sumorabbit Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Hey dudes. I had one of the external pick-ups a couple of years back with a GR55. I'm currently having a bass built by a luthier so I figured I may as well get an internal kit of the pick-up installed since they aren't overly expensive. Could anyone tell me, if I have the kit installed internally can I still use the bass as normal without having to cart the GR55 everywhere? As in it can just be mono jacked in as per a normal bass and have it's normal active/passive pick-up sounds with the on-board pre? Would the Roland circuitry mess with the sound at all or does it bypass it all to the normal jack? Thanks Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 The roland GK doesn't actually use the normal output as such, other than to feed it down the 13 way cable, and provide the synth / mix / guitar switch. With the GK kit (which I was thinking of getting) there would be nothing to stop you having a 'normal' jack as well as the 13 pin socket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 Indeed - that's what I have, the 13 pin and normal 1/4" jack next to each other. The sound of the clean signal isn't affected at all. One thing to consider is what else you choose to mount from the kit - you can have as little as the pickup and the output, or you can also mount up and down switches, an LED, and a volume/assignable control. I chose to do just the volume/assignable pot but later added the up/down switches too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 One thing though, if you are putting this on an active bass, you need to give some thought to where you get the signal from. You don't want to get the signal from after the active circuit, as if it uses the jack socket to switch the power to the active, it will be dead if you have only plugged the 13 way in, but conversely the volume for the active control is often after the preamp, You could have the active just switched on by a switch but you only have to forget that once and you have no battery the next time you pick it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 [quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1462274596' post='3041590'] One thing though, if you are putting this on an active bass, you need to give some thought to where you get the signal from. You don't want to get the signal from after the active circuit, as if it uses the jack socket to switch the power to the active, it will be dead if you have only plugged the 13 way in, but conversely the volume for the active control is often after the preamp, You could have the active just switched on by a switch but you only have to forget that once and you have no battery the next time you pick it up. [/quote] Not sure of the exact pathway but following the instructions with the kit I ended up with essentially two independent outputs - standard jack functions as normal in active/passive and 13 pin the same, with the GK bypassed it functions the same as the 1/4" out in active and passive. I can take some pictures if it'll help but the battery isn't drained if the active switch is on and nothing is plugged in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted May 3, 2016 Share Posted May 3, 2016 The Vguitar forums are really useful btw http://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?board=183.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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