My experience playing active and passive instruments since I got my first StingRay back around 1979 is that the bass with the most output I've ever played was a passive one- a G&L L-1000. Active offers you a different range of control of the EQ, and it can buffer you signal from impedance differences down the chain. A bass with two-band EQ offers separate knobs for treble and bass. If the EQ circuit is passive, filtering occurs over that frequency range when you turn the knobs. When both knobs are wide open (i.e., turned fully clockwise), you’ll hear the uncolored sound of your bass. Nov 12, 2023 #1 Dr. Cheese Gold Supporting Member Mar 3, 2004 Metro St. Louis He basically leans passive and I can’t argue with his logic. I say active with a passive bypass and passive tone pot is foolproof. dabbler, stingray69, Reggiep and 20 others like this. Nov 12, 2023 #2 jmattbassplaya Supporting Member Jan 13, 2008 Build Quality. The passive MM U5 – a four-string, despite its name – is built in Indonesia, enabling its relatively low pricetag, but that doesn’t mean it plays like a cheap bass. On the contrary: its alder body features a flamed maple top and binding that give it a tangibly lustrous feel under the fingers. 1. Signal output. Signal output is the main difference between an active bass and a passive bass. A passive bass will keep the exact sound of the signal output. It simply picks up the signal, makes it more resistant, and transfers to the amp. Conversely, with powered preamp and pickups, an active bass can enhance the output from the bass. Essentially, an ‘active’ bass just has the addition of an on-board pre-amp to give the user further tonal control. Active pre-amps require one (or two) 9-volt batteries although Alembic (who I believe came up with the concept for Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead) has given the option of additional cables to power the on-board pre-amp. Passive .

active bass vs passive bass