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Passive vs active with full tube amps

#24
MCS4 said:
The hottest output bass I've ever owned was passive.

All but one of the active basses I've ever owned have had an internal trim pot in the preamp cavity where you could adjust the overall gain/output level if need be, and the only one that didn't happens to be a fairly low output bass overall.
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Thanks for saying this!!! I'm currently wondering why the hell my passive Sterling is hotter than my active Spector ... glad I'm not alone in that.
 
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#28
No amplifier, whether tube or solid state, knows if a bass is active or passive. Some passive basses are hotter than some active basses, even with the onboard preamp controls 'centered' with no boost. There are so many variables that a generalization like this is impossible to quantify. I will say this, for the sake of the discussion, that my SWR Workingman's amps from the late 90s/early 2000s, had 2 separate inputs labeled 'Passive/Active' and one labeled 'Active', which had a built in pad on the active input for very hot signals, which was pre-gain-knob. With how 'clean' SWR amps were, I do believe it was an effort to limit the possibility of nasty clipping and transients, and it was definitely in the era of 'hot' active basses. YMMV.
 
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#29
6thplanet said:
I once plugged my passive bass into my active bass. My tube amp was not happy.
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#30
A person who works construction has enough density and finger force to create natural overdrive My friend certainly does. He is actually pretty good and and there is something unique when he digs in. I have to use my arm and 2-3 finger's and can only sustain that plucking. for maybe a chorus. and I play the upright as well. There is also a thing called a volume knob
 
#32
baxter_x said:
Passive basses work better with tube amps.
Tube amps work better with closed cabs.
Class D amp sound lifeless and powerless.
True bass players play with fingers, not pick.
Tube amps are better than SS amps.

Did I forget anything?
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Yeah, the promoter will pay the band after the gig.
 
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#34
baxter_x said:
Passive basses work better with tube amps.
Tube amps work better with closed cabs.
Class D amp sound lifeless and powerless.
True bass players play with fingers, not pick.
Tube amps are better than SS amps.

Did I forget anything?
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If the amp is old replace the capacitors.
Tube watts are louder than solid state watts.
Bass speakers have to be on the floor.
 
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#37
baxter_x said:
Passive basses work better with tube amps.
Tube amps work better with closed cabs.
Class D amp sound lifeless and powerless.
True bass players play with fingers, not pick.
Tube amps are better than SS amps.

Did I forget anything?
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MM Bongo sounds amazing and feels great to play... but it looks like a toilet seat, so I refuse to play one

On topic, I'm in the "it's more about the output of the bass in question and being ready to tweak that and/or the input gain on the amp

+ If the bass is active, you may need to tweak your preamp" camp
 
#38
Brandon Shea said:
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.
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a great observation about shaping tone with the volume knobs. i haven't actually tried this yet on my bass rig but i do the volume switching trick all the time on my guitar rig which is passive into tube. my guitar doesn't even have a tone pot, the volume mixing is the tone control.

on bass i'm running passive into ss. i'm not sure that I would choose tube color or tube compression or tube clipping on my bass. I find active pups a bit too crisp and fussy for my taste, i'm pretty much a passive devotee.

de gustibus, don't tase me bro!
 
#39
wompwomp said:
a great observation about shaping tone with the volume knobs. i haven't actually tried this yet on my bass rig but i do the volume switching trick all the time on my guitar rig which is passive into tube. my guitar doesn't even have a tone pot, the volume mixing is the tone control.

on bass i'm running passive into ss. i'm not sure that I would choose tube color or tube compression or tube clipping on my bass. I find active pups a bit too crisp and fussy for my taste, i'm pretty much a passive devotee.

de gustibus, don't tase me bro!
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At the end of the day, if it sounds good, it is good. :cool:
 
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#40
I play Alembic and Warwick active basses and prefer my Marshall tube amps for tone. The passive Gibsons and Fenders also sound their best with them to the point I started to sell off my more modern amps and am down to 1 modern combo for home practice and exclusively Marshall for live work.
 
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