Rewiring Aria Pro II Active P/J Bass

[Alex_SG]

Hi all. First post here, so please be gentle! And mods/admin, if this post is in the wrong place, i apologise, and please feel free to move it.

I bought a 1988 Aria Pro II active PJ bass on a whim. (I've never been a bass player before - always played electric guitar!)
The original wiring was a mess, and half the components didn't work, so I stripped everything out.

I have posted this on a couple of other forums, so if you've seen it before I apologize.

These are the original components:



The pots are in the correct order left to right; Neck vol, bridge vol and the blend or tone on the op amp.
Here's a close up of the op amp:





Where can I find a wiring diagram that's suitable? Here is one I found on this forum, but it has an extra tone pot:



This is the information I have so far about the op amp:

Both blacks are earth. Notice that pin 4 (-ve) goes to earth.

The red on the left is the input. Notice that it goes to a cap that feeds pin 3; the opamp's non-inverting input.

The red on the right is the output. Notice that it comes from a big electrolytic cap, and this goes through a resistor to pin 6; the opamp's output.

The red wire at the lower left corner is the +9volt. Notice that this feeds a diode. This protects the circuit from an accidental reversed polarity. Notice that this then feeds pin 7 of the opamp (V+).

So if anyone could point me in the direction of the correct wiring diagram, or even draw one up, I would be extremely grateful.
Any and all help is appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Rewiring Aria Pro II Active P/J Bass

Welcome to the forum.

First question. Did you take photographs or make a drawing of the control circuitry before you disconnected everything?

Looking at your photograph of the pots, the middle one - with the red capacitor attached - is a passive treble roll-off Tone control. The one to the left could be a volume control. The black portion of the pot body could, concievably, be a push-pull switch. The pot/PCB combination to the right looks like an active EQ assembly. Normally, this item would be expected to employ dual-concentric pots.

The schematic diagram that you have posted is for an Ibanez SR and/or Cort Action bass guitar. Unless you replace the Aria selector switch with dual volume pots, the duagram is completely inappropriate for your needs.

 

[Alex_SG]

Re: Rewiring Aria Pro II Active P/J Bass

Thanks for the reply and the welcome!

Unfortunately I didn't do a drawing, but i did take some photos. Whoever did the wiring on this thing must have been on some good drugs, because it was all over the place!
Here's what i'm talking about:



As you can see it was very messy. I believe the mini switch between the selector switch andd the op amp was originally a phase switch, that had been rewired as a kill switch by the previous owner, who obviously wasn't very competent at wiring.
His solder joints were all dry and dull, and some weren't even soldered properly. He used electrical tape badly and didn't bother using any heatshrink... In short, it was a very amateur job. (I'm only an amateur too, but I try to keep any wiring work I do neat!)
At the moment so i can at least use it, I have it wired up as a passive bass, as seen in the photo below. It does the job, but I'd like to bring it back to standard.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Rewiring Aria Pro II Active P/J Bass

I see your problem. (No clear idea of the original circuit. Difficult to restore it.) For what it is worth, I reckon that the DPDT mini switch engages or bypasses the active EQ.

In your reassembled circuit, you have made the connections to all three pots in reverse.

Taking the bridge PU volume as an example, think of the terminals as numbered 1 to 3 (left to right). You have terminal 1 as ground, 2 as output to the selector switch and 3 carries the signal from both pickups to the master tone pot. (Another problem!) Similarly, on the tone control, you have the capacitor soldered to the wrong lug.

Your circuit is left handed.

The other problem with the tone control is that connection taking the signal from the two pickups links them a la Jazz Bass. This seems contradictory to having the selector switch. With both pickups selected, either volume pot could silence the entire guitar.

 

[Alex_SG]

Re: Rewiring Aria Pro II Active P/J Bass

Thanks for the reply and info!
I'm not really too bothered about the way it's wired at the moment. My main aim is to try and get it back to standard. The "passive" thing was only going to be temporary anyway.
If I was to keep it passive, would this diagram be ok?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Rewiring Aria Pro II Active P/J Bass

Affirmative.