Pick ups, trim controls and getting older

[Piers_Williamson]

 

Once upon a time I had an active Lakland five string that I thought sounded really 'naselly', other than through an old fashioned valve rig.  For better, for worse, I sold it to a fellow basschatter in Spain, who was in raptures about my (ex) bass.  Roll the clock on a few years and I was very fortunate to acquire two Wals (at 'player' rather than 'e-bay merchant' prices).  I thought both sounded quite 'bassy' 'til I started playing about with the pickup trim pots.  Then I discovered that if I cut the bottom end and turned up the pick-attack pot I could make both sound like a Jazz and/or a Musicman.  I wondered whether as a (getting deaf) 60 year old one's sense of enjoyment of the sound of a particular bass can be adapted a lot using active basses? (I own three passive Jazz basses as my reference)