Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

[hovmod]

Hi!
New user, new bass, new to SD pickups...

I bought a Fender Precision bass today, probably an 80s model or something (how can I tell?). Now the pickups on it are black, with no markings or metal showing at all, just a black plastic top. They're split in two, of course. The one for the lighter strings says "Seymour Duncan" and nothing more, and the other one has three two-way rocker switches.

Can someone identify these pups for me and tell me wat the dips actually do? I can't really say I hear a great big difference, and three switches gives me eight positions to scratch my head over...

I have tried to do a bit of a search, but no luck so far.

Anyone know and care to tell me what I've got here?

 

[jony]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

Photos will be lovely mate

Congrats on your score.

 

[hovmod]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

OK, sure. I thought maybe the info would make it self evident for a pro
Plus I didn't lurk to get the feel of the forum before asking stuff..

Here's a picture (I know, it's a fixer-upper, but it was real cheap, and it plays well).

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

Man i remember those but have no idea what model they would of been....

 

[MattPete]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

What do those dip-switches do?

 

[MattPete]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

Are those old SD Active EQ pickups? They are mentioned in the description of the AJJ pro-active pickups:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/bassesdescr.shtml#ajj1

 

[MattPete]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

Yep, they look like Active EQ pickups. More info here (scroll down):

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/faqdescr.shtml

 

[Byakhee00]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

Are those old SD Active EQ pickups? They are mentioned in the description of the AJJ pro-active pickups:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/bassesdescr.shtml#ajj1

Yes, They're fairly similar to the Pro Active pickups made now. Sound good too.

 

[hovmod]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

Thank you guys!

Lots of good reading material there.

Also, playing around with the switches revealed quite a range of sounds, all GREAT!!

Thanks!


edit: Hm - the article talks about switch numbers one (res freq) and two (broadband boost), but not three. Anyone?

edit two: where in wis, byahkee? I'm Norwegian, but I was an exchange student in Peshtigo (north of Green Bay) back in 1984, and I'm still married to my high school sweetheart from there...

 

[hovmod]

Re: Bought an old Precision w unknown pups

Bumping this thread one more time to see if anyone knows the third switch does.

Here's the description of what the two first do:

Functions of switches on old-style "Active EQ" bass pickups
We stopped making the switch pickups ("Active EQ") in the mid-'90s. We replaced them with the Pro-Active? series.
The little rocker switches on the Active EQ pickups change the sound. Switch #1 shifts the coil resonance. On a Jazz Bass? neck pickup and a P Bass? pickup, the resonance moves downward from 22 KHz to 6.4 KHz. On a Jazz Bass bridge pickup, it move downwards from 17 KHz to 4.9 KHz. The effect is to give a more focused sound with a harder attack. Switch #2 gives a broad band bass boost of 4 dB for the Jazz Bass neck and P Bass pickups, and 5 dB for the Jazz Bass bridge. The switches can be a very effective tool for changing the tonal "character" of your instrument.

What's switch number three for?