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Passive vs Active for Recording

#25
Edwcdc said:
Active basses are better for recording? So I guess nobody ever got a decent sound out of a P bass on a recording?
Passive basses and active basses are both good for recording.
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+1 To suggest that either actives or passives are better for recording is just wrong. Most rock recordings are done with passives, and they clearly work. Many many famous recordings are done with actives and they work as well (eg: anything on a Stingray such as; Another one bites the dust, etc).

Its really just a question of what you like - actives or passives. Personally, I was a passive guy for many many years, but most of my basses are now active. I like having the extra control at my fingertips. I also like being able to actually use the volume control (volume controls on passives affect the shape of the sound, so they work best when the volume is wide open. On actives the volume is basically a true pre-amp gain control so it doesn't affect the quality of the sound).
 
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#26
I've recorded with both active and passive and it all comes down to style of how you play and taste. Both record fine and if you have a good engineer and quality recording equipment you can get any sound you want. Honestly i have used both for different types of songs. Experiment with both, it's a great experience and well worth the time (you may find THAT sound you always wanted too)
Good luck!
 
#29
No doubt good results can be had either way. Passive tone still gets my vote all the way in the tone and dynamic range department.

I personally feel if you are going to spend good money carefully selecting wood combinations, selecting weights of the bass, and pickups etc, why introduce a relatively cheap electronic component into the signal path to to get in the way of that?

Zander
 
#32
I've always recorded with my sansamp DI and my passive 81 G&L L1000. Gets a great tone. I use both outputs one clean one with the tube emulation and then the engineer can use either, or both tracks. I've always ended up with a great tone on recordings IMHO
 
#33
One of my basses is a 98 Lakland Deluxe 55 94 5 string, ash/maple with passive barts/bart active circuit. I play this bass in passive mode because I can dig in to the bass a little harder and get more bark out the pickups if I want, or it will respond better to quiet playing dynamics. The fundamental tone of the instrument is a true representation of the bass.

Active mode introduces a slight feel of compression and color to the bass which can be good for faster phrasing or getting a bit more volume from the instrument while playing softer. It also give the low B string a bit of a lift. But ultimately the passive tone of the bass is more musical and will record better in my experience.
 
#34
I have only recorded active and haven't encountered too many problems. The one time I had trouble being heard in the mix was due to a lot of similar frequencies in low woodwind synth, so hardly the fault of my bass.

One thing to note is that there are a LOT of different active pre-amp and pickup configurations. Furthermore, the EQ is there for you to use it. A nice pre-amp can fake a lot of tones that you wouldn't expect.
 
#37
With protools I go direct through the engineer. I have recorded with a squier active jazz 5 string and and a Squier Pbass passive 5 string. From my experience I keep the controls on my active flat except for the volume, and the tone is amazing even the engineer is impressed with the tone and has a grin like a kid in the candy store. When I recorded with the the passive I had to lower my volumes and tone as I like to peak them out while playing in a live setting but the engineer did not like to record with the tones maxed. Same is with the active but I dont peak the active live either. I think the active is defintily more modern sounding and to me it sounds a little cleaner overall. There is so many different variables, obvisouly what kind of bass, woods, pickups. If you have a good engineer and a set up bass with no buzzing he will make it work and sound great!!! Just an opinion and we all know about opinions.... :p
 

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