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Wiring options for MEC vintage humbuckers..help


Dudgeman
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Hi all
I recently bought an old Streamer std German made Warwick with a pair of MEC vintage style HB PUs. I was looking for a double buck but this came up super cheap so i have refinished and done some work on it. Pics will come at some point!! Each PU has a red/green/white/black and braid wires. My intention is to fit an EMG preamp (old BTS) that i have knocking around. So if all is well i will end up with vol/vol/bass/treble.
So questions. Can I add 2 3 pole switches like the double buck and wire the same so i can expand the tone by running PU's in series /parallel/etc?? If so can anyone supply me with a double buck wiring diagram as I am struggling to find one. If this can't be done can someone give me a wiring diagram for wiring it straight to the preamp wiring. I have found a wiring diagram from EMG.. (it is the old BTS system with a small board)..i understand how to solder the BTS to a JP config ( that's what I had before) but with so many wires coming from the PU's...i am finding it a bit confusing as to which wire would go where...

I hope this makes sense and is achievable.. . I am hoping as always that someone here can help.

Cheers all.

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It's easy to work out which wire is which with a multimeter. The pickup is two coils joined together, so there will be one pair (probably red and black) that show a high resistance of for example 10K. Then there will be two more pairs (black and either white or green, plus red and either white or green) that measure half that, e.g. 5K. The measurement between white and green should then be zero since they are where the two coils join and there's no resistance between the two.

One you've verified which wire is which, you can hook each up to an individual switch to give series/parallel/single coil per pickup. Or, you can semi-permanently join the wires from each pickup in serial or parallel combination and use a switch to determine if the overall pairing is wired serial or parallel. Here's a wiring diagram with some options:

http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=202360

(Note that colours might not match your wiring there)

Btw I would be interested to hear what resistance you measure from those pickups. I have the Rockbass version and the MEC humbuckers have a very low output and need a preamp to boost them up!

Edited by dannybuoy
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OK so I have on each PU a red/black/green and white wire and a braid.. The red and black and braid were twisted together. With all the wires separated resistance across the red and green is 3.35 and across the black and white is 3.35... no other readings...if the red,black and braid are twisted together (as they were when soldered to the pot) then I get a resistance across white and green of 6.67 but all other readings are zero...


Sounds like it should be right but surely that makes them very low out put...on that description can you confirm which wires are which...just so I know before moving on to next step...thanks....still learning about circuits...

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Yup, those sound like the same pups as the Rockbass version, I saw a thread where someone measured them. To make matters worse, the volume pots were far too low in value also, like 25K instead of 250K/500K, which I think would reduce output, particularly the top end. They sound great with a preamp to boost/EQ them but the dry passive tone is way too low output. I fitted a stacked 500K volume pot and a Darkglass Tone Capsule to mine and it's much improved but still not that loud.

Ok, so red and green belong to one coil, and black/white to the other half. If a wire from each half was joined together AND joined to a shield wire and pot, that sounds like a parallel wiring config and I would expect white and green were also soldered together to one of the lugs of the pot? If so, then that would give you an overall resistance of 1.675K, which is ridiculously low for a pickup!

This diagram is for a slightly different bass but might work for you if you wanted switching per pickup: http://forum.bass-arena.com/threads/new-corvette-double-buck-rockbass.12813/

Otherwise, to treat the pickup like a basic 2-wire job, keep red/black/braid together as the ground and white/green as the signal, then you can just use a switch to go series/parallel between the 2 pickups if you like.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi DB

Appreciate the comments. So yes I am looking at the photos I took before dismantling and your right the original pots are stamped 25k..and yes...you clearly know your stuff as that is exactly how they were soldered together. green and white together and red black and shield together.

So the plan was...lol..and hopefully still is to fit my EMG BTS system..this gives me bass boost/cut and treble boost/cut and dip switch on the separate circuit board (Mine is the older system. ) It looks like these run 25k pots as well but when I had this system attached to a PJ set up i never suffered with low output...maybe I will have to look at the MEC's...are they the same PU's on Rock bass and German Warwicks, and do you know if the alternative Bartolinis give better output? I will try and research...digging myself a hole here I feel..

Thanks
Carl

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If it is any help,
[quote name='Dudgeman' timestamp='1498957901' post='3328259']
Hi all
I recently bought an old Streamer std German made Warwick with a pair of MEC vintage style HB PUs. I was looking for a double buck but this came up super cheap so i have refinished and done some work on it. Pics will come at some point!! Each PU has a red/green/white/black and braid wires. My intention is to fit an EMG preamp (old BTS) that i have knocking around. So if all is well i will end up with vol/vol/bass/treble.
So questions. Can I add 2 3 pole switches like the double buck and wire the same so i can expand the tone by running PU's in series /parallel/etc?? If so can anyone supply me with a double buck wiring diagram as I am struggling to find one. If this can't be done can someone give me a wiring diagram for wiring it straight to the preamp wiring. I have found a wiring diagram from EMG.. (it is the old BTS system with a small board)..i understand how to solder the BTS to a JP config ( that's what I had before) but with so many wires coming from the PU's...i am finding it a bit confusing as to which wire would go where...

I hope this makes sense and is achievable.. . I am hoping as always that someone here can help.

