DaveMuadDib Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 My Laney HCM120B has two inputs, one labelled Passive and one labelled Active. However, I have no idea what the difference is between them! Obviously they're geared towards their respective types of basses, but what is the actual difference between the two? Will it damage anything if I play an active bass through the passive input? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 [quote name='Dave_MuadDib' post='131697' date='Feb 1 2008, 02:59 AM']My Laney HCM120B has two inputs, one labelled Passive and one labelled Active. However, I have no idea what the difference is between them! Obviously they're geared towards their respective types of basses, but what is the actual difference between the two? Will it damage anything if I play an active bass through the passive input?[/quote] The passive input has a higher gain than the active input - the premise being that passives put out a lower powered signal than actives with the benefit of preamps. I don't think you'll damage anything by putting the wrong thing in unless you really crank it up. The only potential for problems comes from putting an active bass into the passive input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Rule of thumb is always try the passive jack first. If there's no distortion, especially when you dig in and play hard, then just keep using it. Looking at your amp it appears there is no gain control. If that's the case set your amp up just as you like it (i.e. compression, eq etc) and then plug your bass into the passive jack and play as hard as you can. If there's no distortion you're all set, but if there is either modify your settings (i.e. reduce your bass in the eq or increase compression) or switch to active. If your bass has no actives on board you should be able to use the passive jack no problem at any setting, it's only where you have active eq in the bass that things get complicated. Best of luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bremen Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 [quote name='neepheid' post='131747' date='Feb 1 2008, 09:49 AM']The passive input has a higher gain than the active input - the premise being that passives put out a lower powered signal than actives with the benefit of preamps. I don't think you'll damage anything by putting the wrong thing in unless you really crank it up. The only potential for problems comes from putting an active bass into the passive input.[/quote] You definitely won't damage anything by plugging an active bass into the passive input, or vice-versa. Worst that can happen is that the sound might not be as good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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