Bypass Active Circuit

[jimbartlett]

Hi,

I have a Dean Z Tour Bass which is active (and sounds cool). The battery ran out the other day and the Bass died on me so it got me thinking.....could I install a switch or something to bypass the active curcuit? I will get some photo's of the guts of the Bass on by this weekend and if anyone could help me work this out, that would be great!

Thanks,

Jim.

[thepurpleblob]

Chances are, no. The pickups are probably designed to be used in that configuration. Most that are switchable are essentially passive basses with a preamp added on (if you see what I mean)

[jimbartlett]

Thanks for the reply. I thought that might be the case to be honest....oh poo!

[bassbloke]

Depends. Only active pickups require a battery. Most EMG LTD, Dean, Ibanez, Schecter basses have EMG-Hz pickups which are passive humbuckers.

A good way of telling is to pop off the control cavity and look at the pickups. If there are three wires and one of the wires - red probably - is clearly going to the battery clip then you have active pickups that will require a battery.

Be prepared that some circuits will seriously boost the signal, so you might find the passive sound practically unusable.

Best to make a note in your calendar to switch batteries at regular intervals - every 3 months won't break the bank.

[jimbartlett]

[quote name='bassbloke' post='174403' date='Apr 11 2008, 10:56 AM']Depends. Only active pickups require a battery. Most EMG LTD, Dean, Ibanez, Schecter basses have EMG-Hz pickups which are passive humbuckers.

A good way of telling is to pop off the control cavity and look at the pickups. If there are three wires and one of the wires - red probably - is clearly going to the battery clip then you have active pickups that will require a battery.

Be prepared that some circuits will seriously boost the signal, so you might find the passive sound practically unusable.

Best to make a note in your calendar to switch batteries at regular intervals - every 3 months won't break the bank.[/quote]

Thanks, I think that is good advice. I have pretty much resigned myself to kicking myself up the @rse to change batteries!

[Mottlefeeder]

[quote name='jimbartlett' post='174447' date='Apr 11 2008, 11:59 AM']Thanks, I think that is good advice. I have pretty much resigned myself to kicking myself up the @rse to change batteries![/quote]
An alternative is a cheap battery tester. It will not tell you the remaining capacity, but if you check the voltage before every gig, you will see how slowly the voltage reading goes down over time. That will tell you whether you have enough capacity to play another gig befoe changing it. Oh yes, you need to carry a spare battery too!