From what I hear, MusicMan's are heavy as hell. Like, weight-wise.
But back to the passive/active discussion. I was strictly passive probably for the first 8 or 9 years that I played bass. I remember borrowing a weird-looking Ibanez from a friend after my first bass got stolen, and the battery died halfway through the set. I didn't know that if you left the bass plugged in, it drained the battery, so that also turned me off actives for a while. My Schecter turned me around though. The thing about actives is that it gives me more range over what my tone can be. It can be all bass, bottom end humming, or it can be cracking, all-treble buzz. The key for me is finding the healthy balance. And the battery I have in it has been in it for months, and it's still fine. It's just become habit for me to unplug my bass after I'm done playing.
I'm not sure how Schecter stacks up to a Fender P, because I've never owned one, but I remember playing one at a friend's house, and it had a nice, punchy sound, kind of like my Epiphone Les Paul bass (which is also passive), but I can also tune that kind of sound in with a built in EQ. And I have been playing my Peavey Grind (passive) and my Epiphone a lot lately, which have rekindled my appreciation for passive basses. Now I just kind of love them equally, and I have a better idea of which basses are better for what.
When I was younger, I was thinking about picking up an Ibanez, mainly an SR300 model, and I used to really like the look of the BTB models. But if I were going to pick up an Ibanez, I would steer clear of SoundGear basses. Every one I've heard sounds like clacking, tinny garbage. Maybe the people playing them didn't know how to set up their sounds. I don't know.
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