Red Hot Chili Peppers Not Plugged In During Super Bowl Performance?

It wouldn't be a Super Bowl half-time performance without some sort of controversy about the performers themselves. This year it isn't about lip syncing, rather if, in fact, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were actually plugged in during their portion of the set.

Closer look images taken by Getty Images show that RHCP's bassist, Flea, didn't have his base plugged in for the band's song "Give It Away."

Is it possible that what we heard was actually Flea playing the bass line or a recording?

According to radio host and bass player Myles Berry:

Some guitars and basses are active powered. Meaning they are internally amplified and powered by a battery. Flea's custom basses are modified to have a second battery compartment attached to an internal wireless that is nothing more than a small board inside the bass that broadcasts at the signal his wireless receiver is hooked to. It's pretty common. I had looked in to doing this on my basses.

Is this the case or another example of fans getting the shaft during the half-time performance? See the pictures below from the performance on Sunday and the RHCP's show the night prior, where you actually see the bass plugged in.