Hello,

I have a cheapo MIM Jazz deluxe kicking around that I was considering swapping out the large poled stock pickups (the mids are weird) with some old stock MIA jazz pickups. Will the new pickups function properly with the onboard preamp, or would I have to convert the bass to being passive?

Thanks, TD

I going to replace the preamp in mine with an Audere setup and keep the pickups. Also replacing the crappy bridge with a Badass.

I've heard good thinks about the Audere, but I don't want to spend any cash on this bass. Just wondering if the replacement pickups I already have would function properly or damage the preamp.

I believe that when I was talking to the Audere folks, they told me that the pickups on the MIM Jazz were not " active " pickups, so you probabaly could replace them with regular Jazz pickups. Better to ask a guitar tech though!

There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that another passive pickup would not work with your preamp...
I cant say whether they are going to sound any good or not, but as long as your using passive pickups, technically you are safe and sound.

FWIW, most "active" basses have passive pickups with active preamps.
I doubt that Fender would have screwed around with an active Jazz pickup, especially being that the bass has a preamp on it.
If you want to check, take a look at what the pickups are wired to. Assuming these are true single coils, there should only be 2 leads.

Thanks Gents,

I looked under the control plate, just 2 ordinary wires per pickup. So I'm off to radio shack for some solder. I'll post results in a day or two, provided I don't ruin everything...

The verdict: A huge improvement in sound from the stock pickups even though these are just generic mid 90's MIA's (I think, might be MIJ's), preamp still works like a charm. Didn't even burn myself soldering.