Changing my Passive bass into an Active.

[Adam.M]

Hey there Bassworld/Basschat.

Here is my first irritating and probably quite simple to answer question of many to come

Now, I'm looking to change my passive back-up bass with utterly terrible pick-ups into an active bass as quickly, easily and as cost effective as possible.

Being predominantly a guitarist for many years I've had a lot of experience with passive electronics and passive pick-ups (bare knuckle pick-ups being my personal favourite, but I shall start creating my own soon) but I've never even touched an active system with my soldering iron.

So, what do I need?

The bass is a P/J type bass with three pots on it, so it'd need a system with three pots on, hopefully pre-wired.

I've been looking at EMG pick-ups and thought this would be quite easy, but I'm starting to think differently...

Am I even looking at the right brand here? I'm looking for an all round good tone that i can use reasonably well for rock, stoner metal, alt.rock and singer/songwriter pop.

Seymour Duncan Basslines seem to have a wider range than EMG, now I'd never go for SD's in a guitar but for bass, definitely.

It's firework night and I just can't figure it out, the fireworks send me nuts, it never eeeeeennnnnnnndsssssss.

I guess practising to a click is off tonight then

Anyway, any help is appreciated.

Adam.

[The Burpster]

Fabulous question,

There will I'm sure be lots of advice coming your way, however, repairs and tech questions is where you want to be!

[Adam.M]

[quote name='The Burpster' post='83278' date='Nov 3 2007, 08:28 PM']Fabulous question,

There will I'm sure be lots of advice coming your way, however, repairs and tech questions is where you want to be!

[/quote]

Hah, sorry blame the firework storm outside... can't concentrate on anything.

Still getting used to the place too! again.

[Adam.M]

I'm an ejit, a bloody eeeejit

The EMG set comes pre-wired...

Question answered by paying attnetion. *sigh*

Bloody fireworks!

[bassbloke]

You have three options

1) Passive pickups with active preamp. So, Bartolinis, most Seymour Duncans, Kent Armstrong pickups with a Bart, SD, Audere, John East preamp.

2) Active pickups with onboard preamp. The most obvious example is EMGs which have an onboard preamp. So, just get voluem and basic tone, but the benefit of low impedance pickups, if you like that sound. The EMGs are a breeze to wire in - the pickups have simply push in connectors and the circuit comes pre-wired, you just need to ensure that you have sufficient space in the control cavity for a 9v battery.

3) Active pickups with seperate active preamp. EMG again. Much more tonal control.

My preference is passive pickups with active preamp. Some preamps, such as the J-Retro or U-Retro have a bypass switch to give you that unadulterated passive sound - not tone controls.

[radansey]

I changed the JB-type PU's on my Squier 5-string with EMG Select PU's (passive), rewired the electronics to give master volume/blend/tone.

I have recently replaced the passive pot/cap arrangement with an Artec EXP tonal expander from www.axesrus.co.uk - they sell several different items so it is best to have a look on the website and associated specs before purchasing. The tonal range is much improved, and also with a higher-gain output (the original sound was very muddy in comparison). This IMHO is a very good, inexpensive upgrade (the EXP is £17.00 inc postage). Although to fit necessitated routing some clearance in the control cavity and routing for a PP3.

Ross