Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
User avatar
Larry Mal
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 19673
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:25 pm
Location: Saint Louis, MO

Re: Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Post by Larry Mal » Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:56 am

I had a Stingray for years, and loved it. Every time I went to record with it, though, I became aware of the noise of the preamp.

The fact is, there's no preamp put into any bass that is of the same quality as something that you would find in a studio, so for recording purposes I found the preamp in my Stingray to add nothing except noise.

Some bassists of course record with active basses, but personally I found it to add nothing that I couldn't add later on down the chain better.

So I traded it, the end replacement of it was a G&L SB-1.

And I'm not saying that I'd never own an active bass again, I bought a G&L L-2000 at some point (had to return it). Also, I know that for a lot of people here, they are looking for a bass to perform with, and active electronics shine in that role. I just thought I'd mention my experiences with it.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

User avatar
thatfenderguy
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 266
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 5:49 am
Location: Ohio
Contact:

Re: Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Post by thatfenderguy » Sat Jan 05, 2019 1:46 pm

Passive. Always passive. For two reasons. 1. I just prefer them tonally. I’ve never cared for active electronics. 2. I. Fucking. Hate. Batteries.

User avatar
scottydanger
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 270
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2013 7:06 am
Location: Nashville, TN

Re: Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Post by scottydanger » Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:35 pm

Passive with super hot pickups, splits the difference pretty well.

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Post by Embenny » Sat Jan 05, 2019 5:39 pm

I prefer the versatility of active electronics, particularly for live use.

As to Larry's mention of Stingrays and preamp noise, that's absolutely true. That's why I personally prefer active electronics that can cut rather than just boost - because selective cutting at the instrument to shape tone/string attack etc is what I find to be most useful, and leave the boosting of frequencies to the amp and/or post-production.

But I disagree that the preamps put into basses are always worse than studio-quality. I have used Alembic electronics that absolutely rival any studio EQ for SNR, and some recent onboard preamps by companies like ACG and Noll are also superb quality.

Granted, ACG, Alembic and Noll preamps aren't what you'll encounter on your average active bass sitting on a rack in a music store, but there's some truly great stuff being made these days.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
Larry Mal
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 19673
Joined: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:25 pm
Location: Saint Louis, MO

Re: Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Post by Larry Mal » Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:07 pm

Point taken- I haven't used an Alembic, and haven't even heard of Noll, so change my point to being a more general point to which there are certainly exceptions.
Back in those days, everyone knew that if you were talking about Destiny's Child, you were talking about Beyonce, LaTavia, LeToya, and Larry.

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Post by Embenny » Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:16 pm

Larry Mal wrote:
Sat Jan 05, 2019 7:07 pm
Point taken- I haven't used an Alembic, and haven't even heard of Noll, so change my point to being a more general point to which there are certainly exceptions.
Yeah, I'm a bit of a bass electronics geek and have spent a lot of time over at the Talkbass forums getting into this stuff.

Noll is a German company that burst onto the scene relatively recently with some preamps that are superlatively designed but not super widely adopted. A lot of the high end luthiers in Europe use them and I don't think I've ever heard a bad word about them from anyone who actually laid hands on their stuff.

I've played Alembics but the only stuff of theirs I've owned have been second hand sets of pickups and preamps (a set of J bass pickups with their most basic preamp will set you back about $1200, and goes way up from there for their flagship models). It's ridiculously high quality and their filter preamps are super usefully designed but the price of entry has kept me to their most basic (used) options.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
burpgun
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 826
Joined: Sun Dec 20, 2009 10:15 am
Location: east coast

Re: Active or passive bass , what is your choice ?

Post by burpgun » Sun Jan 06, 2019 8:32 am

I’ll add another reason why active pickups can be an issue. Upthread I mentioned I have an American Jaguar bass. To the extent they’re known they’ve got a reputation for having a lot going on with switches and such, and part of that goes to its active section.

I was interested in putting a set of EMG GZR pickups in this thing because they’re good and a noiseless J pickup would make that pup actually useful. I opened up the bass and my god the amount of wires. One of them looks like some sort of computer connector from 1992. There’s even what looks to be some sort of printed circuit attached to the volume pot. I love this bass but the active aspect, which I don’t use, adds unnecessary complications, at least for me.

Post Reply