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What are the differences between active basses and passive basses?

#23
I care much about active basses, my Fender Jazz bass has EMGs JV52s and I love them, my P bass has EMG Geezer . all passive pickups, back in the early 90s i played guitar in a Metal christian band, I did use Active pickups then, I had a Jackson USA soloist with Emg 81 and 85. I have a Fender USA Telecaster I put Fender Pure Vintage 58 pickups. I like my tubes to overdrive the amp not active pickups, and to me you have more control with passive pickups, my day of active pickups are done. My jazz bass and Fender actives in it, and they quit on me. It was still under warranty so I took it in. They replace with the same pickups, a month later they went out, so I replace them with the JV52s and been happy ever since.
 
#26
Technology has advanced significantly, so there are exceptions, but I caution you regarding active preamps in budget beginner instruments. As others have said, if you are just starting out I would encourage you to focus on finding a bass that feels right and is built well. Active preamps can become a distraction, especially if the design of the preamp is not exactly well thought out. You’ll get lost finding a tone instead of learning positions and developing your ear. Also, with practice you will be amazed at how you can coax a variety of sounds through technique and hand position.
 
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#30
MynameisMe said:
Active basses have a battery or batteries that can die on you during performance.
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Not really. Alkaline batteries (the kind you should be using, not rechargeable, at least not until battery technology improves) die gradually, giving you plenty of warning (like days) before dying completely.

They also have more moving parts and more pieces that can break.
They also have more ways to dial in sound.
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Yep.

I would recommend you start simply and focus on the essentials, not a bunch or high end gear.
There are lots of lower priced used basses.
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Great advice. A beginner should concentrate on technique, and learning how to play as a part of a group. Keep the tech side of things simple at the beginning.
 
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#31
As many have mentioned, an active bass has a built-in preamp to sculpt the sound. In general an active bass (with similar pickups) will also be slightly brighter than a passive bass due to the difference in impedance.

While I personally tend to favor active basses I'd recommend a passive bass in your situation for a couple reasons.

1. It's better to start simple and understand how your right hand placement and attack can vary the sound before tweaking an onboard EQ (and for the same reason I'd leave your amp set flat initially too) to adjust your tone.

2. The preamps on budget instruments often leave a lot to be desired as they have to build them as cheaply as possible. At that price point there are a lot of solid passive basses but I haven't found many great active budget basses. I'm sure there are some but I think a Squier Pbass or Sire Jazz would be a better route for you .
 
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#32
ctmullins said:
Not really. Alkaline batteries (the kind you should be using, not rechargeable, at least not until battery technology improves) die gradually, giving you plenty of warning (like days) before dying completely.



Yep.



Great advice. A beginner should concentrate on technique, and learning how to play as a part of a group. Keep the tech side of things simple at the beginning.
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One of the pitfalls of buying used and not really knowing what you are getting I learned from experience.
I bought a used Carvin 5 string in a jazz bass configuration, which was a pretty good deal at the time. This was about 10 years ago.
I never could dial the sound in I wanted. I kept it and bought a Lakland 5502 brand new. Had a bad set of pickups and could never get the sound right there. Lakland did me a solid and traded the pickups out and it was a real nice bass but I just never enjoyed it.
Traded it for a passive Jazz, then for a passive P and finally got the sound I wanted.
What I learned later is it is very common for gear heads to change out pickups and pots, active or passive.
In some ways I wish I had tried this on the Lakland, but I really, really like the P bass.
Turns out then Carvin, which I bought used, had active electronics and was always killing the 9 volt battery. I could get about a month's use out of it playing in church once a week and practicing a small amount of time plugged in each week.
The preamp in the Carvin had been bypassed and it was wired like with no low, mid or high, just two volume controls going out to the jack. No low, mid or high ever. I was just twisting knobs not wired to anything.
I replaced the preamp with an audere preamp and now I can dial in the sound on the Carvin. It's great for that. Just have to get rid of the crappy EMG active pickups. These ones sound awful.
Moral of my story is I like things a little simpler and passive is really just better for me.
Everyone is different. It seems less options forces me to get the tone I want out the bass from my fingers, instead of turning knobs.
Simper is better for me.
 
#33
tpaul said:
Active basses are a lot of fun but they can be a handful. They tend to run around the house and chew the furniture when you're not home. Passive basses, on the other hand, prefer to sit on the couch and watch TV.

Seriously, try a few of each and get whatever you like best.
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Yep! I never know what my Stingray is up to when I am not home.
 
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