Went through something similar a while ago. Had a very nice StingRay at the time, but just couldn't find a sound I liked from it, so sold it and bought an SB1000 that came up in the local music emporium (both it and the Ray had been "dream" basses since the 80's), fabulous bass to play, but again, just couldn't find "my" sound out of it no matter what I tried.
Went back to said music emporium, and simply sat down and tried a load of basses (thankfully, the shop had an excellent selection of basses), in order to try and find one that not only felt and played well, but sounded great too. After a couple of hours of trying stuff, I walked out with a passive Mexican Jazz (which had US made pickups). It was just head and shoulders above anything else I tried. Only sold it to get my first 4003 (THE dream bass).
The only active I've had since then was a G&L L2000 Tribute, again, looked and played great, but just couldn't get a sound I liked from it.
Bizarrely, the only active bass that ever "hit the spot" sound wise was an old Thunder 1A.
Though currently tempted by the Ibanez BTB that @fleabag has in the marketplace.