thefyst Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Hey all hoping someone could enlighten me a little in the world of onboard preamps. So I have this active deluxe jazz bass and i just dont like the preamp very much and was thinking of swapping it out. Can someone either confirm or correct the following Pickups themselves can be specifically for "active" circuits and must have a preamp and power supply to work ALSO There are preamps that are designed to work with passive or active pickups FINALLY if I use something similar to [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/seymour_duncan_sstc3psb.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/seymour_duncan_sstc3psb.htm[/url] with the stock pickups is it going to work? The bass --> Cheers TF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dincz Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 (edited) Most electromagnetic pickups are not active - i.e. they don't have an inbuilt preamp and so don't need power. Almost any electromagnetic pickup can be used with or without a preamp. Yes, the preamp you linked to will work, but then so will this: [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Band-EQ-Preamp-Circuit-For-Bass-Pickup-Active-R1BO-/131227161650?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1e8dbf9432"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item1e8dbf9432[/url] Cheap experiment. You'll find a few cheapies on Ebay with differing EQ frequencies. There's no rocket science in bass preamps but you might find the cheaper ones are a bit more hissy at max treble boost. Edited October 22, 2014 by dincz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefyst Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 thats interesting. i was originally contemplating building my own preamp but couldnt figure out how to combine two pickups into a single audio signal....im guessing i would use a dual gang pot with the wiring reversed on one gang as a blend knob so as one turns up the other goes down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dincz Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 This will do it: [URL=http://s1070.photobucket.com/user/dincz/media/Blend_zpsabc0b703.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u493/dincz/Blend_zpsabc0b703.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamfist Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) Seriously, an "MN" pot will work much smoother in the blend, without that great dip in the 50:50 blend position that others have. I really like the Bourns ones, MN500K for me, wiring like this, but[b][u] leave off the connection to ground [/u][/b]... [url="http://www.ephotobay.com/share/barto.html"][/url] Edited October 23, 2014 by hamfist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefyst Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 Hamfist. where does the ground connection of the pickup go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamfist Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 (edited) [quote name='thefyst' timestamp='1414096715' post='2585920'] Hamfist. where does the ground connection of the pickup go? [/quote] It should connect to any of the other grounded parts. For the purposes of a pickup ground wire, all other "grounds" in the wiring are effectively one part as far as the wiring sees it, so you can connect anywhere to ground. If you are unsure then connect it to where the bridge ground wire connects to the wiring loom, or to either of the ground connections on the output jack (the hot connection usually goes on the shortest lug). Edited October 24, 2014 by hamfist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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