Tweet
Re: Why are active electronics more popular with bassists than guitarists?
As a guitarist and engineer (not a bass player), active electronics give a more finished tone and therefore sound fine through most rigs and DI'ed into the PA and I totally understand that for live use. But when I listen to recorded tones I like (usually in more vintage styles I guess) they are usually passive bass tones with a bit of extra niceness added via valves and/or compression and I really am not a fan of modern bass sounds (prefer jazzes, precisions, rickenbackers and semi-hollow basses). For guitars outside of metal and a few kinds of sounds I don't really like active pickups but I prefer guitars to have a quite distinct sound (as opposed to the more balanced even/flat sound of actives). How do bass players compare active pickups to passive with a preamp because in my mind these would sound quite different.
As a guitarist and engineer (not a bass player), active electronics give a more finished tone and therefore sound fine through most rigs and DI'ed into the PA and I totally understand that for live use. But when I listen to recorded tones I like (usually in more vintage styles I guess) they are usually passive bass tones with a bit of extra niceness added via valves and/or compression and I really am not a fan of modern bass sounds (prefer jazzes, precisions, rickenbackers and semi-hollow basses). For guitars outside of metal and a few kinds of sounds I don't really like active pickups but I prefer guitars to have a quite distinct sound (as opposed to the more balanced even/flat sound of actives). How do bass players compare active pickups to passive with a preamp because in my mind these would sound quite different.
Comment