I hope there’s more choice than in the “small” stores around my place. It’s mostly Fender (I really don’t like their headstock) or entry-level basses. And don’t expect much 5-strings at all 
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@juli0r I’ve just went 24, it makes it so easy to play up to the 21st fret even if you don’t play to the 24th. I’ve done the first half of b2b on a P and I wish I had started on this Ibanez. I also was not keen on an active bass, mine however has passive pups and if I find that I dont like the active part. SNIP it will go.
Jamie
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Whole lot of great Basses that come with active EQ, not active pick ups, so to say you don’t want them just closes the door on a bunch of great Basses to you.
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On the active/passive side, you have the Marcus Miller V7. Good Jazz Bass at a very affordable price. Just in case you might be tempted by a J-bass 
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My guess, and it’s only a guess, but I know it’s fact for me, at my level of bass, I could not tell enough about a bass to know weather it’s the electronics that make me like it or not.
I would bet it’s more of a coincidence that the Basses you have preferred thus far hVe been passive vs active, and it is something else about them that makes you like them all together.
I honestly would not put this on my list of criteria to help find Basses to look at, and I would not let it prevent me from looking at a bass to buy.
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I have returned!
So it was absolutely the right decision to go to the local store.
The store has two shops - one here in Cologne and one in Bochum. In Bochum there are more basses but any model that’s available in one is attainable in the other given some wait time.
I talked to the bass guy in the shop and you all seem to be right. The thing is not that I like the EQ. I still don’t in all cases though I theoretically see the appeal of adjusting EQ on the bass itself. It is not (yet) for me.
That said it seems I limit myself too much regarding choices especially in the price range I am looking.
I told him that I want a regular scale 4 string bass around a 400 euro budget (easy to go up) and he said the only thing currently in the shop was a Cort Action GB47JJ. He let me play it and after a while I asked for something to compare it to and he found an ESP Ltd. B-204SM. That was also good but I liked the Cort better.
Then he left and I didn’t notice. I just kept playing. So after a while I looked around and decided to try some out randomly. Starting with a Squier for 250 and once I had it in my hands I immediately felt what the guy in the shop was saying: he currently doesn’t have a Squier for the price range I’m looking for in the shop.
I liked the look and all and the sound was okay but it just didn’t feel as good.
Same for the cheaper active only Cort. That I couldn’t try it because the battery was empty was as much as a no go as the wonky feeling control knobs on it.
The Cort he gave me at first was still the option feeling best. Did not like the 2 band EQ. I feel like if there’s an EQ I want it 3 Band. Might again just be lack of experience.
He said that he would visit the other shop in Bochum this weekend and will return with more models in my price range so I plan on returning.
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Maybe ast him next time if he can help you with the EQ, if he is experienced, he may show you how to get sound you like out of what the 2 band can do, rather then just turning them here and there.
He may not be able to, or the bass may not be capable, but if it’s not, at least you will know for sure.
I do recall the EQ being one of the things that made the Cort that bass buzz tested be marked down, so maybe it is the EQ you don’t like.
I am a bit surprised you did not like the ESP. I love mine, but it is a jump up from the B-204, but I still like the 204.
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Oh it’s not that I didn’t like it.
I also start to trust the guy in the shop. It was like: “So… normal scale, 4 strings.” Thinks for a bit: “Okay, this is the best option in your price range.”
“Okay, I’ll try it.”
after playing
“It’s not that I don’t believe you but I would still like a comparison. Something else?”
“Mhhh… I don’t… mhh. Are you from here, cologne? Because in Bochum we have much more to chose from. […] Ah. This might be an option!” gives me the ESP.
And I liked the ESP.
It’s just that in a direct comparison I liked the Cort better.
The reason I am starting to trust the guy is: It didn’t matter what other bass there I picked up in or under my price range. He was right with his statement. He makes the impression of being a man of few words but I think I can get along just fine with him.
The two basses he chose for me after I told him what I was looking for in what kind of price range were the only ones I liked.
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Two band EQs are OK but you really want a three band if possible to allow boosting or cutting out the mids.
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Well I told him that I can’t really bring myself to like the EQ. I think he… shrugged 
Also what does a 2 band EQ do? In my mind it goes max lows/min highs ↔ min lows/max highs - is that about right?
Maybe it’s just in my mind. Any change I do with those EQ feels like a change I would choose to adjust at the amp.
That’s what I thought.
I would not have believed how much I like the low/hi mid controls on the Rumble and what a difference it makes compared to only a mid control. So not having a mid control at all is even worse.
