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TEch Talk Difference between ACTIVE VS PASSIVE EBALL BASS

Active basses are for real men only... and passive bass are for the men who dont mind getting walked on but a active bassist
 
active basses tend to offer more control over tonal aspects of the sound, ie: bass, mid, treble vs tone
 
Think about the difference, in certain situations, between an "active" and a "passive" partner.

Okay, now which do you want?
 
Urwordsbreakmed said:
Active basses are for real men only... and passive bass are for the men who dont mind getting walked on but a active bassist
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I recent that remark, I have a passive bass I will put up against your active any day. The amps make a world of difference. :D
 
ZoundBoxBassist said:
GIve the low down on Active Vs. Passive
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Difference #1:
An active bass can have any imaginable configuration, but it needs a battery. A passive bass needs to be a P-Bass or a humbugger bass, or else it will suckk. [Buttoning up asbestos car-wash suit.]

Diff #2:
Active basses are played at any setting that you can twiddle up on the knobs. Passive basses are played wide open, with the tone knob full up or full down. [However, there's a lot can be done with coil splitter and series-parallel switches, as well as PU panning [dual PUs] to get a very flexible passive ax.]
Dif 3:
A decent passive bass whomps the stuffing outa any cheapo type active bass, but between really cheapo types, passives usualy sound better than actives. No matter how hard you try, no one can build a bummer passive to sound anywhere near as bad as a bummer active. Nothing in the EB line qualifies as a cheapo or bummer ax. SUBs are simply very basic.

[Non-EB rambling, you been warned....]
Other than whether you have something against needing battery power, the real deal is to avoid garbage basses of either genre, then let your own ears choose a bass. After you pay for it, ask the seller whether it uses a battery. If it does, put in a brand new one, and get a brand new spare about 10 months later to back it up. You don't want your spare to be as old as the one in play. I had this P-type ax, truly killer bass. Always puzzled how a single split PU, with only one volume and one tone knob, could need two toggle switches [a 2-way AND a 3-way] but it was a megazilla tone monster. After about 4 years I opened it up to look for a loose ground [it had begun to hum] and to my huge soooprize, there was a battery and some colorful circuitry stuff in there. [It was a used bass, maybe 15 yrs old when I got it.]
 
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Passive = different amp settings on eq verses passive.

or so I think.

tk
 
to my ears, passive p/u's have a more 'open' sound and frequency response[a little rough around the edges but more presence] where as active p/u's have a slight compression to their sound and freq. response BUT I do prefer the wide open wild west tone of passives and they do react with outboard gear alot differently.
 
Psychicpet said:
to my ears, passive p/u's have a more 'open' sound and frequency response[a little rough around the edges but more presence] where as active p/u's have a slight compression to their sound and freq. response
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My limited experience in these matters (and chronic bad hearing) agrees with this statement. However, most active basses have passive pickups. The pre-amp in the bass itself just becomes one more amplification section in the chain. The amp itself has several such sections, no? So why should it be any different unless the bass' pre-amp is intentionally designed to alter the signal or it's just a piece of crap.

In the case of EB's basses, the pre-amp isn't a piece of crap but is it intentionally designed to color the sound?

I once took the pre-amp out of a late pre-EB Sabre. Obviously you could no longer boost bass & treble, but it did not drastically alter what the bass sounded like flat.
 
Today's post- Active vs. Passive

There is no answer to which is better, which is why we make BOTH! Reading the posts here, I'm wondering if some of you realize that EB/MM makes passive basses in the SUB line. They are very cool, and have a different vibe than the active versions.

Passive basses are very friendly and un-intimidating, which is not a bad thing to be, especially if they have a great sound of their own. No doubt passives are less versatile, but if it's the right tool for the job, It couldn't be more right. Teaming the passive bass up with the right amp though IS more critical, as you have less control over tone shaping, and are at the mercy of the amp to optimize the tone of the bass.

The beauty of a well designed active bass is that the preamp and EQ can be voiced to bring out the best sounds the bass has to offer. This is more than just slapping in a multiband EQ, it is actually tuning the whole package- pickups, loading, control functions and EQ. All you really need then is an amp that produces a solid clean bass sound, and there's no guesswork whether the amp's EQ is voiced right for your bass. Using the wrong EQ can be worse than not having one at all.
 
Guitarburetor said:
There is no answer to which is better, which is why we make BOTH! Reading the posts here, I'm wondering if some of you realize that EB/MM makes passive basses in the SUB line. They are very cool, and have a different vibe than the active versions.

Passive basses are very friendly and un-intimidating, which is not a bad thing to be, especially if they have a great sound of their own. No doubt passives are less versatile, but if it's the right tool for the job, It couldn't be more right. Teaming the passive bass up with the right amp though IS more critical, as you have less control over tone shaping, and are at the mercy of the amp to optimize the tone of the bass.

The beauty of a well designed active bass is that the preamp and EQ can be voiced to bring out the best sounds the bass has to offer. This is more than just slapping in a multiband EQ, it is actually tuning the whole package- pickups, loading, control functions and EQ. All you really need then is an amp that produces a solid clean bass sound, and there's no guesswork whether the amp's EQ is voiced right for your bass. Using the wrong EQ can be worse than not having one at all.
Click to expand...

AMEN!!!
 
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