp = Active??

+1 on preamp. An active bass is active because it has a preamp onboard. The preamp allows you to (usually) play with your volume and set lows mids and highs rather than just using the tone controls that passives have (Tone controls are just treble cuts).

Most of my basses are active so I have my amp pretty much flat and use the onboard controls. Sometimes I just add a little bit of bass on my amp. I find with active basses that if I use the onboard eq and an EQ pedal and the eq on my amp, I just get lost in a world of way to much EQ!!

So to answer the question, a preamp lets you do your tone shaping before the amp EQ which is what an active bass lets you do.

EDIT: Preamps also make your signal a little hotter :) Some pedals go a bit bicko with active basses... Some love them. I find my Guyatone BR-2 really needs a hot active signal to get it sounding funky!!
 
i do just the opposite. i play a passive bass, that way i get the "vintage" tone control option that seems to be popular now, especially on the sadowskys, and i use an outboard preamp. that way i can buy just one preamp, and use it with all of my basses, (although i actually have bought several i can still use each on any bass that i own). i love the passive tone control on my bass too. gotta have it.
 
i do just the opposite. i play a passive bass, that way i get the "vintage" tone control option that seems to be popular now, especially on the sadowskys, and i use an outboard preamp. that way i can buy just one preamp, and use it with all of my basses, (although i actually have bought several i can still use each on any bass that i own). i love the passive tone control on my bass too. gotta have it.

Yeah I know what your saying. Im a bit spoilt in that most of my actives can be changed to passive with the flick of a switch. To be honest, I play a lot in passive mode these days too.
 
then how do i control the mids? this is what my rig will look like with if i get a preamp.

Bass--->Preamp--->Compressor--->Amp

I just started playing a year back and now im investing in pedals to get the right sound, my band plays competions where the amp is already given. i just need a setup where i can just step on the stage plugin and start playing. any suggestions?