I actually "met" all you guys when I stumbled upon the Pit during my transition from active to passive basses. My Rickenbacker had an EMG pickup and preamp at the time. Then I bought a Les Paul. Then pretty much all my basses were converted to (or BACK to) passive.
Now, I'm in a new musical project and have been experimenting like crazy with different basses. One being a Spector with EMGs. I was a fanatic about these pickups for a good 15 years. Then I lost my taste for them. But after recently hearing a friend of mine live, and also the vid of Mark with his Jackson, I thought I better re-visit. I've found I really like it for most fingerstyle and whatever little bit of slap that I'm doing. I don't like it so much with a pick. Too bright, not enough lows. I have the EMG BQC system preamp, which has a sweepable mid control. As I've always done with EMGs, I cut the treble a little, and boost the bass a lot. The mid is nice for a boost during solos or whatever (there's a lot of soloing in the new band
). When I bought my Alembic last year, I became intrigued with some of the very usable mid tones I could get out of it. Real nice stuff, sometimes with a little chorus. So, I was looking to get some of that. Not quite the same, you just can't beat those Alembic low pass filters! But cool nonetheless.
Back to the Alembic - this thing sounds incredible with a pick. Fingerstyle doesn't really cut the way I'd like, and slap is a pain due to the positioning of the neck pickup, and the 24 fret fingerboard. It really challenges my beloved Ric, but doesn't have the feel or physical balance. I'd love to put Alembic pickups and pre in the Ric, but you're talking the cost of a whole new bass to do that. As it stands, I've got Ric HB1 humbuckers running through a Sadowsky preamp pedal (volume, bass, treble - boost only). And FWIW, I'm also using the 8 string Ric on a couple of songs.
What it all comes down to is, I want my bass to have a fighting chance of sounding great through the PA, and that's why I use the Sadowsky and am considering an active bass for live use.