Active vs. Passive Bass Guitars: Which to Buy | Reverb

Are you a bassist wondering whether to buy an active or passive bass? Also: what's the difference between the two? Our very own low-key hero, Jake Hawrylak, is in the studio running through the benefits of each so you can make an informed decision before you make your next purchase.

[garyjones]

I've been told by a few people that my bass playing sounds best with active pickups and dead batteries.

[pCeLobster]

95% of the time, even in an active bass, the pickups are still passive pickups. "Active" in this context refers to the presence of the onboard preamp. The only actual active pickups you will commonly see are EMG's.

[saam]

The best is a passive/active bass with a dead battery so you have a kill switch.

[MachSea]

Yeah, im definetly going passive.

-Confused electric guitar player

[basicoptimalmouse]

"Passive bass doesn't cut through"
*Laughs in Steve Harris

[BZK]

There is some misinformation in this video
1- a active bass is not always louder than a passive bass
2 - most of the time pickups are passive, active basses are passive pickups with active preamp
3 - an active bass is not cutting through the mix better, but the active preamp is there to help you cut through the mix if you use it well.
4 - Dynamics is not better on a passive bass.
5 - if a preamp compress the bass sound, then it is not designed well.
6 - "active" preamps are like effect pedal, they have buffers inside to adapt impedance to the next source in the chain.

Clearly bass mythologie and BS information will have a long life with this kind of videos

[spynae]

ACTIVE PICKUPS ARE NOT THE SAME THING AS AN ACTIVE PREAMP COMBINED WITH PASSIVE PICKUPS. And yes, this is a relevant criticism of this video because it says in the thumbnail "Active bass pickups." Active pickups are pickups with incredibly low impedance due to the low number of winds of wire. This produces a pickup with no resonance peak or cut frequencies, but they also do not produce a signal loud enough for general use; thus, most active pickups either have a preamp built into the pickup themselves (such as EMG pickups and some MEC pickups that Warwick uses) or require a more typical onboard preamp (such as Alembic's pickups) in order to add gain to the signal. Those pickups with builtin preamps also typically include a built-in EQ curve to offset the flat frequency response of an unaffected active pickup.

[leaguelongclips]

Very impressive but...
Oh wait wrong channel

[guydude]

Active pickups made much more sense back in the 70s and 80s, but nowadays when the amps can easily make up for the low output of the pickups i just don't see the point, passive for me anytime

[-k-b-]

I find passive pickups to always sound better, it really comes down to player/amp set up/pedals/etc. So active electronics or pickups just make shit even more complicated

[paulraffles]

Active pickup? I think it is passive pickup with preamp.

[gnpahdc]

1) He seemed to confuse active pickup (rare) with active instrument via preamp (common) with his erroneous use of the term "active pickup" when he meant "active bass". 2) He said a passive bass is "more work" for tone shaping due to lack of control knobs on the instrument. That is false. The work is simply at a different physical location. And one could argue that a passive is less work period, as your FOH will do it for you - literally. 3) He stated several times he would use the same instrument for consistency of comparisons, and then used a P/J for the active. And please tell me I wasn't hearing flats on the passive P and rounds on the active P/J. 4) He said that an active gives you more volume so you have to be careful. That is false - it's the signal that is different, not the volume as such. 5) He said that an active bass cuts through better, especially against loud drums or if you're playing pick. That is oversimplifying to the point of being false. It's not the bass that is helpful or less helpful - it's the musicians, the settings they individually use, and the one mixing the house; those are what must be right. If no one is competent an active bass will give you an unfair advantage but only if you don't know how to use your amp volume knob or bought an amp that is insufficient. Ok, I'll stop. Gosh. This vid is disappointing.

[nikwik]

Passive basses make so much more sense, I'd rather have my pre-amp / DI on my pedalboard

[zingbasstube]

Omg! You are talking about "active preamp" and "passive electronic" on bass.
Not active or passive pickups. Please stop say that again.

[sbentsen]

Man I’m done with Active basses, I’m so glad I don’t hv to deal with the battery issue anymore. So lame, for my situation how often I play & hv to leave it plugged in, etc Active no bueno. Also I found dynamically Active pickups aren’t as open to responding to how much energy I put into notes. I love being able to tell the bass how to sound, thru my fingers & my playing. Love it 😁

[bak]

I prefer a passive bass these days. The tone is much more mellow and smooth to my ear. Plus, like he was saying, especially with a p or even a jazz, it's very simple. The older I get, the more I appreciate simplicity lol. I'm not much of a slapper either so that has guided me more toward the good ole p bass

[limitededition]

If you already have a passive bass then just buy an FX pedal to make it active and in fact get more tonal options than with active pickups.

[innocentoctave]

I think it was a good decision to emphasise that the real difference between passive and active basses is not the pickups themselves, but how much boost and EQ control you want on the instrument itself. You can do everything that the onboard preamp and EQ do with pedals or other outboard gear, all of which is powered ('active') in one way or another. Having that stuff on the bass itself is a major convenience in some situations: but since the pickups themselves are passive, regardless of the active circuitry, there will always be another way to get those sounds.

[hyalinamusic]

I've got a jazz bass with passive pickups and an Ibanez soundgear with active pickups. I like both, each are good for different situations.

[thekatazsiuniverse]

"Passive probably won't cut through in punk and metal", I raise you Steve Harris