make pickup active
- Thread starter saqib09
- Start date
I NEED HELP123
New member
Re: make pickup active
I don't know why you would want to do that but you can install an emg pa2 for example. If you use a passive pickup with the emg pa2, you can also use it together with active pickups(middle postion on a 3 way switch) and you will not have a volume drop when you switch between pickups (if you set the gain setting right on the pa2). You could also try a seymour duncan blackout preamp, but I'm not sure if you will be able to use it together with full active pickups..
I don't know why you would want to do that but you can install an emg pa2 for example. If you use a passive pickup with the emg pa2, you can also use it together with active pickups(middle postion on a 3 way switch) and you will not have a volume drop when you switch between pickups (if you set the gain setting right on the pa2). You could also try a seymour duncan blackout preamp, but I'm not sure if you will be able to use it together with full active pickups..
Teleplayer
Active member
Re: make pickup active
An on board pre-amp and passive pickups makes it hard to get predictable results. It seems too much money to spend when its really uncertain what tones you will end up with.
The big issue is the effect of the pickup resonance (Q factor / frequency), and how its going to change when you move to an active preamp.
If you want active pickups, its much better to choose an active pickup in the first place. EMG makes the 89 and 89R split-able humbuckers which are noiseless when in single coil mode, so maybe consider those if you want to go for actives.
An on board pre-amp and passive pickups makes it hard to get predictable results. It seems too much money to spend when its really uncertain what tones you will end up with.
The big issue is the effect of the pickup resonance (Q factor / frequency), and how its going to change when you move to an active preamp.
If you want active pickups, its much better to choose an active pickup in the first place. EMG makes the 89 and 89R split-able humbuckers which are noiseless when in single coil mode, so maybe consider those if you want to go for actives.
Silence Kid
New member
Re: make pickup active
There's precedent; early Musicman and G&L guitars used 'passive' pickups with an active preamp. You would probably want to use darker pickups with low value pots...
There's precedent; early Musicman and G&L guitars used 'passive' pickups with an active preamp. You would probably want to use darker pickups with low value pots...
Re: make pickup active
Many basses have passive pickups with an active boost. You certainly could add something like a Blackouts preamp to the P-Rail. I haven't done this, but it sounds pretty interesting.
Many basses have passive pickups with an active boost. You certainly could add something like a Blackouts preamp to the P-Rail. I haven't done this, but it sounds pretty interesting.
ItsaBass
New member
Re: make pickup active
I have a funny story related to that.
I got a G&L L-2000 bass in 1996. As you may or may not know, the L-2000 has two humbuckers, active electronics, and a bunch of mini toggle switches. But at the time, I didn't know all that. I just brought it home, flipped a bunch of switches until it sounded good, and I haven't touched the switches since.
A few years ago, I got curious and looked up what all those switches actually did. Turns out I had been playing it on the neck pickup only, in passive mode, with series coils all those years (literally decades, actually). And all that time I thought I was playing an active bass! I might as well have been playing a Precision all those years, with the way I had been running it.
I have a funny story related to that.
I got a G&L L-2000 bass in 1996. As you may or may not know, the L-2000 has two humbuckers, active electronics, and a bunch of mini toggle switches. But at the time, I didn't know all that. I just brought it home, flipped a bunch of switches until it sounded good, and I haven't touched the switches since.
A few years ago, I got curious and looked up what all those switches actually did. Turns out I had been playing it on the neck pickup only, in passive mode, with series coils all those years (literally decades, actually). And all that time I thought I was playing an active bass! I might as well have been playing a Precision all those years, with the way I had been running it.
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Boogie Bill
New member
Re: make pickup active
Not 100% sure about the MM StingRay, but my Sabre II's pickups are LOW impedance and use 1/4" slug mags, with a buffered low-noise preamp. I love these guitars.
Bill
Not 100% sure about the MM StingRay, but my Sabre II's pickups are LOW impedance and use 1/4" slug mags, with a buffered low-noise preamp. I love these guitars.
Bill
Silence Kid
New member
Re: make pickup active
The 'metal plate' CLF reissue L2K basses are very appealing to me (still including active circuitry.)
Googling what the Musicman switches do is apparently rough- I was basing my understanding on a distant recollection that at least some early Stingrays were pure passive/conventional setup, while using the same pickups as the active models. That would put them in the same league as the F100 , with a switchable pre-amp and the same high impedance pickups used on non-active models (granted, I figured the Sabre was the same way.)
The 'metal plate' CLF reissue L2K basses are very appealing to me (still including active circuitry.)
Googling what the Musicman switches do is apparently rough- I was basing my understanding on a distant recollection that at least some early Stingrays were pure passive/conventional setup, while using the same pickups as the active models. That would put them in the same league as the F100 , with a switchable pre-amp and the same high impedance pickups used on non-active models (granted, I figured the Sabre was the same way.)
Re: make pickup active
EMG stuff to add (to passives and to actives) has really gone gotten crazy with the prices, partly due to going all quick-connect I'm sure (well that's their story lol).
I've always wanted to try-out some of their add-ons but they're basically the price of a pickup now!
EMG stuff to add (to passives and to actives) has really gone gotten crazy with the prices, partly due to going all quick-connect I'm sure (well that's their story lol).
I've always wanted to try-out some of their add-ons but they're basically the price of a pickup now!