Dr. Jabsco Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 Hey, I just bought a pair of EMG jazz pickups for a bass im building (off of alloyguitar ) and my question is, will I have to get a pre amp and all that whoodoo for it, or can i just run it passive? bassically, what do i need to make this sound good? im pritty new to electronics. THANKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 You can't use active pickups as passives as far as I know. They're different. They have a built in preamp (which means you don't have to get one), but need a battery to work. But I dunno. Wait for Lovekraft or ansil, or someone with electrickery knoehow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Bell Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 I think a lot of actives use very weak coils which are boosted by the onboard preamp. If you could get them working without a battery I'm guessing the output would be very low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarmonky55 Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 i just put in my emgs and tried it without a battery. 2 problems.......first is theres almost no output, and 2 is that what output there is comes through heavily distorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jabsco Posted July 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 ok thanks, so all i need to do is hook up a battery to it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarmonky55 Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 yea the preamp is already inside the emgs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 ok thanks, so all i need to do is hook up a battery to it? yes...follow the diagram though and change out the tone and volume pots with the ones provided with the pickup...they are high quality,different values,and come free with the pickups don't just wire it in to your passive electronics...it is a different game altogether,so to speak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jabsco Posted July 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 umm, well thats kind of a problem. Because it dosnt come with any pots or a diagram. Im getting them used, and they were bought in bulk and resold (to me). they were fairly enexpensive tho. should I special order active pots, would stewmac have them, or sould i give the nice people at EMG a ring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 Ooops! Sorry, double posted... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 EMG actives use 25K ohm pots instead of 250K or 500K and a .1uF cap for tone controls - Brian has 'em, and you should be able to pick them up wherever better guitar and bass parts are sold. Wiring diagrams are available here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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