Can I use my active pickups as passive?

[SF audio]

I have a fender USA jazz bass - the active system has some issues, and I'm tired of dealing with it. Can I just take all the wiring/battery, guts out, install a passive jack/pots/wiring and use it with the same pickups?

thanks

 

[Agileguy_101]

Re: Can I use my active pickups as passive?

If the pickups themselves are not battery powered, yes. If they're receiving power from the battery, you'll need new pickups. However, if what you're looking to do is just get rid of the active tone system, that's possible. You'll just need to make sure to get pots of the right value. I know the standard for guitar is 25K for active, and I don't think it's different for bass.

 

[SF audio]

Re: Can I use my active pickups as passive?

If the pickups themselves are not battery powered, yes. If they're receiving power from the battery, you'll need new pickups. However, if what you're looking to do is just get rid of the active tone system, that's possible. You'll just need to make sure to get pots of the right value. I know the standard for guitar is 25K for active, and I don't think it's different for bass.

They are fender noiseless jazz bass pickups, so they will work on their own...I have a pot/jack assembly from another jazz bass, so I'll begin the process of ripping out the old assembly and put in the new one....

Thanks,

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Can I use my active pickups as passive?

Active pickup systems for bass guitar typically employ pots of between 25 and 100 kilohms.

The issues with the stock EQ circuitry could be due to dried solder joints, loose/reversed block connectors or just a weak battery. Hiss when boosting the treble frequencies is an unavoidable side effect of the electronics.

I have assumed that the active EQ in your FJB is factory fitted rather than an aftermarket product. Adding active EQ to some bass guitars usually requires signal buffering somewhere along the way.