I have a custom made p bass with SD II's.Not he quarter pounders. I feed the bass to a Sansamp Bass DI before feeding it to my ampeg amp. This is the closest I 've got to a Stingray sound. Meanwhile I should get my Stingray in a month. Can't wait.
ya ... the non ebs do serve well as backups. taking 2 basses i cant "live without" to a gig makes for too much worrying for my taste. not to mention the head and cab (prolly to heavy to steal, but someone could f&@* with 'em)
one thing about passive basses is my practice amp and digi 8 track dont "like" the juice from an active bass (with lower volume it just sounds crappy)
Which 8-track do you have? I have an AKAI DR8 and all the active basses that were recorded through it, were excellent. Not a hint of distortion even in the extreme settings.