Yeah sorry if all that got a bit confusing. I know this may sound pedantic but I think it's relevant; don't forget that even when you're cutting frequency bands with passive controls you're effectively boosting others. Psychoacoustic research has revealed several interesting features of human hearing, one of which being that when you cut a certain frequency from a sound, the brain percieves the other frequencies as louder. As I understand it, this means even with a passive tone control, as far as humans can hear you may as well be boosting frequencies. If you're still not being heard after this then perhaps increase the volume. Of course, on an active instrument you can boost different frequencies by a far greater amount, that, to me, would be the advantage of actives. But, as you said Peter, it's really just down to the signal meeting pre-amplifcation a little earlier than the section on the amplifier head etc., so I don't think of them as better or worse.
G