EMG active pickup for a p-bass...

[Waterboarder]

Hi all,

I've recently aquired a jap p-bass with one of these fitted - complete with chiselled out recess by the pots to house the battery!
The thing is, and please excuse my ignorance - I know absolutely nothing about active stuff and have never really felt the need to get it involved...I hear they can boost low end by xxx%, but...I have an Orange Terror Bass so have plenty. Also the fact that I play in a surf band....

Anyway, this thing plays fine through my praccy amp on the E and A strings but I get nothing on the D or G, unless I attach a 9v battery. Is this normal? I would have thought I'd affect all strings?

As I say, I'm not really into the whole 'active' thing and farting about with batteries etc. I wondered if there was a way it could somehow be played passively (which I'm sure I was able to do on an old Westone I borrowed from a mate once) or bypassed? Or, do I just buy a new passive p/up?

Any help hugely appreciated.

[Fat Rich]

Pretty sure you're going to need a battery, I'm surprised you're getting any signal out of it all.

My Jap Jazzes had EMGs installed when I got them, seemed to be a popular "upgrade" in the 80s and early 90s. I think the feeling now is that they sound a bit sterile and the original pickups have more of that Fender sound.

If you swap to different pickups you may need to change the pots for volume and tone at the same time, I think the active pickups used different values from passive.

I'll be interested in what everyone else thinks as I'm considering changing mine to stock Fender items but I don't which are best.

[Waterboarder]

Hi Rich,
Yeah that makes sense, cheers for the reply.
I was wondering about pickups too, I know these come highly recommended (and they do similar ones for the Jazz);

[url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/spb-1-vintage-for-precis/66504"]http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/spb-1-...or-precis/66504[/url]

But the genuine Fender ones aren't much more;

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Original-Pickup-set-Precision-Bass-/300468903778?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item45f5579f62"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Original-Pick...=item45f5579f62[/url]

[Dood]

[quote name='Waterboarder' post='963390' date='Sep 21 2010, 03:13 PM']Anyway, this thing plays fine through my praccy amp on the E and A strings but I get nothing on the D or G, unless I attach a 9v battery. Is this normal? I would have thought I'd affect all strings?

As I say, I'm not really into the whole 'active' thing and farting about with batteries etc. I wondered if there was a way it could somehow be played passively (which I'm sure I was able to do on an old Westone I borrowed from a mate once) or bypassed? Or, do I just buy a new passive p/up?

Any help hugely appreciated.[/quote]

Hi! Bizarre that you are getting 'some signal' with a set of EMG actives! I'd expect no sound without a battery - So yes, to get them to do what they should - battery is reauired ) - The only way to get round it would be to install a passive pickup instead, as the EMG contain a preamp inside the pickup casing itself.

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='963399' date='Sep 21 2010, 03:21 PM']Pretty sure you're going to need a battery, I'm surprised you're getting any signal out of it all.

My Jap Jazzes had EMGs installed when I got them, seemed to be a popular "upgrade" in the 80s and early 90s. I think the feeling now is that they sound a bit sterile and the original pickups have more of that Fender sound.

If you swap to different pickups you may need to change the pots for volume and tone at the same time, I think the active pickups used different values from passive.

I'll be interested in what everyone else thinks as I'm considering changing mine to stock Fender items but I don't which are best.[/quote]

Yup, EMGs do have more bottom and top than most that gives them a natural 'HiFi' tone in comparison to say, a passive Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder. However, as a big fan of EMG pups - it's easy to take away the top and bottom, but it's not so easy to make a passive pup sound like an EMG. Depends on what you prefer I guess - there isn't one 'right' answer Rich is dead right, most active electronics will require different value volume and tone pots (usually in the region of 25K Ohms vs passive 250k-500k Ohm pots) if you swap to passive.


[quote name='Waterboarder' post='963628' date='Sep 21 2010, 06:31 PM']Hi Rich,
Yeah that makes sense, cheers for the reply.
I was wondering about pickups too, I know these come highly recommended (and they do similar ones for the Jazz);

[url="http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/spb-1-vintage-for-precis/66504"]http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/spb-1-...or-precis/66504[/url]

But the genuine Fender ones aren't much more;

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Original-Pickup-set-Precision-Bass-/300468903778?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item45f5579f62"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fender-Original-Pick...=item45f5579f62[/url][/quote]

I can't really comment on other pups - but I remember having a set of old DiMarzio P style pickups in a late 60's P Bass once - I really liked them and I was thinking about seeing if I could get a set to mess around with in one of my P basses to see if they were *that* good!

[steve-soar]

EMG's are really good pickups.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I before you ditch the EMG hook it up to 18v by using 2 batteries. I was going to get rid of mine as I though it was a bit characterless, but it sounds huge with this simple upgrade. The batteries last ages as well so its not as if you're always going to be changing them.

The easiest way to get 2 9v batteries to supply 18v (as long as they actually fit in the space available) is to buy three 9v battery clips from maplin & solder them together like this:


from: [url="http://home.comcast.net/~mgollihur/emgmod.html"]http://home.comcast.net/~mgollihur/emgmod.html[/url]

[Dood]

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='963655' date='Sep 21 2010, 07:11 PM']I before you ditch the EMG hook it up to 18v by using 2 batteries. I was going to get rid of mine as I though it was a bit characterless, but it sounds huge with this simple upgrade. The batteries last ages as well so its not as if you're always going to be changing them.

The easiest way to get 2 9v batteries to supply 18v (as long as they actually fit in the space available) is to buy three 9v battery clips from maplin & solder them together like this:


from: [url="http://home.comcast.net/~mgollihur/emgmod.html"]http://home.comcast.net/~mgollihur/emgmod.html[/url][/quote]


Yeah, I'm a big fan of 18v leccys - but I decline to comment any further in case I get jumped on again lol lol lol.

[Mr. Foxen]

I've done this mod to EMG loaded guitars and a bass, definitely opened things up.

[Waterboarder]

Hmm, I may give this a whirl if there's enough room fit 2 batteries. Cheers for the info guys!