Question about active pickups

[Bigduke]

When you guys are setting your sound/tone on your amp do you turn all the guitar settings up and adjust your amp down or just the opposite?I had my active pickups turned down and i was letting the amp do the work but i was running out of volume in practice.Now i have my pickups cranked up,i am getting more volume,maybe i am answering my own question but i want to see what you guys are doing.My amp is a hartke 4x10 with a hartke 5500 head(500 watt)and i am using my new schecter elite4 with active pickups.Thanks ahead of time.I am a guitar player switching over to the bass.

 

[Kippa-Dee]

I have four pots...
Volume, Pick up blend, Bass Boost/Cut, and Treble Boost/Cut.

I tend to run with pickup blend set exactly middle (it has a notch there), Volume running wide open, bass boost at the central notch and treble at the same, and then EQ with my head. For certain songs I'll beef up the treble or bass, and control blend as I see fit. But for the most part, I set them 'flat' to get my EQ's and volumes right.

 

[62bass]

I have the same set up as Kippa-Dee. I usually set the tone controls in the center detent, but I cut the volume to about 2/3. Wide open it can easily overpower the active input on my Walkabout and many other amps I've used. Also, I find when the volume is down a bit like that, the circuit sounds cleaner. I like a bit of grit in my tone, but not the kind I get when an on board system distorts. Pickup height is something to consider too, as is your choice of strings.

 

[A9X]

Max level out of the bass as the input stage on my pre won't distort easily. Better for signal to noise ratio.