Can any pickups be wired to a 2 band eq preamp harness

[Jimothey]

Hi 

 

I hope this doesn’t make me sound too stupid but can I wire up any pickups to a 2 band eq preamp harness or do they need to be specifically active pickups 

 

The reason I’m asking is I prefer playing with flats I really don’t like rounds and just wanted to be able to boost the treble a bit to make them sound a bit brighter on a few songs………..👍🏻

Edited April 24, 2023 by Jimothey

[Baloney Balderdash]

The answer is yes!

 

However for your specific application you might be better off considering an equalizer pedal of some form, or the EHX Steel Leather attack expander pedal, which was made with this exact purpose in mind.

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Jimothey]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

The answer is yes!

 

However for your specific application you might be better off considering an equalizer pedal of some form, or the EHX Steel Leather attack expander pedal, which was made with this exact purpose in mind.

 

Cheers mate 👍🏻

[fretmeister]

There's active pickups and then there's active EQ systems. They are different things.

 

Active pickups - like EMGs - have small preamps built into each pickup to help boost the signal. EMG magnets are low powered to reduce string pull and inductance so they need the little boost to the signal to get it up to a useful level.

 

They actually come with passive tone controls. But additional active EQ / preamp can be added to it.

 

Active preamps / EQ is the stuff that happens after the pickup in the signal chain. It's usually Bass/Treble, or Bass/Middle/Treble sometimes with frequency knobs too. 

 

In general, most preamps/EQ can be added to whatever pickups you have. But there are exceptions. Some of the EMG Preamps can only be used with EMG pickups.

 

Strings - EB Cobalt Flats are very bright. Very close to a roundwound string. Might be worth a try.

 

Another solution that I particularly like is a good bass overdrive pedal with a clean blend. I set it to a very low drive level that I notice more when I turn it off. The overdrive emphasises the harmonic content in the signal a bit more and makes it appear brighter but also more complex / thicker. If you have a listen to Isolated Bass tracks on youtube for famous songs you'll discover that some of the sounds that seem really clean in a mix are actually a farty overdriven quite dirty tone when on its own.

 

Queen's John Deacon's P bass tone is a great example. It sounds deep and thuddy - it is a P with flats - but it also sounds wide and full with enough cut through. The isolated tracks are a real eye opener. It's pretty much a horrible bass tone on its own!  But perfect in the mix.

 

My big band do a version of "Don't Stop Me Now" and it just wasn't sounding right until I chucked some farty drive on it. As an aside - it's a cracking bass part.