Another thing I noticed with the Cort where I’m now not sure if it’s the setup or maybe string gauge or a combination of all including the bass: It was very “clangy” on the fretboard. One could hear every fretting with an audible click or clack. But even with that clacking I liked the feel of the neck and everything best compared to every bass I tried out.
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Yes, I agree, a 3 Band is desired, but if the bass you like comes down to only 2 Band, you may see if he can, or someone could help, but just a thought, I have not really had that problem.
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Yeah I’ve owned three 2-band EQ basses; they are fine, but one of the primary reasons I sold one of them was to upgrade to a three-band with active/passive switch 
A two band EQ will have one knob for each of bass and treble, with frequencies probably a bit closer together than the bass and treble knobs of a three-band. They boost and cut in kind of a normal distribution around their frequency.
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It’s not that I have a problem using an EQ to reach the sound I have in mind. Of course it’s still a lot of trial and error but if I have an idea of a sound I’m able to reach it more or less.
I think it’s honestly just some kind of internal blockage that in my mind I don’t want an EQ on my instrument. In my mind it’s just not the place where I would do EQ settings. Especially if I set it up once the way I like it and then rarely touch those again.
The guy in the shop and you guys convinced me that it would be a mistake to exclude the EQ basses entirely. I think I will need time and bass with EQ to actually change my mind.
Good to know @howard I will keep that in mind.
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I think this is looking at it slightly the wrong way, or rather, in the most confining possible sense of the term “EQ settings.”
Do you like having a Tone knob on your bass? Or do you always leave it wide open?
Think of the EQ on the bass as a slightly more sophisticated tone knob.
They are different (the tone knob is usually a low pass filter, while the EQ is… an EQ) but the role they play is similar.
Nothing at all wrong with either kind of bass. And passive basses are the most popular of course; more music has probably been made with the P-bass than any other bass.
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I change it only when I want to get a different sound for a different song. Since it’s not an EQ there’s a difference to me using the tone knob on the bass and the high controls on the amp so I usually adjust both when changing something there.
If there wasn’t a difference I probably would keep my bass at noon and control it via amp.
I don’t want to be snippy in my answers - it is not meant like that - but at the same time I don’t want to say “yeah, sure” when it didn’t click with me.
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This is exactly how you use an EQ on an active bass 
I also should mention there are very valid reasons to not want a preamp on the bass or to have a way to turn it off. One of them is that every amp in your signal chain can add a little noise. Usually with few or no other preamps or boosts in the chain this is negligible (i.e. lost in the normal amp background noise) but it can and does add up when you have a few things like preamps, drives, and compressors on at once. Also, on inexpensive basses, the electronics shielding may not be stellar and this can lead to the preamp picking up noise kind of like pickups do, or amplifying RF interference with the pickups. So onboard EQ is not ALL advantages even if you were to like them.
If you like passive basses there’s lots and lots of great ones. No need to try and force yourself to like active ones either.
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I understood that.
What I don’t understand is why I should do it on the bass and not on any other EQ in the chain. As said - the tone knob example doesn’t really click with me because I only use it because it does something else than the EQ.
I don’t change my settings on the fly.
Mh. Maybe that’s the problem. I have never gotten around to jamming or something. I can see that changing the sound with no/lower setup time directly at the instrument makes sense there.
With me here playing for myself I didn’t feel or see the need. I still think I won’t miss it even in a jamming environment.
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I explained that up here:
which sounds like (at least for now) is not an issue for you at all, but that would be the difference.
Some tangible examples:
- You are changing from a fingerstyle song to a slap song. For the slap song you want to scoop the mids a bit to make it sound better. So, you could go do it at the amp and then adjust the amp volume and so on, or you could just turn the mids down and volume slightly up on the bass.
- You are playing a gig through a DI to the mixing board, controlled by the sound engineer, who has adjusted the EQ of the entire band to fit the room. You now have no amp EQ of your own. This is also why preamp/DI pedals are popular
- You are recording through a DAI. There is now no amp (unless you’re running a DI out from your amp to the DAI, which then gives a less convenient EQ). So you need to EQ in the DAW, which is fine but less immediate and tactile than knobs on a bass or preamp pedal.
Anyway. Not trying to talk you in to anything here, and like I said - lots of awesome passive bass choices. I’m just leaving this here because these are super common questions
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Did not get the impression.
I kept pestering you with questions you already answered in a way or another but now I’m glad that I did because now I feel like I have an answer that has reached me.
I remembered that you mentioned the effects. I think those won’t be a concern of mine for a long time.
Thanks for those examples that are relatable for me. Although I don’t have DAI yet I suspect it’s just a matter of time. You all have given me G.A.S. - what have you done?
Thanks for being patient and answering my questions until your answers have reached my thick skull 
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My pleasure!
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