Converting active to passive

[lownote]

I have a gorgeous little Vintage V940fl. It's active, with Wilkinson pups in a PJ configuration, with a mare's nest of old wiring and battery in the back.  Now, KiOgon has said he can en-loom me with new pots, jack, etc etc. for £60, taking it from an active to passive, with V and T controls on each pup and with a little extra money, a switchy thing that allows me to go series or parallel.  Although why the last I'm a little unclear still. Any road, if you are a grownup and have done this type of active to passive conversion, would you say it's worth doing or is it all just one bored fiddle too far? 

Edited June 10, 2020 by lownote12

[Chienmortbb]

Why do you want to do it? You may find that the pickups are not ideal for "passifying" and it might cost you close to £200 in the end to get where you want to get to.

[lownote]

11 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Why do you want to do it? You may find that the pickups are not ideal for "passifying" and it might cost you close to £200 in the end to get where you want to get to.

Well, good question. This is why I think it may just be an idle fancy and a fiddle too far.  OTOH, I have a passive Revelation fretless which is capable of many subtle tones.  Wile the active Vintage has many tones also, they're all a trifle artificial. Plus it gives me something to do. 

Edited June 10, 2020 by lownote12

[Pea Turgh]

I had an active Hohner Jack.  I pulled the active circuit (a known weak link) and dropped a KiOgon loom in - night & day difference.

However - I already knew the pickups were good to go for passive applications.  If you can find that out for yours, you can crack on.  Might not be as night & day for your bass though, as the Hohner Jack circuit was old enough to have kids in big school.

[lownote]

Weeelll Captain KiOgon, he say Wilkinson pups will benefit from being pacified. 

[Paul S]

I did it to a MM Sterling 5.  I got our very own @Andyjr1515 to remove all the active gubbins, add a P pickup near the sweet spot and then some switchery trickery.  Sounded v. nice.

Edited June 10, 2020 by Paul S

[bloke_zero]

I spent ages researching a preamp for a MM thing I was building and put a John East in - it was a great sounding thing but I felt like I lost the character of the pickups a little and eventually took it out.

The cons for taking it out were that it's a lot less flexible in terms of oceans of bass, loss of sweepable mid etc, but I felt like the passive sounded clearer.  So much so that taking it out felt like the right choice rather than putting in a switch.

It's hard to describe but if you've ever struggled with eq-ing a recording it's that feeling of aiming for a sound and boosting frequencies that sound good on their own but in context of a track sound a little mushy or ill defined.  Recording engineers will generally recommend using EQ to cut not boost and that seems right to me (though I do love a baxandall tone stack!). 

I also feel like the best place for an active tone control is in an amp with a power supply rather than squeezed into the back cavity of a bass - but all of this its totally subjective!

[Woodinblack]

Honestly if you find it sounds better as a passive, save yourself a bit of money in and put a capacitor and resistor across the pickup to reduce the highs, and jobs a good one

16 hours ago, lownote12 said:

I have a gorgeous little Vintage V940fl. It's active, with Wilkinson pups in a PJ configuration, with a mare's nest of old wiring and battery in the back.  Now, KiOgon has said he can en-loom me with new pots, jack, etc etc. for £60, taking it from an active to passive, with V and T controls on each pup and with a little extra money, a switchy thing that allows me to go series or parallel.  Although why the last I'm a little unclear still. Any road, if you are a grownup and have done this type of active to passive conversion, would you say it's worth doing or is it all just one bored fiddle too far? 

Not something I would do, no, but obviously down to you if you want to do that, Although if you really like it it seems a bit odd to change.

The series parallel is worth having though, gives you a different sound thats just a bit beefier. I had that on my Jazz for those times when you just needed a bit 'more'. I have it my G&L too, but that already has too much!