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What do you prefer? Active or Passive Bass?

#161
I have both and the active/passive thing does not form any part of my preference.

I go for the sound, look and price of the bass (in that order) and worry about the active/passive thing after I get it home. If it's active I buy a spare battery to put in the case, if it's passive I don't.

The difference is that simple.
 
#162
I have both.

Partsbass J has 18V Barts. Love the growl I can get from it.
Affinity P has Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound with tapewounds. Love the thump.
EA260 has whatever those vintage pickups were, and I love the TONE.
 
#163
4-string passive. I don't play out anymore; I just play what I like, when I like. And what I like to play doesn't need anything else. Plus, I'm a retired military engineer; the one thing we like above all, is something simple, that works every time, all the time. And, sorry, but stuff with batteries doesn't qualify....;)
 
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#164
Passive all the way. I can use my amp to change up my sound if I really need to, but active just wasn't for me. It's too easy to fiddle and mess up your sound during playing, especially when you can't hear what it does to the room away from your rig. I also only really find purpose in 2 different types of tones when playing...semi muted, little deeper, or wide open for a more clean and cutting sound. A tone control does that just fine for me and I enjoy focusing on my playing more than my sound. I can't do both.

I do have one active left, an active Spector PJ with a 2 band preamp, which I like. But the controls are still relatively easy to operate. BTW, the Spector is the ONLY 24 fret P, I've found without going boutique.
 
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#165
Passive for sure. Had a few active basses over the years.. Ibanez, Warwick, Spector and recently a Sandberg. Great for a certain sound but prefer the organic and ballsy sound of a passive bass. I think passive sounds better in metal too. Just throw on a pedal board an overdrive and it can keep up no problem with loud guitars.
 
#166
I used to avoid playing my active bass live (Stingray) because the batteries might quit, then I remembered my passive basses had gone quiet several times. To me if it sounds good it is good. Some basses were designed to be passive, others active.
 
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#167
One of my basses is passive/active switchable, and the other is active. It is reassuring doing a gig with the former, knowing if the batt fails, I can still go on with the flick of a switch. I think passive sounds good on certain recordings, maybe vintage style songs, and my active-only is great for a mo hi-fi sound. So it's the best of both worlds really.
 

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