andrewrx7 Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Hi there, Apologies if this is a daft question, but you never learn unless you ask!! What is the advantage of having actives on a guitar/bass? What do they actually offer over and above good tone controls on passive basses? I’ve been going along with actives are better attitude, but never really stopped to understand why! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussFM Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 I'm not one for playing with my tone much, I just set it to something I like on the amp and leave it there, but at different venues I might not be cutting through or something, so it's nice to be able to boost/cut as needed. With my old passive bass I couldn't do anything about it except cut (as I always had everything up full). Now I keep everything centred, get the tone through my amp, then throughout the set I cut or boost whenever I need to. I'm sure there are people here who don't EQ on their amp and do it all on their active preamp, but that's the way that works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Active tronics are powered (9v or 18v batteries) and can boost frequencies. Passive can only cut frequencies. Naturally there are many more ramifications, but that's the basic answer. Many will argue a floor pedal can do the same, and of course your amp's preamp stage too. I find active very useful, but then I use a lot of dub tones in a couple of my bands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 It's handy when your drummer decides to increase volume, you can boost the treble or mids during a song so you can hear yourself better. It's also sometimes useful to have some sort of pre amp in front of your pedals if that's your thing. I use the DI on my MXR pedal so if my amp fails i still have FOH, ths way i can still have the tone i want going through the PA and can also eq my amp for purely onstage sound Plus they're just nice to have! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51m0n Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 Not forgetting that active electronics will push signal down a significantly longer cable (all things being equal) than passive, with less degredation of the signal.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewrx7 Posted July 31, 2009 Author Share Posted July 31, 2009 Makes sense - thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcrow Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 my take is that you have your eq under your fingertips you also have it...in my case on the bddi on the combo as well the adjustments on the bass i think are finer and more controllable..when i had an active bass...SR5...i was able to eq as the conditions changed acoustics can vary and also our thinking on the 'right' sound for a song on a passive bass ones feelings are that all you can do is tackle one end of the spectrum and not successfully so that you need to keep adjusting at your next point of reference which can be distracting mid song Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 (edited) Just use what you like! I've got active and passive bass guitars, i use them as i choose. if you can't have more than one bass, then try several within your budget and then choose. There are even basses like the Fender Jaguar, Active and/or passive. Don't worry about what the gear wil do 'on paper', just get whatever is the right thing for you and your sound. I'm off active at the moment, meaning a Stingray, a Bongo and a Fender Marcus Miller are all out of action. My current thing is a Hofner 'cavern' Bass. Edited August 1, 2009 by AndyTravis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Like all things..you can have too much adjustment especially if you can pre-set the pre-amp across a range of 100hz-to about 9khz.. If you mess too much you can completely screw the controls of you amp.. and if your amp is parametric them you can end up going round in cirlces. The best take, IMV, is to try and get your pre to run as flat as poss..and then set your amp for the main EQ... leaving you with just a slight boast or cut on the guitar as the most you'll want to do.. Some mid freqencies on an active pre-amp can be pretty unusable, IMO.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 [quote name='andrewrx7' post='557205' date='Jul 31 2009, 03:59 PM']....What is the advantage of having actives on a guitar/bass? What do they actually offer over and above good tone controls on passive basses? I’ve been going along with actives are better attitude, but never really stopped to understand why!....[/quote] Active basses aren't better but, if you need it, they do have more flexible EQ options. As has been said an active can boost as well as cut. You can't boost your EQ on a passive bass, but that never bothered Duck Dunn or James Jamerson! I haven’t played a passive bass in over 20 years and I run mostly flat with a bit of bass boost I guess I'm a marginal active bass user. The more expensive the bass the more bells and whistles you get, to justify the price I suppose, and active is just one of those “gadgets”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Surely the EQ controls on your amp are more versatile? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewrx7 Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 Thanks for the replies - it certainly helps to understand the basic presise of having actives. I must admit I already have an active bass but never really stopped to think about why! In relation to the above comments I suppose I am also a marginal active user - I run the guitar with both pick ups blended at 50:50 - then I do boost the bass when needed with the active eq, but tend to roll off the neck pick up if I want to bass cut. For me I suppose it boils down to having the extra versitility available in case it is needed rather than using it for the sake of it. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry norton Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Advantages asides, some say that active electronics (and active pickups in particular) lack the warmth of a passive setup. Hence, one of the latest trends is to have just one high quality passive pickup and no tone controls at all! I liked the actives on my Stingrays, especially the 3 band I had on my 5, but I found I played better and worked harder for the right sound with my totally passive Precision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 The way I see it EQ is going to sound different on every piece of kit. Different instruments have different EQ's etc. Its part of the character of the bass. Ive got my line 6 with my presets laid out but getting an acg is going to add a whole new level of versatility to my rig. Being an onboard filter pre-amp its EQ is going to be VERY different to my amp and pbass current setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umph Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 its more about it providing a buffered high impedence signal so theres less signal loss on long cables and the signal is less likely to pick up noise. the active eq is a useful side feature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XB26354 Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 (edited) [quote name='henry norton' post='557813' date='Aug 1 2009, 02:36 PM']Hence, one of the latest trends is to have just one high quality passive pickup and no tone controls at all![/quote] Er.. Anthony Jackson, love him or hate, him, has had that setup for donkey's years. Gary Willis had a single Bartolini with no controls at all at one point (I believe Ibanez insisted on at least a volume control for his signature bass). Edited August 2, 2009 by XB26354 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golchen Posted August 2, 2009 Share Posted August 2, 2009 Active gives you more oomph. Nuff said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 my p-bass is active but has no controls at all. just a good old EMG running full into my amp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 It makes poor sounding cheaper basses sound louder and more impressive to a beginner when they try them in a shop. Unfortunately the passive basses at the same price point sound better but because they're not as loud or bassy they get ignored. Good active electronics can be very nice though - impedance buffering, flexible onboard EQ, all sorts of clever things. But good active electronics aren't cheap. Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 the EQ's that Fender use are dire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dub Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 (edited) You can get a great tone from a passive bass but it's very easy to get a very similar tone on the same bass with an active eq. The greatest advantage of having good active eq is it's ability to boost the frequencies you want to hear rather than just cut frequencies. You can end up playing through all kinds of amplification and if you've got the tone you want coming direct from the bass then that is what should be coming out your amp, the P.A. and all the monitors. Edited October 14, 2009 by dub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutToPlayJazz Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I just love the extra richness of the extra signal boost on an active bass. I like a lot of extra bass and treble, giving me lots of thick richness in the lows and loads of clarity in the highs. The other advantage is that with the boosted signal you can use less gain or input volume on your amplifier, therefore making the overall sound sweeter and less harsh. I even use a Sadowsky outboard preamp with my passive jazzes. They sound amazing! So it's active all the way for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 [quote name='nash' post='625394' date='Oct 13 2009, 07:37 PM']the EQ's that Fender use are dire.[/quote] +1! A happy active/passive medium would surely be high quality passive pickups with a switchable pre-amp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest johnzgerman Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 [quote name='BigRedX' post='557626' date='Aug 1 2009, 10:01 AM']Surely the EQ controls on your amp are more versatile?[/quote] yes they usually are, but actives help to get a decent signal level into them in the first place in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwild16 Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 [quote name='nash' post='625394' date='Oct 13 2009, 07:37 PM']the EQ's that Fender use are dire.[/quote] Why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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