I was talking with a fellow bass player this past Sunday and we got into a discussion. He says that passive basses work better with tube amps than active basses do. Is there any truth to this? In my experience my active basses work well with my tube amps, but I have heard of instances where pickups that are too hot can overdrive an amp. In my case we are talking about a Fender 50 watt combo( the Adam Clayton signature amp), and the Fender Super bassman 300. What is your experience with active basses and tube amps?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Passive vs active with full tube amps
- Thread starter Cory rich40
- Start date
People frequently say things when they have no idea what they are talking about. Generalizations for Tube/Solid State etc. are frequently garbage.
Can you find a tube amp that works better for passive than active? Probably. Does that mean it is true for everything? No. All comes down to how it was designed. I am not an expert on that design, but expect we might have one chime in here soon (there are several that are experts and respond with meaningful answers to these types of generalizations).
Can you find a tube amp that works better for passive than active? Probably. Does that mean it is true for everything? No. All comes down to how it was designed. I am not an expert on that design, but expect we might have one chime in here soon (there are several that are experts and respond with meaningful answers to these types of generalizations).
You gave a specific example where you think it works better and did not extend it to every tube amp made. That is a significantly more reasonable approach to the topic.
A preamp that is too hot (they do exist) will overdrive a solid-state amp as well.
Edit: Too hot is too hot.......but it can be easily remedied by turning down the bass's volume.
Edit: Too hot is too hot.......but it can be easily remedied by turning down the bass's volume.
As a rule, all generalizations are false.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,047
- 5
- 221,002
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
It depends very much on the amp. There are plenty of tube amps that work just as well with active basses, especially those designed within the last 20-30 years.
I played my Sadowsky Metro through an SVT, with the 810, at an outdoor festival a few years ago and it was the best tone I ever had in my life. Not sure of the vintage of the SVT, but it definitely wasn’t new.
Not criticizing your experience, I just had a different one…
So far my active basses have worked great with my Super bassman 300.
It's nonsense IMHO.
Line up 10 people, 10 rigs, and 10 basses. Ask the people to rate the bass/rig combinations in the order of preference, and you are likely to get 10 different lists.
Ask them to just rate the basses and you will get 10 different lists.
Ask them to rate the rigs and you will get 10 different lists.
Taste is subjective. There is no right or wrong answer. However, many people tend to base their opinions on tribal BS. It's like the Ford VS Chevy thing.
IMHO play a bunch of bass and rigs, and choose based on your own taste and goals, without concern for tribal BS.
My first bass was a Ric 4001. At the time I was sort of anti Fender P. The first rig I bought was a new MTI era SVT and 810. I thought it sounded awful with my Ric, but it seemed to pair well with a P bass. However, not my sound. I like SVTs a lot more than Ampeg 810s
.
My #1 since about 1995 has been active. I have about 60 amps and most of them are considered all tube. My #1 sounds great with all of my tube amps; including my 69 and 87 SVTs. I own a few passive basses, and they sound great with my tube amps as well.
Line up 10 people, 10 rigs, and 10 basses. Ask the people to rate the bass/rig combinations in the order of preference, and you are likely to get 10 different lists.
Ask them to just rate the basses and you will get 10 different lists.
Ask them to rate the rigs and you will get 10 different lists.
Taste is subjective. There is no right or wrong answer. However, many people tend to base their opinions on tribal BS. It's like the Ford VS Chevy thing.
IMHO play a bunch of bass and rigs, and choose based on your own taste and goals, without concern for tribal BS.
My first bass was a Ric 4001. At the time I was sort of anti Fender P. The first rig I bought was a new MTI era SVT and 810. I thought it sounded awful with my Ric, but it seemed to pair well with a P bass. However, not my sound. I like SVTs a lot more than Ampeg 810s
.My #1 since about 1995 has been active. I have about 60 amps and most of them are considered all tube. My #1 sounds great with all of my tube amps; including my 69 and 87 SVTs. I own a few passive basses, and they sound great with my tube amps as well.
An active bass might sound worse than a passive bass you're used to playing when you've got a fixation over exactly how the knobs should be positioned on your amp and won't adapt to the circumstances at hand.
May be true, IF:
Attempting to use the same gain settings on the amp.
IF: trying to compare different configurations (active Jazz , MusicMan)
Vs:
Passive Jazz, P, Ric etc
Very subjective: very personal.
Validation: I have a Kramer Duke with VERY hot passive bridge only Dual J. Strung with flats.
Non master SVT anniversary heritage.
Man that bass makes the SVT sound ANGRY.
I have a self built J with Audere pre (dual linear humbuckers in J shells) strung with rounds.
Smooth at same gain settings on amp and same relative output volume.
My 4003W sounds spanky on same rig.
YMMV
Attempting to use the same gain settings on the amp.
IF: trying to compare different configurations (active Jazz , MusicMan)
Vs:
Passive Jazz, P, Ric etc
Very subjective: very personal.
Validation: I have a Kramer Duke with VERY hot passive bridge only Dual J. Strung with flats.
Non master SVT anniversary heritage.
Man that bass makes the SVT sound ANGRY.
I have a self built J with Audere pre (dual linear humbuckers in J shells) strung with rounds.
Smooth at same gain settings on amp and same relative output volume.
My 4003W sounds spanky on same rig.
YMMV
Last edited:
In my experience? Nope.
Perhaps within a very small sample size…. sure. Maybe someone who’s only played a couple of active basses into a couple of tube amps and didn’t like either combination might say this.
There’s nothing inherently true about the statement because there’s nothing inherently true about active vs. passive basses’ output or about tube vs. solid state amplifiers’ inputs that would make them work better or worse together.
Everything I say is a lie.
They're just repeating guitar player logic, which itself is misguided. There's a common belief among guitarists that running hot active pickups like EMG 81's into vintage tube amps is not ideal.
I have several All Tube amps and have never had an issue with active, passive basses. Adjust the input gain on the amp or turn the master volume down on the active bass.
This statement is false...Everything I say is a lie.
Brandon Shea
Commercial User
I've played bass for over 20 years and finally realized this is why Leo added a volume knob in the first place... I went wayyyyy too long using the volume knobs on my basses as simple on/off switches. When playing with tubes (or anything trying to simulate tubes), I like to turn up the gain pretty high and roll back the volume on my bass to about ½ or ⅔. Sometimes it's really nice to leave yourself room to turn up a little bit more, especially if that "little bit more" is hitting the front of a tube amp.
Speaking to the specific application, I found that my Adam Clayton (ACB50 or whatever) tube combo likes my p-basses more than my active Stingray and my hotter passive basses (Sereks). I agree with @ahadl2500 that this should not be extrapolated to all tube amps, but having the same amp, I can say that the ACB likes my p-basses most. I don't own a J, but I imagine that would be fine. Hotter outputs overdrive the ACB's preamp in my experience.
