Switched from Active to Passive

[kerrycares]

After years of playing active basses I recently went back to a passive set up and have been really pleased with the results.

I play through an in ear system and the active system and light combination was creating unwanted noise.

I converted my 70's Jazz 5 with Lindy Fralins and Bartolini pre over to a 60's stack knob configuration and run through a Countryman Active DI to the board.

Sounds great,no noise and no fear of battery failure.

It will be interesting to see if I miss the preamp the next time I have to play directly into an amp.

Thanks to my bass buddies that helped me get rid of the noise and land in a really good place.

Happy Holidays!

 

[SteveHeissner]

Welcome to the club. I did the same thing a few years ago... sold my active Washburn bass and bought passive basses from that time on. The primary reason was fear of battery failure in the middle of a set - and I just like to keep my rig simple. Of course, its a personal preference. I would never suggest to someone who prefers active basses to go passive.

 

[Jbassrockboy]

Passive for me...and I agree it keeps things simple, but I also think there is a unique quality with passive...

Rossa

 

[Thumper]

For sure passive basses have a more organic sound. That said, both of my pedalboards have an outboard preamp.

 

[kerrycares]

Had to make one small modification to my "pre wired " harness that was grounding out and giving me no sound. It's all good now.

 

[SolarMan]

Is that the bass in your profile picture? Gorgeous.

 

[Rickenbass]

I play both and have no issues transitioning between them. I own primarily single coil Rickenbackers, so I'm no stranger to noise. For the record, I own a few humbucking Rickenbackers as well.My active bass is a Spector NS2.

My first foray into active basses was on a Modulus Q5 a few years back. Nice bass but I found I did not "need" the low B. Tone wise the bass was a monster and needed to be EQ'ed differently from my Rickenbackers. Louder? Yes. Better tones? Not so much but that is a subjective question/answer.

Right now my Spector and my Rickenbackers coexist harmoniously in my arsenal. I do tend to favor the sound of a passive pick up. For me a bigger learning curve was more frets and a longer scale on the Spector!

Sepp

 

[dabbler]

Interesting. How many of you play with a light touch? I am kinda heavy handed, but considering a change to a light touch, and while I play passive, active seems, to me, to work better when I use a light touch.

 

[Thumper]

I tend to play with a medium to heavy touch, a compressor helps even things out, especially with active basses. I play passives 95% of the time.

 

[kerrycares]

Is that the bass in your profile picture? Gorgeous.

That is he , the Red Rooster!