My friend that I jam with (drummer) is hounding me to make this thing active. He says since it's disassembled, I might as well rout for a battery. Thing is, I'm not really ready for that. I have active basses, and while louder I don't like the fact that I have to keep buying 9 volt batteries. I prefer to plug and play. Besides, I am not good enough a player yet to want to hear myself playing louder. I also have spent enough money on this thing for the time being. He's been a drummer for 35 years, so I figure he knows more than I do but I'm just not sold on the idea. My plan was to wire it passive and learn to play it until I feel I need to make it active, then upgrade (probably when I add another pickup). He thinks I'm wasting the Bartolini by not boosting it. Also, it's a 50's style P bass with a small cavity (2 pots) and I doubt a preamp would fit without extra routing. Any thoughts? I just want to learn to play the thing!