Active and Passive?

nicknackgtb

Whats the difference between the two, on an amp say??

Is it that active creates a warmer sound because of electronics taking over or what is it#??

Cheers

PaulBrewer

No , all Active means is the amp (and crossover if used) are built into the box ...

Taking it we're referring to Speakers?

All Amps are active by definition.

studiorat

Active components need power passives don't.

That goes for active/passive DI boxes, loudspeakers, pickups, EQ's and all the rest of the ****.

nicknackgtb

ok so in relation to this device here,

http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/detail.asp?ID=212

and in a brochure i have, it dosnt say it on the website but it has switchable active/passive instrument inputs. it is one of the buttons on the front of the machine, has an input and a line leading towards the button that you can push that says 'active'.

What would this be for?

cheers

Obi-Jim

i would assume it refers to the pickup on your instrument. Whether that is passive or active.

So if your bass needs a battery in the pickup, you would set the button to active. If it didn't need a battery, you would set it to passive.

(The DI pre/post switch is a pretty cool feature on that, well, assuming that it completely bypasses everything, including levels, its cool)

Run_to_da_hills

Active is normally heavier. :eek:

domrush

that has almost no relevence

Obi-Jim

domrush wrote: »

that has almost no relevence

Ha!

PaulBrewer

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Active is normally heavier. :eek:

:pac:

studiorat

nicknackgtb wrote: »

ok so in relation to this device here,

http://www.ashdownmusic.com/bass/detail.asp?ID=212

Ok, we're talking about bass guitars. At a basic level the pickup in a bass guitar is connected to a volume pot (potentiometer) and then to the guitar output. When the pot is fully open turned up full it's the same as having the pick-up connected straight to the output of the guitar, that's to say there's little or no resistance in the circuit. So you can turn the volume down but you can't make it any louder than the output of the pickup. This is a passive system.

With an active bass, there's a small pre-amplifier built into the guitar, it runs off a 9v battery usually. So this time the signal leaves the pickup, there's no such thing as an active pickup, it's the same pickup and the signal goes through the amplifier. Now we have a system that can actually boost the signal from the pickup as well as make it quieter.

The reason you have a switch for active/passive is because basically there are different levels coming out of the guitar depending on whether it's active or passive. A passive system has a high impedance which in this case generally means the signal from the bass is lower than the same bass with an active system which will have a lower impedance and a higher output. There's also issues of frequency response but that's not important for the moment.

Personally I prefer a passive set-up because it's usually less grief. My bass is active but it also works in passive mode when you turn the pre-amp off.

Now how much is that thing and what the hell do you need 1000watts for?

Seziertisch

The difference between the two is probably that the passive will be a few db louder. The active will also probably have a different impedance. Look up the specs from the manufacturer, and see what they say.

nicknackgtb

studiorat wrote: »

Now how much is that thing and what the hell do you need 1000watts for?

not sure how much they are yet. i've just gotten a new job which means i need to know about these machines!!
So im in the process of finding out about all these things and what they can do and trying to understand them properly, well the bits i dont understand anyway!!