Cheers all.
[/quote]

If it is any help I recently did excatly the same thing(I have added two DPDT (on-on-on) switches) with my '93 Streamer broadneck. Mine has bart soapbars but the wiring scheme and low output sounds much the same as your situation.
You may find the info in the pdf below useful in terms of switiching/wiring option - starts on page 2.
https://www.bartolini.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/4-Conductor-Wiring-Diagram.pdf

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all
So finally got round to wiring up the bass. Now I need some help as I am close but no cigar..lol. Essentially I am nearly there but I have clearly soldered something wrong somewhere. I have embeded a very sketchy diagram of the way I have aired it and a photo to show it. So my layout is VVT(Bass) T(Treble) I am happy that the wiring from pick ups to micro switches is ok. I am happy that the wiring from the pre amp to both treble and bass pots is good. I am pretty sure that I have wired the battery to the preamp and stereo jack correctly. It is just how I have connected the volume pots to the micro switches..to each other and to the pre amp I want someone to look at.

So at the moment..the Volume pot nearest the preamp (so basically the bridge volume) works as in it turns up and down The micro switches change the tones of the pick up..bass and treble work all the time, and if this volume is turned up full on the bridge then the neck volume pot works as well, but not properly...i cant use them to individually alter the volume of their respective pick ups..The neck pick up volume control does nothing unless the bridge pick up is volume up....I am sure it is to do with the way I wired the 2 pots together but can someone take a look at my hotch potch and let me know which needs changing.

The really good news is that even not working properly the sounds coming out of this bass are already really good. Cant wait to be able to isolate the pick ups as well.

Cheers

[url="http://s918.photobucket.com/user/bassmandudge/media/warwick%20wiring/20170903_180845.jpg.html"][/url]

[url="http://s918.photobucket.com/user/bassmandudge/media/warwick%20wiring/bass%20wiring.jpg.html"][/url]

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I had one of these. The o/put was low on mine. If I still had it I'd change the pups to Wilkinsons.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131962681756?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=47678200030&rlsatarget=pla-326836957136&abcId=1058846&adtype=pla&merchantid=113577147&poi=&googleloc=1006528&device=c&campaignid=864189576&crdt=0

Your picture isn't showing. Suggest you change to Flickr to host them.

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[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1506007106' post='3375858']
I had one of these. The o/put was low on mine. If I still had it I'd change the pups to Wilkinsons.
[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/131962681756?chn=ps&dispItem=1&adgroupid=47678200030&rlsatarget=pla-326836957136&abcId=1058846&adtype=pla&merchantid=113577147&poi=&googleloc=1006528&device=c&campaignid=864189576&crdt=0"]http://www.ebay.co.u...64189576&crdt=0[/url]

Your picture isn't showing. Suggest you change to Flickr to host them.
[/quote]

Hi

That's annoying its showing on my thread. Think I will change to flickr. Not worried about the output...plenty of volume with the preamp and the way it is wired..it's just checking through my wiring to see where my mistake is. Thanks for the heads up about the pics.

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The volume pots don't look right to me in the diagram above. If you look at this diagram, you'll see the hot wire from each pickup coming to the central lug, with the outer left lug connected in series

[url="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=two+volume+pot+wiring+jazz+bass&client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&tbm=isch&imgil=JyNTy6Nixp8QFM%253A%253Bqa1Yhxmy6uQDfM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.talkbass.com%25252Fthreads%25252Fjazz-bass-blend-pot-wiring-help.509762%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=JyNTy6Nixp8QFM%253A%252Cqa1Yhxmy6uQDfM%252C_&usg=__cmVYgOWHWlGjmruAUyZzZ6GGjBM%3D&biw=1440&bih=1019&ved=0ahUKEwi6k_SE7MTWAhUMD8AKHfFdCZUQyjcIMw&ei=WlPLWbr-E4yegAbxu6WoCQ#imgrc=8mY8YTIR4qUfsM:"]two volume pot wiring jazz bass[/url]

I would try moving the white wire from the preamp onto the same to the left lug if that makes sense.

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[quote name='roman_sub' timestamp='1506497565' post='3379083']
The volume pots don't look right to me in the diagram above. If you look at this diagram, you'll see the hot wire from each pickup coming to the central lug, with the outer left lug connected in series

[url="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=two+volume+pot+wiring+jazz+bass&client=safari&rls=en&dcr=0&tbm=isch&imgil=JyNTy6Nixp8QFM%253A%253Bqa1Yhxmy6uQDfM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.talkbass.com%25252Fthreads%25252Fjazz-bass-blend-pot-wiring-help.509762%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=JyNTy6Nixp8QFM%253A%252Cqa1Yhxmy6uQDfM%252C_&usg=__cmVYgOWHWlGjmruAUyZzZ6GGjBM%3D&biw=1440&bih=1019&ved=0ahUKEwi6k_SE7MTWAhUMD8AKHfFdCZUQyjcIMw&ei=WlPLWbr-E4yegAbxu6WoCQ#imgrc=8mY8YTIR4qUfsM:"]two volume pot wiring jazz bass[/url]

I would try moving the white wire from the preamp onto the same to the left lug if that makes sense.
[/quote]

Done and nailed it..thats all it was...output has dropped which is interesting...but tone and seperate volumes now work a treat....thanks to everyone who chipped in...

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