Might be best for you to try both, and get the best sounding bass that fits your budget.

How old school are ya wanting to sound? The old Motown records and other classics had passive P-basses.

My personal preference is passive pickups in electric basses and guitars, but a lot of folks enjoy active.

And, just to muddy the waters a bit - you'll want to distinguish between basses with active pickups and basses with active electronics (passive pickups paired with an onboard pre-amp). They're very different animals.

Thats a good point.... !

The bass with passive pickups Could work in passive mode, correct? That could be the best of both worlds.

True if you have a bass with active electronics and a passive bypass. Most don't. For example, Sadowskys with the VTC (vintage tone control) option have a true passive bypass (sometimes known as "save your butt when the battery dies onstage knob") but MM StingRays generally don't.

You could go with a passive bass and pair it with an outboard pre-amp (Sadowsky or Aguilar for example).

If you're really looking for "old school" sound then the obvious choice is a good old passive p-bass.

A lot of basses with active electronics will give you the option of bypassing the active eq so you could get the best of both worlds.

Best bet is identify a few basses in your budget range and try them out. I'm inclined to think your first priority (especially as a new bassist) is to find a bass that feels great in your hands (neck profile, weight, balance etc)you can always modify/upgrade the pickups & electronics later on.

...A lot of basses with active electronics will
give you the option of bypassing the active eq so
you could get the best of both worlds....
The G&L Tribute series is a good example.

Hi Bruce, Here is the scoop in a nutshell.
There are active and passive pickups
There are active and passive electronics
Sometimes active electronics can be bypassed for a 'passive' mode.
These can be mixed and matched every way and every combo has pros and cons.
The basses most commonly labeled 'active' are passive pickups with active electronics. On less expensive basses this is usually a bad thing, because they pair a cheap pickup with even cheaper electronics to try to make it sound good. So for lesser expensive instruments it's better to go passive and add an outboard preamp or Eq, which is my preference as well.

personally I prefer passive pickups, for a couple of different reasons.
First, and probably the main reason, is reliability and consistancy. Yes passive pickups go bad, but far less often than a battery dying, and you may get a good sound when the battery is fully charged, but wear that battery down a little bit and you may be scrambling trying to get a good sound out the bass.
Second, I've had active pickups in some of the basses I've owned and I just wasn't happy with them, I could get just about any sound that I wanted, except the sound I was looking for, LOL.
I know there are a lot of people that like active pickups, so they're worth a try if that is what you have available. It will come down to what YOU want and what YOU like.

I have not really had much experience with active electronics on basses. Lots of times that I have wanted to try those types of basses in the stores, the onboard battery is dead.

I guess I like to keep it simple as possible - bass, compressor (with 9v adaptor) , cables and amp.

But to each his own.. .lots of folks like active