I'm not a knob twiddler at the gig - I modify things at the pedal board - EQ, OD, synth, pitch shifting. That's "dramatic" changes to me. The knobs on the bass don't really make that much difference in the grand scheme of things as far as I'm concerned - I'm set and forget, as long as I've got some mids to play with, I'm a happy boy. I buy basses because they're pretty and match certain specifications, some of which are negotiable. But whether they're active or passive means very little to me. I only have one active bass right now, that's a Sire Z7, and I bought it because I liked the looks of it. That's just the way the cookie has crumbled right now, have owned many active basses in the past.
I do think that every active bass (with passive pickups) should come with a passive "get out of jail free" mechanism, even if it's raw pickup output. I know it is our responsiblity as players to keep on top of batteries, but to err is human, and it's far better to be able to limp to the end of a song with the flick of a switch rather than just go silent IMO.