Hello all at Talkbass
.:hiding:
I hope im posting this in the right section :)
Since this is my first post i'll start with a few things about me .
I’m a professional musician since 1987,playing mostly rock & metal but since i work in live music clubs i played all kinds of music .I live in Cyprus, a small country/island in the Mediterranean, and member of EU. My origin is Greek.
I’m a proud owner of a BTB1005 Prestige, a now rare Ibanez Xseries , and an Ibanez musician fretless. Before the BTB my main instrument was a 5-String Ibanez SDGR.

Ive already posted these questions in the Ibanez.com forum but although it got many views i got no reply.
I've noticed some members in that forum who either work for or know their ibanez good so i thought i could get some help, on the problem or on some of the questions i had but unfortunately got nothing ,so i decided to post it here too in case anyone can help.

I bought my BTB in the States, from Guitar center in Boston in 2000-01, as soon as it came out.I went through a lot of basses and my final decision was between the BTB and a warwick thumb. Both had excellent sound but the BTB "won" featuring neck and weight (and looks) closer to what i wanted.

I was completely satisfied with the sound ,and not only, from that instrument but then my problem came up.
I moved back to Cyprus and unfortunately did not consider the weather conditions here (humidity and heat in the summer, cold and rain one day, warm the other in the winter) neglecting to take proper care of the bass.(i know...my fault :( )
This resulted in the wires of the preamp to get lose from the place they were soldered and finally one by one detached. I was lucky it happened to one wire at a time so i got it fixed every time. But i wasn’t that lucky. The thread on the mid/freq pot was destroyed and was not fixed firmly on the body so in live situations every time i tried to change a setting on that pot the wires inside moved a bit.(I’ve tried to find a replacement pot but no luck on that either)
A day came when i got no sound coming out of the bass and opening the preamp cavity to check found more than one wire out of place. In the "delicate" process to find what goes where more wires were off. After many trials and errors and no luck in fixing it completely (got sound but no EQ) i decided to look for a replacement preamp before it died completely. I’ve tried searching before and found nothing so this time when i couldn’t find anywhere to order from ibanez i turned to another solution since i was in a "hurry". As i knew the newer model of my bass (BTB1005E) came out with a bartolini preamp and pickups, so ive ordered that from bartolini and got it in a few days. The preamp was ok and i was happy with the sound. It takes some time to get used to it though and by that time i realized that its ok but not as good as it was with the factory preamp i got it with. Since i now have the time to look i started searching the net. I found the Ibanez parts page and got the parts model and number but still no way to order and also got me having some questions.
http://www.ibanez.com/parts/2001_PARTS/El-Bass/Pix-EQ.htm#VM311

My first question is :
Going through the catalog of parts, following the year (2000/01),Model (BTB1005OL) i get this result:
Item : VM3-B VARI-MID 3-Band Bass EQ
Description :EQ PCB
Parts # 3EQ1VM311 VM3-B for BTB bass (500K Balancer, 18Volt Operation)
http://www.ibanez.com/parts/2001_PARTS/El-Bass/3EQ1VM311.JPG

But my bass came with this one in its cavity. But 5 pots instead of 4 ,but the circuit on this one looks exactly the same:
Item : VM3 VARI-MID 3-Band Bass EQ
Description : EQ PCB
Parts # 3EQ1CVM3 for Active Pickup circuit (20K Balancer)

http://www.ibanez.com/parts/2001_PARTS/El-Bass/3EQ1CVM3.JPG


Which is the right one? Can anyone clear that out for me?
(Btw on this site, https://cs.hoshinogakki.co.jp/i-public/faces/Login00.jsp , the closest i found is a preamp with a different part number: #3EQ1VM311 (https://cs.hoshinogakki.co.jp/i-public/faces/CategorySideMenu00.jsp#) EQ PCB/VM-3B VARI-MID 3B(18V) since you cant search through bass models, but also cannot buy)

This bring me to my next question:
When i bought the BTB i was told that it has passive pickups but an active preamp.
Is there any chance i wasn't informed right about the pickups and made a mistake when i ordered the bartolini preamp?Got one for passive while i have active?Or the other way around,got it for active while i have passive pickups?Any help on that?
One more thing on that .The bartolini preamp comes with a push-pull volume pot.Pushed is active,pulled passive.When pulled sound is only audible if i turn the amp volume all the way up, and i mean just audible , no to play with.Could this hint on anything on the pickups (or the preamp)?Should i also change the pickups in case i dont find the ibanez preamp?

And finally the million dollar question.Where can i buy a preamp or other ibanez parts (not knobs ,pins, and nuts http://www.ibanez.com/forum/smileys/smiley1.gif ) except from an ibanez dealer (Although Cyprus is listed the nearest dealer is in Greece ).Any place i can by online? Or at least any dealers that sell online?

Sorry for the long post, tried to explain everything and introduce my self too
Any help, info or guidelines appreciated. :help:
Thanx all in advance.





Edit: Ooops it is in a wrong section.Can a moderator move it in the electronics section please?

Thanx.Waiting for some help in the right place :)

If I recall from looking at various schematics on the Ibanez site, you need to find one that matches your pot config for starters. Visual identification of YOUR preamp and comparing with schematics should get you all the way there.

And if memory serves, some of the same preamps were used with both passive and active pickups. For my model year and others, ADX was stenciled on the pickup face if it was an active pickup. But that can rub off. Not a big deal: you can still ID an active by its additional powering wiring that stars off the battery leads.

Thats exactly what confused me.Visually the preamp looks like the second image,but pot-wise it is the first.Most,if not all ibanez 5 string basses that have a varimid eq ,have five pots.Volume,bass,treble,pickup balancer and a mid freq/gain.

On the pickup matter, i recall only wiring two wires, on each,nothing going to the battery,so i guess i do have passive pickups.

Also from memory, some of the models used STACKED pots/knobs, some didn't - and some might have even used a combination of the two.

That i know.
Mine,as mid control is a stacked pot.Bottom was frequency top was gain.Much better that on the bartolini that has a pull push one, and lets you only either boost/cut high(pushed) or low (pulled) mids.