Active or Passive?

[iDuncan]

@Hann

And knowing myself, I’d have to think ahead and buy a whole supply of these batteries as it is something I always miss and always forget to have spares…)

They generally last a long time unless you leave the bass plugged in when not using.

[joergkutter]

@John_E

Yes indeed there is a difference in passive and active on the same bass - the biggest of which is gain (volume) which can trick our ears into “better”.

I think a well-designed circuit should offer zero gain when going from passive to active. That said, you’d think the people at Glockenklang (et al.) know what they are doing

[Krescht]

They do know… No gain It is
https://www.glockenklang.de/en/products/bass_systems/onboard_3-band.htm
And their website still has that '90s feel

[ronnielyons]

Passive. If your base isn’t loud enough, turn up. With active, it’s usually too loud and I have to switch back to pass it. Plus you have to carry an extra battery in case the one in the base takes a dump.

[MikeC]

@ronnielyons

With active, it’s usually too loud and I have to switch back to pass it

This is not always the case with all basses. I can switch mine from passive and active with no change in loudness.

[Paul]

Yeah same experience. Active usually has a hotter signal. Great for overdrive.

[howard]

@MikeC

This is not always the case with all basses. I can switch mine from passive and active with no change in loudness.

I have never had an active/passive where this was not the case. 100% unity gain between the two until you start boosting or cutting EQ.

[John_E]

@joergkutter

I think a well-designed circuit should offer zero gain when going from passive to active.

Ya misspoke there. Meant to generalize sorry.

[Malyngo]

In neutral position, bass should sound the same.

On Ibanez basses with 3-band eq and active/passive switch, the treble knob becomes a tone knob in passive.

As in passive, you can only limit the signal, wouldn’t the neutral position then be: Tone knob rolled all the way up, whereas in active, neutral position is all knobs at noon, so if you want to compare neutral, you have to roll the treble knob all the way up when switching to passive?

[joergkutter]

@Malyngo

As in passive, you can only limit the signal, wouldn’t the neutral position then be: Tone knob rolled all the way up, whereas in active, neutral position is all knobs at noon, so if you want to compare neutral, you have to roll the treble knob all the way up when switching to passive?

Sorry, way above my pay-grade. I even messed up the terminology - it should have been “unity gain” instead of “zero gain”